Behind The Battles | Camp Douglas

On this episode we take a look at the Union Army POW Camp Douglas. Sometimes described as the "Andersonville of the North" as almost 4,500 prisoners died in the camp. Many of these deaths came from disease from the horrible living conditions inside the camp leading to Camp Douglas having a death rate of about 17%.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The bloodiest war on American soil. States versus States, Brothers
versus brothers. Join hosts Bang and Dang as they take
you battle by battle through the most divisive time in
American history. Welcome to Battles of the American Civil War.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome back Battles American Civil War. Behind the Battles with
Bang and Dang. Taking a look at another pow camp
during the Civil War, this time a Union One Camp
Douglas in Chicago, which is sometimes called the Norse Andersonville.
And if you guys listen to Andersonville episode, do you

(01:01):
know how bad? That is?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Not quite the death rate that Andersonville had, but still
pretty crazy. There a lot more.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
History here too, so yeah, it was actually a camp
to train soldiers at first and stuff. April fifteen to
eighteen sixty one, the day after the Army garrison surrendered
Fort Sumner, who Confederate forces ABE, he called seventy five
thousand state militiamen into federal service for ninety days to

(01:30):
put down the insurrection.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm gonna take a little bit more longer than that.
He thought it only take ninety days.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
May third, eighteen sixty one, Lincoln called for forty two
thousand three year volunteers, expansion of the regular Army by
twenty three thousand men and of the US Navy by
eighteen thousand sailors convenient. In July eighteen sixty one, Congress
retroactively approved Lincoln's actions and authorized another one million three
year volunteers.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Well. The states and localities had to organize and equipped
the volunteer regiments until later in eighteen sixty one, when
the old Federal became sufficiently sufficiently organized to take over
the project. Soon after President Lincoln's call for volunteers, many
volunteers from Illinois gathered in various large public and private
buildings in Chicago, and then they overflowed into camps on

(02:15):
the prairie on the southeast edge of the city. Senator
Stephen Douglas back when Chicago had a prairie, Senator Stephen A. Douglas,
he owned land next to this location, and he donated
his land just south of the camps to the original
University of Chicago.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Juwe nice good for him in your graves. He owned
most of the property on which the camp was located.
Illinois Governor Richard Yates assigned Judge Allen Fuller soon to
be adjud in general for the State of Illinois to
select a site for a permanent army camp in Chicago.
Judge Fuller selected the site that was already in use
for the makeshift camps because it was only four miles
from downtown, oh prairie surrounded the site. Nearby Lake Michigan

(02:53):
could provide the water, and the Illinois Central Railroad ran
within a few hundred yards of the saite.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
I mean training him in there. There you go by
it's folder. He was not an engineer. He did not
even realize that the site was a poor choice for
a large camp because of its wet, low lying location.
Flooded constantly. The camp lacked sewers for more than a year.
The prairie on which it was built on could not
even absorb the waste from thousands and thousands of humans

(03:19):
and horses. The camp flooded with each rainfall. In a winter,
it was a sea of mud when the ground was
not frozen. When the camp opened, only one water hydrant worked.
There was a severe shortage of laterns and medical facilities
from the time of the camp's initial use through the
periadive incarcentration of the first group of rebel prisoners in

(03:42):
mid eighteen sixty two. Latrines not lanterns. Damn people couldn't
see at night time? Are they needed lanterns for the latrines?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
The camp it ran west four blocks from Cottage Grove
Avenue to the present day Martin Luther King Drive. Boundary
was what is now East thirty first Street, and the
southern boundary was the current East thirty third Place, which
was then renamed College Or It was then named College Place.
A gate in the south fence of the camp provided
access to the ten acre property donated by Douglas to

(04:14):
the old University of Chicago that opened at eighteen fifty
seven at its site on Cottage Grove Avenue.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
In thirty fifth Street.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
A small box hospital for rows of Garrison barracks and
an Illinois Central Railroad station were located on the former
Douglas property.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
A small box hospital. They don't get those anywhere. The
boundaries of the camp and the number, use and location
of its buildings evolved during the war, but certain main
divisions of the camp existed for significant periods of time.
Garrison Square contained officers quarters, post headquarters, post office, and
a parade ground. White Oak Square housed both the Union

(04:50):
soldiers and prisoners until late eighteen sixty three. Well that's lovely,
all right. White Oak Square included the original camp prison
and the building that would become infamous Oak Dungeon.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Ooh, and prisoners who were being punished were subject to
close confinement in small, dark, dirty conditions.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
In this dungeon. The dungeon was.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
A room eighteen square feet lit by one closely barred
window about eighteen by eight inches off the floor. Looky
they have that with entry only threw a hatch about
twenty inch square in the ceiling.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh jeez.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
The room had a damp floor and an intolerable stench
from a sink or a toilet in the corner.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Of the room.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Prison hospitals and a morgue were located just to the
south at the camp, in an area of ten acres
known as Hospital Square.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Come out, Okay, it makes sense, I like it. Eighteen
sixty three, the Army built Prison Square or Prisoners Square either.
Let me guess. They built that in the western division
of the camp, as well as surgeons quarters and some warehouses.
Prison Square, which was located along the south and west
sides of the Garrison Square, was created by combining parts

(05:54):
of other squares with white Oak Square and separating the
area from other parts of the camp with a fence.
Prison Square eventually contained sixty four barracks, which were twenty
four by ninety feet, with twenty feet partitioned off as
a kitchen. Designed for about ninety five man each, the

(06:15):
camp's barracks held an average one hundred and eighty nine
men when the prison population was as as whole shit
more than a double.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Governor Yates, but Colonel Joseph Tucker commanded the sixtieth Regiment
Illinois State Militia in charge of building the camp. Yates
also appointed Tucker as the camp's first commander.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Makes sense.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
State Militia troops called the Mechanics Fusiliers who were apprentice
and journeyman carpenters, built the barracks in October November of
eighteen sixty one, and these troops mutinied on December eighteenth,
eighteen sixty one, when the State of Illinois tried to
press them into service as infantry upon completion of their
work on Camp Douglas. So body, wow, the state paid

