Camp Douglas

Camp Douglas was a Union prisoner-of-war camp in Chicago, Illinois, USA, during the American Civil War. Image File history File links CampDouglas. ... Image File history File links CampDouglas. ... Map of the division of the states during the Civil War. ... A Prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of persons captured by the enemy in time of war. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert Edward Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

POW Camp

In 1861, a tract of land at 31st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago was provided by the estate of Stephen A. Douglas for a Union Army training post. The first Confederate prisoners of war—more than 7,000 from the capture of Fort Donelson in Tennessee—arrived in February, 1862. Eventually, over 18,000 Confederate soldiers passed through the prison camp, which eventually came to be known as the North's "Andersonville" for its inhumane conditions. It is estimated that from 1862–1865, more than 6,000 Confederate prisoners died from disease, starvation, and the bitter cold winters (although as many as 1,500 were reported as "unaccounted" for). The largest number of prisoners held at any one time was 12,000 in December 1864. Accounts vary as to precise numbers. According to 80 Acres of Hell , a television documentary produced by the A&E Network and the The History Channel, the reason for the uncertainty is that many records were destroyed after the war. The documentary also alleges that, for a period of time, the camp contracted with an unscrupulous undertaker who sold some of the bodies of Confederate prisoners to medical schools and had the rest buried in shallow graves without coffins. Some were even dumped in Lake Michigan only to wash up on its shores. Many, however, were initially buried in unmarked pauper's graves in Chicago's City Cemetery (located on the site of today's Lincoln Park), but in 1867 were reinterred in Oak Woods Cemetery (5 miles south of the former Camp Douglas). 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861), known as the Little Giant, and Capn Slappy he was an American politician from the frontier state of Illinois, and was the Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. ... The 21st Michigan Infantry, a company of Shermans veterans. ... Some Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army (CSA) was formed in February 1861 to defend the Confederate States of America, which had itself been formed that same year when seven southern states seceded from the United States (with four more to follow). ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... This article or section should be merged with Battle of Fort Donelson Fort Donelson, Tennessee, was the site of the first significant Union victory of the American Civil War. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... Andersonville National Historic Site is located in Andersonville, Georgia. ... Biography is one of A&Es longest-running and most popular programs. ... History Channel logo. ... Sunset on Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. ... A concert in Lincoln Park circa 1907. ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Oak Woods Cemetery was established in 1854 at 1035 E. 67th Street in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Conditions

Inmates were deprived of blankets, medical treatment, and food. Seminary students from the University of Chicago, just south of the camp, provided charitable aid to the prisoners when allowed to do so by the camp commanders. Rations were often cut and the small store that operated in the camp was eventually shut down as the war continued. At one point, prisoners ate a dog, and even rat meat came to be regarded as a delicacy. The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ...

The president of the U.S. Sanitary Commission once inspected the prison and gave a report of an "amount of standing water, of unpoliced grounds, of foul sinks, of general disorder, of soil reeking with miasmic accretions, of rotten bones and emptying of camp kettles.....enough to drive a sanitarian mad." The barracks were so horrendous, he said, that "nothing but fire can cleanse them." This article belongs in one or more categories. ...

Although during the first year or so of the camp's existence a number of prisoners of war were allowed to buy their way out of the camp, this means of liberty was eventually cut off. The only way out, aside from escape, was to pledge loyalty to the United States and agree to fight for the Union. Many soldiers took this oath and were sent to fight Native Americans in the West. At the end of the war, only prisoners who agreed to take the oath were given train fare to the South. Those who still refused were forced to return home by their own means which often meant walking across several states.

After the war, the camp was decommissioned and the infamous barracks and other buildings demolished. Today, condominiums fill most of the site.

External links

• Chicago Historical Society - Camp Douglas
• Camp Douglas
• Illinois in the Civil War — Camp Douglas
• Photo of the monument to Camp Douglas's Confederate dead
• History Channel - Special:Eighty Acres of Hell