(06:52):
them less than they believed they were promised for their work.
Regular troops had to suppress the rioting construction troops and
restore order to the camp. After the Mechanic's fusiliers repaired
damage that they had caused to offense, they were allowed
to return home.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
You can get the hell out of here, right. Screw
you guys. They were the freaking soldiers. Fifteenth of November
eighteen sixty one. All the citizens that are not in
the war, they're getting ready to go out, opening day
of whitetail season, going to shoot them a buck.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Well, it's eighteen sixty one. I don't think there was
a hunting season. You just go out and shoot whatever
the fuck they want.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
It's true. Camp Douglas, how was about four two d
and twenty two volunteer soldiers from eleven regiments. By February
eighteen sixty two. The recruits suffered forty two deaths by disease.
According to George Levy's nineteen ninety nine history of the camp,
total of forty thousand Union Army recruits passed through the
camp for outfitting and training before the facility was permanently

(07:45):
converted to a prisoner of war camp cool in nineteen
sixty history by Eisendrath estimated a number of recruits as
twenty five thousand based on his sources at the time.
Colonel Tucker's his job as camp commanded was not easy.
He had to use increasingly hard measures to curb considerable
drunkenness and disorderly conduct by recruits in the camp. He

(08:08):
also had to supervise their conduct and sometimes to take
punitive action against them for the ax that they did
in the city of Chicago. This is where the soldiers
abused past privileges Chicago's wild probably even back in eighteen
sixty five sixty one.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah February sixteenth, eighteen sixty two, the Union Army under
Liss Grant, they captured Fort Donaldson and Fort Henry. With
these victories, his forces took about twelve thousand to fifteen
thousand Federate prisoners.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
What do we do with them? Right?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
The Army was unprepared to handle this large group of
prisoners and scrambled to find places to house them. Colonel
Tucker he told General Grant, Superior Major General or Henny
hat Henry Halleck, that Camp Dougas could accommodate about eight
or nine of those town Eight or nine thousand of
them lied, which is about the same number as the
recruits that had been built for This did not anticipate

(08:59):
the differences require of a prison facility.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
No, right, you guys.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
You got open barracks for recruitments, guys to do whatever
they want. Now you got a house prisoners that want
to get out of there.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, not gonna happen. General Hellck, chief of staff at
the scene in Tennessee. Brigadier of General George Collum. He
sent many prisoners to Saint Louis before he received, Before
he received War Department instructions to direct seven thousand prisoners
to Camp Douglass. He goes to send seven thousand those
bitches to Chicago. This would be a problem in Chicago
because the camp and the staff couldnot easily handle even
the smaller number of prisoners that had received, not to

(09:31):
let alone seven thousand more. But in an event, Illinois
Central Railroad transported four thousand, four hundred and fifty nine
of the Fort Donaldson prisoners to Camp Douglas from Cairo, Illinois,
where they had initially been sent.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
February eighteenth, eighteen sixty two, Colonel Arnold Voss He took
freef temporary command of the camp until Colonel Tucker returned
from Springfield seven days later. Awesome Boss had to prepare
for arrival. On February twenty at eighteen sixty two, of
the first prisoners from Fort Donaldson, who found a camp
but no.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Real prison right for the first few days there, were.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Housed in the White Oak Square section along with newly
trained Union soldiers. About the department service at the front.
Oh jeez, the Army sent sick prisoners to the camp,
although I had no medical facilities at the.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Time, and they've been advised not to even do it.
February twenty third, eighteen sixty two, the Union troops vacated
the camp except for a small force left to guard
the prisoners. This guard consisted of one regiment of four
hundred sixty nine listened men and about forty officers badly outnumbered,
no way outnumbered. February twenty fifth, eighteen sixty two. Does
that be any prison right? Jenior Halleck ordered Confederate officers

(10:36):
to be transferred to Camp Chase. This is in Ohio. Officers,
several hundred men were pulled out, and then Camp Douglas
just became a prison camp for only enlisted men. They're
like Confederate officers as you get a little bit nicer quarterers,
I guess, and little more, little more than a month
by the Anne match, over seven hundred prisoners dead, about

(10:57):
seventy seven escapes were recorded, and that was by June
of eighteen sixty two. Historians and they've said they've never
even found any record of any escapee harm in civilians. Okay,
I don't think they ever want to harm the civilians.
They just want to get the fuck.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
They're not murderers and rapists. They're freaking Confederate soldiers.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
They just want to get below that Dixie line. All right.
This is weird up here. I'm bitch.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
February twenty sixth, eighteen sixty two.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Hallock.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
He ordered Colonel Tucker to report to Springfield Colonel James Mulligan,
a Union Army officer from Illinois. He was appointed as
commander of the camp until June fourteenth. Between June fourteenth
and June nineteenth, Colonel Daniel Cameron was in charge. First
group of prisoners were treated reasonably well under the circumstances,
despite the inadequacy of the grounds, barracks, and sewer and

(11:44):
water systems. Right sewers weren't even authorized until June of
eighteen sixty three, wow, and it took time after that
to be completed right. Initially, the prisoners received enough to eat,
with cooking stoves and utensils. To aid in preparation and clothing,
a good Sutler store was set up as well.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Good for you guys, it's.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
A merchant who sells provisions their own little provision store.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
The Army sent three tons of corn meal and also
large quantities of blankets, clothing, shoes. They did that on
the March of first, eighteen sixty two. Sickness and death
among the prisoners and even among the some gods reached
epidemic levels. Frozen hydrants led to a water shutage. One
in eight prisoners from Fort Donaldson died in pneumonia or

(12:29):
various diseases. After eight of twelve, eighteen sixty two, Colonel
Mulligan he finally permitted only physicians and ministers to visit
the prisoners to reduce exposure to.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
The diseases oh the exposures coming from inside the camp.
Budy Mulligan cooperated with local residents who provided a relief
committee for the prisoners. When they learned of the campusport conditions.
Mulligan apparently showed some sympathy for the prisoners because he
had been treated with respect by Confederate General Sterling Price
when Mulligan's regiment had been captured and proed at First.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Battle of Lexington. See Mulligan was exchanged in that.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
After them captures October thirtieth, eighteen sixty.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
One, nobody anyway's spend a little over a month. Good
for you, Bud. After the Blue Coaches victory at the
Battle Shiloh and the capture of Island Number ten in
the spring of eighteen sixty two, Camp Douglas housed eighty
nine hundred and sixty two Confederate prisoners. Conditions at the
camp deteriorated quickly with the overcrowding and the escapes they increased.

(13:29):
Some escapes were aided by Southern sympathizers in Chicago, and
others were facilitated by a lax administration by Colonel Willigan
and the guys whatever whatever man let them go.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
I'm gonna try to manage the great number of prisoners
being captured.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
During the war.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
They allowed like the War Department of the Army set
up the Office of the Commissary General of prisoners, and
starting in June eighteen sixty two, this position reported directly
to the Secretary of War. August eighteen sixty two, Lieutenant
Colonel William Huffman, newly released from a Confederate pow camp,
took over that office and served it throughout the war,

(14:02):
setting national policy related to treatment of prisoners, prison camps,
and conditions for exchanging or release in prison.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Good for him, he got to see firsthand what it
is to be a prisoner of war. He was like,
I don't like that. Wouldn't put that on anybody. Based
on reports he received, Colonel Hoffman, he soon realized that
Camp Douglas was inadequate for even a prison. He proposed
construction of two story insulated barracks at the camp, but
the Army approved maintenance or construction of only the thin

(14:29):
single story structures which had been constructed for a short
term by volunteer trainees. Oh well, I like, now that's
good enough. But eighteen sixty two, Colonel Mulligan, Colonel Tucker,
Colonel Hoffman, they all tried to get funds to improve
the sewers, and they wanted to build new barracks, but
no success. Quartermaster General Montgomery Meeks. He said construction of

(14:51):
a new sewer system would be too extravagant, and it
was not even until June of eighteen sixty three that
he authorized the construction of sewers after being pressure by
leading members of the United States Sanitary Commission. Well, this
is gross, dude, right.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Twentieth century historians have criticized local commanders and Hoffman for
failing to scare a proper balanced diet.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
For the prisoners. What do you want to do?

Speaker 2 (15:11):
A better diet could have helped prevent the onset or
spread of disease, including scurvy, and which resulted from a
known environment vitamin deficiency.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, scurvy's rough bud. Although still with the Illinois
Militia and not in the old Federal Army, Colonel Tucker
he returned to command. He wanted a command that camp
one more time on nineteen to June eighteen sixty two,
to deal with local civilian sympathizers who might be aiding escapees.
Colonel Tucker he declared martial law on the twelfth of

(15:40):
July of eighteen sixty two, twenty five prisoners escaped. On
the twenty third of July. He said all right, Tucker
arrested several citizens who he believed aided the escapees. In addition,
he brought in Chicago police to search the camp. This
action caused much lasting animosity for the prisoners because the
police confiscated many of the prisoners valuables. Yeah, the police

(16:00):
also confiscated five pistols, many bullets they had them and
not use them and themselves. Twenty of the escapees were
recaptured within two weeks. Seven lucky sons of bitches. They
didn't know which way it was north or south. They're
like damn or they had like one foot bigger than
the other, one leg longer than the other. So they

(16:22):
went in bike circle ended up back at the camp.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
In the summer of eighteen sixty two, Henry Whitney Bellow
was President of the United States Sanitary Commission. He wrote
the following to Colonel Hoffman after visiting the camp, Sir,
the amount of standing water on police grounds, of foul sinks,
unventilated and crowded barracks, of general disorder of soil reacing,
miismatic accretions, ocrushis of rotten bones, and emptying of camp kettles.

(16:54):
It's enough to drive a sanitari into despair.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
You ain't kidding.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
I hope that no thought will be entertained of mending matters.
The absolute abandonment of the spot seems to be the
only judicious courses. I do not believe there's no cleaning
that you just got to just tear down. I do
not believe that any amount of drainage would purge that
soil loaded with accumulated filth, or those barracks feted with
two stories of vermin and animal exhalations. Nothing but fire

(17:20):
can cleanse them.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
You ain't kidd And I don't even want to burn that.
That's just wow. Hoffman. He already requested improvements in the camp,
but he kept the report secret because they did not
want to take a position contrary to that taken by
any superior such as Quartermaster General Meeks. Not only prisoners suffered,
but one of Colonel Tucker's sons, who served with them
at the camp, he became ill and died in the

(17:43):
summer of eighteen sixty two.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
You got to go to somebody, But like dude, now,
my freaking families die.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
In bro Well. Conditions did improve at the camp and
the summer, as almost all prisoners left by September eighteen
six that would do it. About one thousand prisoners took
an oath of allegiance to the United States and the
we're freed. I mean, that's all you have to do.
Begin you need let me help.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Maybe all prisoners who are too ill are not too
ill to travel or exchange. To the implementation of the
July twenty second, eighteen sixty two Dix Hill Prisoner Cartel
between the Union and Confederate Armies October sixth, eighteen sixty two,
the few remaining prisoners who had been too ill to
leave earlier, they were also gone. Through September eighteen sixty two,

(18:21):
nine hundred and eighty Confederate prisoners, two hundred and forty
Union Army trainees and guards had died at the camp,
almost all of them from disease preventable very.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
That's a large number. Only at nine thousand people, it's
like what percent, right, ten percent? Almost? Maybe? Yeah? Wow.
In the fall of eighteen sixty two, Camp Douglas again
briefly became a training camp for Union art I want
to go back for the Union Army volunteeris The old
Blue Coats then used camp for its most unusual purpose
Union soldiers who were proed after they're captured by Confederate

(18:53):
Lieutenant General Thomas Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Harper's
Ferry on a September fifteenth, eighteen sixty two. They were
sent to Camp Douglas for temporary detention. Under the terms
of the prisoner cartel, they had to await for more
exchange before they could even leave the camp.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Right yet, right, These eight thousand pro Union soldiers began
to arrive at camp August September twenty eighth, eighteen sixty two,
Brigader General Daniel Tyler. He relieved Colonel Tucker of command
at the camp. Under his command, these Union soldiers had
to live under similar conditions to those endured by the
Confederate prisoners. Woh, the conditions were worse because the camp
had already become filthy and even more run down during

(19:28):
its occupancy by the prisoners.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Right so, now, yeah, dude, that's fun, All right, that's crazy.
The pro soldiers were fortunate to have only about two
months day. They're able to tolerate the condition somewhat better
than the previous Confederate prisoners because the Union parolis were
more warmly dressed and in better physical condition and probably
could do whatever they wanted. Right, the damp conditions and
bad food still took their toll. By November, forty soldiers

(19:53):
of the one hundred and twenty six New York Volunteer
Infantry dead in about another sixty ill with fevers. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
One of these oppressive conditions. Union Army parleys became mutinous.
They set fires and made many attempted escapes. But you're
we were fighting for you, and now look what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Device boll shit. October twenty third, eighteen sixty two. General Tyler.
He brought in regular US troops to stop parole riot. Well,
they shouldn't even be in the first place.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He also ordered Tyler to
relax the strict discipline, which helped call him the proles.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, why are you treating these guys like prisoners? They
got captured by South.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Most of the prisoner of war exchanges between the Union
Competitate armies under the cartail were completed by the end
of November. All the proles left that camp by the
end of that month, except for Colonel Daniel Cameron and
his sixty fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They were held
until April nineteenth, eighteen sixty three, and put to work
as guards. So jeez, thirty five men of this regiment
also died because of disease.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Oh wow, that's just stupidity. Twentieth of November eighteen sixty two,
Colonel Daniel Cameron, who had been in a brief command
of the camp earlier in the year, and he had
been a month the prolice as well, he again took
command of the camp. That's crazy wow. On a sixth
of January eighteen sixty three, Union Army ordered Brigadier General

(21:10):
Jacob Ammen to take command of the camp as Confederate
prisoners from the Battle of Stones River were being sent
in to the camp. To the camp, I went to
the camp.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
The camp, about fifteen hundred poorly clothed and generally physically
unfit Confederate prisoners arrived January twenty sixth, eighteen sixty three.
About thirteen hundred other prisoners arrived the next day, and
about fifteen hundred more arrived January thirtieth.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Holy shit, instantly overcrowded. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
During January, a group of Lake Superior Chippewa chiefs were
shown the camp and route to Washington, DC. The ranking
chief was a non non nab naw gall nab it
means foremost sitter.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
He lectured the rebels, saying, you have been fighting to
break up this government like the bloody sous.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
And he gave him a little bit more than that.
Oh wow, A look at him. Damn. February second, eighteen six,
the three General ammen reported that many persons they were
two sick to even endure conditions at the camp. Neither
the Army nor the War Department made any immediate improvements
to that camp. That very month, three hundred and eighty
seven prisoners dead. This was the highest mortality rate in

(22:16):
any prison camp for any month during the war. Crazy,
even more than Andersonville. Fucking nuts. Since the prisoners had
just arrived at the camp there in the previous few weeks,
these prisoners likely are already and weakened in poor physical
condition at the time. I woul assume temperatures that month
reportedly as negative twenty degrees.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Ooh well, smallpox other diseases were widespread among widespread among
these prisoners. By March of eighteen sixty three, nineteen prisoners
and nineteen guards had.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
Died from small bottleses.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
It was also later spread to northern cities and into
Virginia by several infected prisoners who traveled together with many
other prisoners through several large cities by train and steamer
in a city point.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Virginia for exchange.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Most of these prisoners were exchanged by April third, eighteen
sixty three, under this leg prisoner cartel exchange. All right,
it's you know, spreading a small box wherever we go.
Dude swear crazy by eight but twenty seven, eighteen sixty three,
the final death toll from this group of prisoners was
seven hundred and eighty four, that said Levy or Levy.

(23:19):
He suggests that more than three hundred do these deaths
must have been covered up at the time, which would
have made seven eighty four a significant undercount of prisoner
deathk today. By the time these early eighteen sixty three
prisoners departed from the camp, sources suggest that between fourteen
hundred and seventeen hundred prisoners likely died at Camp Douglas Mot.
Official records show that only six hundred and fifteen prisoner

(23:41):
deaths to this day, The majority of the deaths at
the camp had been caused by typhoid, fever and pneumonia.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
The prisoner's arrived in a week in the condition, making
them vulnerable to disease. At the camp, they suffered filthy conditions,
an adequate sewer system, harshly cold weather, lack of sufficient
and clothing. A few prisoners were wounded or murdered by
guards who saw them step over the deadline near the
boundaries of the camp, or even if they committed minor offenses,

(24:11):
but such incidents occurred infrequently. Sure Despite these hardships, survivors
from this group prisoners who wrote about their experiences, they
generally stated that they were treated hum mainly at Camp Douglas.
General Hammond He was ordered to Springfield to command the
District of Illinois on the thirteenth of April eighteen sixty three.
Colonel Cameron He took command of the camp for a

(24:32):
week For about two weeks.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Captain Phillips John Phillips, He was a senior officer at
the camp and didn't command between May twelfth, eighteen sixty
three and eighteenth of aa August eighteen sixty three.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Captain J. S.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Putnam was in charge of the almost empty camp, which
then only held about fifty prisoners.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
They had free rome with everything.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
The army made some improvements to the camp and planned
others in the summer of eighteen sixty three, because it
intended to return the camp to its original purpose of
housing and training new UNI in recruits, but Union victories
during the summer of eighteen sixty three they produced a
large number of prisoners. And where else are you going
to send them but to Camp Douglas says that was
returned to use as a pow camp from this time

(25:12):
until the end of the war. Said, we can't train nobody.
We're gonna have to house all these guys.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yes. The first of the new Confederate prisoners five hundred
and fifty eight militant guerrilla raiders who had been under
the command of Prigader of General John Hunt Morgan. They
arrived at the camp on the twentieth of August eighteen
sixty three. Colonel Charles DeLand.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
You know what they call it, DeLand, it's right next
to the sea.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
He had been a prisoner of the Confederate earlier in
the war and would be again, And who had commanded
the first Michigan sharpshooters and pursue of Morgan. He was
ordered to take command of the camp on the eighteenth
of August eighteen so.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
He was a prisoner, took command of the prisoner camp,
and then became another prisoner when he went back out
into service. Colonel de Land was appointed commandant of the
camp because he was the senior officer of the regiment
garden prisoners as they were brought there. By September twenty
sixth eighteen sixty three, total four two hundred and thirty
four competitate prisoners were being held at the camp Yees.

(26:09):
October ninth that same year, doctor A. M Clark, medical
director of Prisoners, he inspected the camp. He found the
number of prisoners had risen a six thousand and eighty five,
with only nine hundred and seventy eight Union soldiers in
the garrison to guard them well.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Colonel de Land he tried to impose discipline on the
disorderly camp, but was frustrated by its poor condition and
corrupt gods, including especially those from his own regiments oh
pisav More, because only two water hydrants were available to
the prisoners, they had to wait in the cold for
hours to get water open sinks sewers. They ran through

(26:44):
the middle of the camp, just like doing the Confederates
had cross The rundown buildings provided inadequate shelter. Hospital capacity,
with one hundred and twenty beds for prisoners and fifty
beds for guards, was seriously inadequately. I would have think, so.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Wow, almost like you need to turn a couple barracks
into the hospital. Yeah, the post chapel was converted into
hospital space, but there was still insufficient capacity for all
the sick prisoners and guards during this period, and retaliation
for the treatment of Union prisoners by the Confederates, an
underclosed official in the High Command ordered the cook stoves,
which also provided heat. He ordered them replaced by forty

(27:21):
US gallon boilers. Oh wow, These large pots provided little
heat for the buildings and destroyed the quality of.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Food cooked in them. She's wants Dick did land. He
put infantry prisoners to work building a new sewer system
for the camp. Prisoners were not even required to work,
but many volunteered, probably in part because they were paid
in chewing tobacco and clothing. Oh yeah. They also had
them begin construction on a more substantial stockade after criticism

(27:47):
from doctor Clark and Colonel Hoffmann, who reviewed reports on
the camp. In mid October aged sixty three, the Land
provided the prisoners with cooking utensils, one hundred barrels of lime,
twenty four whitewash brushes, and a quantity of lumber for
repairs and washing of buildings. Good Guys.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
October twenty fifth, eighteen sixty three. The Land ordered that
prisoners clean their quarters regularly, but overcrowded seems to have
made it impossible to keep the barrack sanitaryum Construction of
the new sewers was finished by November sixth, but this
new system had inadequate three inch pipes and ran along
only two sides of the camp.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Additional improvements at this.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Time included lane of water pipes and laying that pipe
and near the completion offenses for the first time since
the camp became a prisoner detention facility, where we're going offenses,
what were they doing before?

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Prisoners who tried to escape replaced in White Oak Dungeon,
which was an eighteen square foot space under the guardroom,
which had only one small window and was permitted with
an intolerable stench. In his October eighteen sixty three, inspection
doctor Clark found twenty four prisoners in this space, which
he described as suitabowl for no more than three or four.

(28:56):
Mortgag's man attempted many escapes because of the weak security.
Twenty six prisoners escaped from the dungeon on twenty six
October eighteen sixty three. More than one hundred and fifty
prisoners escaped during Deland's period of command of the camp. Damn.
He was the wants of nobody. I'm gonta let him go.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Un President Lincoln's brother in law and Ninni and were Edwards.
He was a Union Army captain. He contracted with vendors
to supply meat and other rations to the military camps.
Their subcontractors delivered poor quality rations directly to prisoners at
Camp Douglas and not to the camp commissary. Oh Garrison
also received poor quality meat from these subcontractors. News of

(29:34):
this developed into a scandal that carried over to the
administration of the next camp commander. Like, yeah, dude, you're
giving these guys, like said, gizlets and giblets or whatever,
not even like real meat.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
Right Sickney de Land was pressured to increase security, but
yees several factors working against him. Layout of the camp
guards from the invalid corps who are unable to form efficiently,
the quartering of prisoners and guards together at white Oak Square,
together with the ease of which money could be sent
or brought to prisoners. These factors contributed to corruption and bribery,

(30:06):
as it always does. There's one occasion, specifically, where DeLand
lined up the prisoners from the eighth Kentucky Cavalry Regiment
when a tunnel was found under the barracks, and he
ordered guards to shoot if any sat down. Oh damn yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
One prisoner was killed and two were wounded by the
guards before the lineup was concluded. Finally, fifteen to twenty
men confessed to be in the main diggers and they
were sent to white Oak Dungeon. Later, DeLand hanged three
men by their thumbs, so they partly had to tiptoe
for an hour, oh ludgily because they threatened an informer.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Jeez.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
One of these men fainted and another threw up on himself.
DeLand imposed the same punishment at least one more time
after this, so bit hanging them up by their thumbs
so crazy.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Wow. He also ordered men out of the barracks for
long periods of time while searches for tunnels were conducted.
He ordered that Cookstow was be extinguished when taps was
played at sunset, which was hardship during cold weather. Yeah,
come on now. Despite these measures, about one hundred of
Morgan's men they escaped through a tonnel on third of
December eighteen sixty three. Most were recaptured. DeLand ordered guards

(31:12):
to shout only one challenge to prisoners who came too
near the fence or outside of barracks that night, before firing.
If they did not obey this once, stop once, and
if they don't shoot them Confederate prisoner T. D. Henry.
He suggested that most shooting incidents at Camp Douglas occurred
daring Deland's term as commandment, he sounds like a dick.
To discourage escape, to tempts, prisoners who went to use

(31:34):
lanterns at night had to leave their clothes in the
barracks regardless of the weather. Ooh jeez, yeah, fuck you.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
November ninth, eighteen sixty three, Colonel Benjamin Sweet, who was
commander of the eighth Regiment of the Invalid Corps, guard
in the camp. He challenged Colonel Deland's command of the
camp because sweets commission arguably predated Delands. He said, I
should be a few days later, Delan reacted quickly to
prevent escapes when a fire destroyed three hundred feet of barracks,
fences and the Sutler shop on November eleventh. This worked

(32:03):
in his favor, as Colonel Hoffman ordered that Colonel DeLand
remained as commanders if we can do it now. Hoffman
then ordered the Land to cut rations at this time,
which increased the hardships of the prisoners, although they still
seem to have a sufficient quantity of food daily.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Supposed it look well. Because of that fire, Hoffman decided
to go to Chicago to inspect the camp himself. He
arrived on fifteenth November eighteen sixty three de Land. He
bribed prisoners with whiskey to clean up the camp for
Hoffman's visit. Okay Newsome ry on eighteenth. On eighteenth November
eighteen sixty three, Brigadier General William Orm, who reported directly

(32:39):
to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He showed up to
inspect the camp in preparation for orm taken over command.
He noted that the garrison of eight hundred and seventy
six men was dangerously small, and that sixty one men
had escaped in the preceding three months. Chicago doctors who
inspected the prison in eighteen sixty three, he called Camp
Davis an extermination camp. Quickly became the largest Confederate burial

(33:02):
ground outside of the South. It's crazy, dam.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
The Army ordered Sutler stores at prison camp shut down
on December first, eighteen sixty three. That was in retaliation
for reported Confederate mistreatment of Union prisoners. The store at
Camp Douglas that was indeed closed, but then December twelfth,
so after a successful tunnel limit escape December third, Colonel
DeLand ordered all floors torn out of the barracks to
be replaced by dirt, even with the floor joist. Oh

(33:30):
all right, that's crazy. This resulted in conditions that increased
sickness and mortality, of course, and the garrison also tore
out partitions in the barracks.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
Shoot come on, guys, wow. The land off of confiscated
warm coats, possibly escapes, but as likely in retaliation for
past escapes and attempts. On the seventeenth December, the prison
camp officials closed the barbershop and news stand and stopped
sales of stamps, envelopes, and writing paper. This is also

(34:00):
likely in retaliation for the escapes. Wow. When Sergeant Major
Oscar Kleiat of the fifty fifth Georgia Vatry reported to
de Land that his men rejected an offer of amnesty
if they joined the Union Navy because they could not swim,
Delan had him placed in the dungeon for twenty one days. Wow.
This guy's a piece of shit. Yeah. Despite these harsh actions,

(34:21):
Delan also worked a free fifty underage prisoners who he
discovered between the ages of fourteen seventeen. The army did
not free them. Okay.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
December twenty third of the same year, Brigader General William
orm He finally relieved DeLand as commander of the camp,
but Delan he remained at the camp until March eleventh.
As commander of the garrison, Jesus orm had arranged to
increase to garrison about four hundred reenforcements reinforcements for the
guards from the fifteenth Regiment of the Invalid Courts under

(34:50):
Colonel James Strong. They arrived the next day. Okay, March eighteenth,
eighteen sixty four, in an effort to improve morale, Union
Army renamed the Invalid Corps as the Veteran Reserve. You
guys are no longer invalid.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Right, awesome? Well, Jenner orm He tried to handle the
continuing scandal over the poor quality beef, as well as
other administrative problems that he inherited. After investigation, he exonerated
Nelian Ninian Edwards and his vendors any placed to blame
for the meat problem solely on sub kind. But I'm
sure had sure Lincoln had nothing to do with that.

(35:23):
Despite Edwards' his exoneration and his relationship with the old president,
the Army could control of the subsistence at the camp
away from Edwards. On the twenty seventh January eighteen sixty four, Edwards,
which was a captain in the Union Army. He was
reassigned as Food Commission Commissary and treasurer of the Prison
Fund in March of eighteen sixty four. Relationship have anything
to do with the right.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
A blizzard and temperature of negative eighteen degrees fahrenheit occurred
January first, eighteen sixty four.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Some tgo to its constantly Wendy.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Indy City. Some prisoners who escaped at this time were
found frozen to death nearby.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Makes sense.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
January eighth, General Orm instituted of armed guard patrols. Some
prisoners reported killing and eating rats after our prison kitchen
was demolished January tenth, and food shortages resulted. Not the
reports appeared to be dubious. Jenior warm he obtained some
Union Army overcoats outside of channels and distributed them to prisoners,

(36:18):
but when Colonel Hoffman learned of his actions, he reprimmended
him for proceeding outside of regulations and these guys still
not Americans like old ground.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Doctor Edward Kiddo of the Surgeon General's Office he inspected
the camp on the eighteenth of January. He found the
severely overcrowded barracks deep in filth, mud, swarming with vermin
due to the lack of flooring, Cooking was deficient, garbage
littered with the streets. Old laterns were not sealed properly,
and waste was seeping to the surface. He gave it

(36:51):
high remarks to the hospital, but noted that two hundred
and fifty six men remained in barracks because the hospital's
two hundred thirty four beds were full.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Jeez, on that thirty six percent of the prisoners were ill.
Fifty seven prisoners had died just in December of eighteen
sixty three. The guards also were suffering from the poor
conditions of the camp, with twenty nine percent ill and
six deaths among them.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
In December.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Wow, the doctor concluded the camp was unfit for use,
but as we know, it remained in use.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
What do we want to do? What are we supposed
to do? Guys?

Speaker 2 (37:22):
How about put the floors back and call a plumber
against these fucking toilets fucking snaked out or something something shit.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Twentieth of January, prisoners began to be transferred from white
Oak Square to Prisoner Square. The construction added forty acres
to the camp. The barracks had to be moved on rollers.
When unpaid prisoners refused to do further work on the move,
they were forced to use makeshift shelters rather than being
allowed to sleep in the partially moved buildings. Hey, they said,

(37:51):
your buildings are sleeping in. I guess all. The prisoners
were not moved from white Oak Square until April of
eighteen sixty four. Jeez old Pete.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Well, thanks to another inspectction of the camp by doctor
Clark February fourth, eighteen sixty four, the florin was finally restored.
Clark he also found that the number of working hydrants
for supplying water to the camp had been increased from
three to twelve times. By February twenty seven, floors were
laid in all barracks and the structures were raised five
feet off the ground on thick timber legs. Of course,

(38:19):
this not only improved the sanitary condition of the barracks
but helped prevent tunneling.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Yeah, that's probably daring to move.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Many of the barracks and kitchens had been placed closer
to the fences, which found to encourage tunnel and efforts,
right right.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Why would you move them close to the fence? Bunton.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Discovery of these escape efforts, prison officials moved the barracks
further from the stockade walls and it reduced the attempts
to escape.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Clearly, tunnels makes sense. It was eleventh of March.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
A bunch of idiots running this camp, first of all, A.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Bunch of them, a constant eleventh of March. Colonel DeLand
and his regiment were sent to the front. You go
to the front of the battle lines. The Land was
wounded four times in the battles of the Wilderness, Sponsvania,
and Petersburg. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates, but
was not mistreated despite his command of Camp dougas he's
a colonel. His Confederate captors treated his wounds. He was

(39:10):
also exchanged and discharged from the army on the fourth
of February eighteen sixty five. On the thirteenth of March
eighteen sixty seven, Congress confirmed the award to the Land
of the honorary grade of Brevet brigadier general to rank
from March thirteenth, eighteen sixty five. Why oh bitch.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
The War Department appointed Colonel James Strong as the new
head of the garrison. His command began during General Orm's
command of the camp and continued through Colonel Sweet's command.
At the beginning of his duty, Strong had only about
six hundred and fifty healthy men to guard almost six
thousand prisoners. Strong prepared new prison rolls and found that
eighty four prisoners were missing. He was the first garrison
commander to force prisoners to work, but work details were

(39:50):
restricted to four hours per day.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Okay. Between January and March of eighteen sixty four, Colonel
Strong had only five hundred and fifty men available for guards.
Thirty two escapes were made from the camp. Strong realized
placement of the buildings and prisoner square contributed to the problem.
Any of them moved away from the fences and closer
to the middle of the square. The fence separate and

(40:13):
prisoner square from the rest of the camp was completed
on twenty second of match. About this time, General Orm
attached many bright oil burning lamps to the fence to
illuminate the area at night. That's a fire. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Also a new Sutler store with high prices, though, that
was established at the camp around April. First construction of
a very advanced additional one hundred and eighty bed hospital
included a mess room, kitchen, hot water, joining laundry, and
flush toilets oh flush toilet That was completed aight pri
tenth of eighteen sixty four. You have, the hospital facilities
were still too small for all the needs of the

(40:47):
prisoners and guards. Despite the need, the camp added only
seventy more beds and two old Buildingsess you guys got
like hundreds of acres, build a freaking thousand room or
a bed hospital.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
Holy craft, all right? Well. The separate smallpox hospital remained
in a converted cavalry stable until it was moved to
a site called Adell Grove. It was about one and
a half mile about a half a mile south of
the camp, on the south side of the University of Chicago.
This face caught his growth.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
So the University of Chicago is between a messed up,
shit infested camp and then a small box infested hospital.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Jeez. The expanded facility began to operate on fifteenth apri
eighteen sixty four. Strict discipline and abuse of the prisoners increased.
At this time, Colonel Strong gave more power to patrols
and put each barracks under control of a sergeant, two corporals,
and five privates.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Oh jeesus, like their own little regiment. Some of these
individuals were vindictive and even dangerous a pretend. Eighteen sixty four,
guards made some prisoners stand on barrels for purchasing whiskey
from a guard. What they do to the guard, all right.
Others were made to wear signs noted in various offenses dudgeon,
this time about twenty feet square and seven feet high

(42:03):
with two small air holes, that was built in prisoner square.
Three men spend a night there for climbing a roof
to watch horse racing. Punishment through extensive use of ball
and chain using a thirty two pound cannonball chain to
a prisoner's leg began.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Some prisoners received this punishment for renegan on a request
to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
They said, I swear I will, But then they caught
him again. They're like you, son of a bitch. Seventeen
to match eighteen sixty four, the War Department ordered that
any shooting incident at a prison camp must be investigated
by a board of officers. Thereafter, only eight shooting incidents
reported reported, six in connection with escape attempts, one for

(42:44):
yearine eight in the street, and one for crossing the deadline. Well.
Two prisoners in the barracks were wounded when the shots
missed the prisoner who crossed the deadline. On the April sixteenth,
eighteen sixty four, Lieutenant Colonel John F. Marsh of the
Inspector General's Office inspected the camp. What did he find
he found.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
A lax control of Suttler's prisoners being paid tobacco for
garbage collection by a private garbage contractor. Barrick's in poor condition,
with floors ripped up, failthy betting grounds, wet and poor
policingez April seventeenth, eighteen sixty four, Ulystassas Grant canceled all
prisoner exchange negotiations and said they would not resume unless
they included black prisoners held by Confederates. Oh This led

(43:25):
to a several months long impass and prisoner exchanges until
shortly after negotiations were resumed January twenty first, eighteen sixty five.
So guess what nobody's leaving now.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Both Union and rebel armies had to house many additional
prisoners for longer periods of time than they had in
the past when the prisoner cartel had been operating many
prisoners they could expect to be exchanged within a few months.
Twenty seventh April eighteen sixty four, without authority General Orm,
he fired Colonel Strong as commander of the garrison and

(43:56):
installed Colonel Benjamin Suite. Later, when orm was ordered to
correct the problems at the camp, he resigned. He was
also reported to be ill at the time, so he
was like, fuck this shit, I'm going home.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
May second, eighteen sixty four, the War Department appointed Colonel
Sweet as commander of the camp. He had been at
the camp for seven months and wanted the post. He's like,
I get a little bit better food at least or something.
Some historians now doubtless claim to have been wounded at
the Battle of Perryville, because he claimed that the two
wounds included a chess boom, were treated by ordinary soldiers
and not doctors. On the other hand, other sources say

(44:29):
that his right arm was rendered useless by the wounds,
and in an event, Sweet transferred to the invalid corps.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Okay, what the hell did they have to do with anything?

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Right?

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Well? Sweet, he proved to be a strict disciplinarian. Are
they all who increased punishments and cut rautionans? This latter
action was in line with revised War Department policy in
eighteen sixty four. He proved to be a better organized
than most respects, and he had as a better administrator
than his predecessors. Colonel Sweet reinstated Colonel Strong as spander
of the garrison. Sweet he strained relations with Colonel Hoffman

(45:01):
in the National Office, by refusing to live at the
camp and by moving his office in downtown Shoes. I'm
not living in this fucking cess pit. Wow. His twelve
year old daughter eight was living with him, apparently to
act as his secretary. Oh his daughter.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Right Confederate prisoner TD Henry. He noted that Sweet appointed
a fiend named Captain Webb Sponnable as an inspector of
prisoners from this time, for the darkest leaf in the
legends of Tyranny did not possibly contain a greater number
of punishments.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Sponnable's patrol force of two lieutenants, ten sergeants, twenty corporals
and thirty eight privates continue to regulate rations, cooking arrangements,
and work details. A five man squad was on constant
patrol in Prisoner Square, and as suite was not on site,
prisoners felt the garrison soldiers would not be held accountable
for their treatment.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
For some prisoners, the patrol were a benefit because they
protected prisoners from each other.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
The patrols cracked down on a few guards whose actions
were out of line as well.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Sweet He changed the rations by eliminated in hominy, which
he said was a waste, and candles as well, which
he believed were used in aid of tunnel in Using
forced labor to build new units he placed to increase
in number of prisoners barracks on parallel streets. Sweet had
the prisoner's search daily for contraband to be sure prisoners
had no cash to bribe guards, but such hidden money

(46:24):
was not found. I would assume during a prison wide
roll call on a twenty fourth to May, the guards
confiscated excess clothing from the prisoner's barracks.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
The top soil of the camp had become so eroded
that guards had to wear goggles as protection against blowing
sand and dust, and prisoners had to almost close their
eyes to move around. Jesus May twenty seventh, eighteen sixty four,
Sweet ordered two more sinks built in prisoner Square.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
They called sinks their toilets.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
He had more than six thousand feet of pine board
delivered for repairs to the barracks as well. He also
tried to force prisoners to keep the camp in repair.
Prisoners attack Defend It's an attempt to escape June first,
but were thwarted, mainly by guards on the ground using revolvers.
Those on the fence lines were armed with rifles that
might not have worked. No prisoners were killed in the incident.
They said, we got them right.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Can't choot them though. As a number of prisoners at
the camp increased in the summer of eighteen sixty four,
the War Department again reduced rations. This was in retaliation
for the old rebels reducing rations and for union prisoners tariffs.
Maybe right. Rationans reportedly no longer lasted quite as long
as the period for which they were allotted. That would
probably make sense.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
That's what happens when new decrease things.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
A few prisoners reported that prisoners resorted to eat and riots.
Yet do what you gotta do. Guards punished anyone caught
taking bones from the garbage by tying the bone in
the prisoner's mouth and making him crawl around like a dog.
That's crazy. As the length of the confinements increased, due
to the lack of prisoner exchanges, more fights between prisoners arose.
Other prisoners usually broke them up before guards intervened and

(47:58):
worked details were still required.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
By June of eighteen sixty four, guards had set up
the mule or wooden horse, which was a saw horse
type device about four feet off the ground, later raised
the fifteen feet. It had a thin, almost sharp edge
and was used as punishment. Prisoners were forced to sit
on it. Oh, prisoners used their hand to braid themselves
when on the device, but a Confederate prisoner reported seeing

(48:22):
men forced to sit on until they fainted and fell off.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
Jeez. Sometimes weights were tied to the prisoner's feet. Ah.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
The device, which was outside, was used in any type
of weather. Obviously, a guard was also required to sit
on the device's punishment for an unrecorded defense as well.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Cool mister, everybody's getting the same.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
In line with War Department instructions, the Post surgeon refused
Confederate surgeon's request to send medicine for free to the prisoners.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
All these cos we'll give them no Sorry guys. No.
Camp Douglas conspiracy thought to have been a serious plot
to assault the camp and free the prisoners. This was
supposed to have come to fruition on the eighth of
November eighteen sixty four. The arians still do not agree
on whether the plot was real or a hoax, or
it was devised by people seeking advantage from his misinformation.

(49:08):
Attorney and historian George Levy. He maintained that the experience
began as a cohn aimed at Confederate agents that evolved
into a hoax exploited by Colonel Sweet for his own advantage.
All right, that's what happened.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Levy wrote that believing in the Camp Douglas conspiracy was
a matter of faith. Confederate agents thought they had had
created a workable plot, and Colonel Sweet made their dream
come true.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
On the other hand, Kelly wrote that Sweet seemed to
believe the plot to be real. Eisendrath also treated the
plot as real right in at a time closer to
the event. Bross also describes the plot as real. Any
of those guys are but okay.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
In the spring of eighteen sixty four of the rebel
government that sent agents to Canada to planned prison escape
attempts and attacks in the North, one of the agents
kept its Thomas Hines. He believed that he could raise
a force of about five thousand Confederate sympathizers in Chicago
to free the prisoners. On the other hand, no evidence
of the elementary planning of the details, for they saw
it before Hines began to plan the operation. In mid

(50:07):
August of eighteen sixty four. They had not even been found,
no plans whatsoever. He soon found that he had only
had twenty five untrained volunteers for the difficult mission. Like
are you stupid? All right?

Speaker 2 (50:16):
He apparently gave up on the scheme. As a Democratic
convention in Chicago, which was supposed to provide volunteers and
cover for the execution of the plan, it ended at
the end of August. Sweet kept the tale alive, however,
and told superiors he was about to crush a dangerous uprising.
Oh as Sweet made no effort to prevent one hundred
ninety six Pennsylvania infantry from leaving the camp eleven days earlier.

(50:37):
Levy thinks that his report to superiors was self serving.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
It was oh, why didn't he prevent them? Right wow.
Sixth to November eighteen sixty four, Brigador General John Cook
in Springfield, Illinois. He authorized Colonel Sweet to arrest two
Confederate agents at Chicago. Sweet he sent a message by
hand delivery, not by telegraph. He sent it to Cook
that said that Colonel O. Marmaduke of the Rebel Army

(51:00):
and other officers were in town plotting to release the prisoners.
Sweet claimed they had to act immediately and arrest two
or three prominent citizens who were actively involved in the plot.
Well without a warrant.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Sweets men searched the home of Charles Walsh, who was
the leader of the Sons of Liberty Wonder second group.
They were sympathetic with the South, and discovered a cache
of guns and ammo. The arms were not found and
the quantity needed to arm two thousand men as a
plot supposedly called for, though Sweet effectively extended martial law
from the few blocks around of the camp to the
entire city.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
Of Chicago, oh.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Sweet stated that one hundred and sixty men. Sweet stated
that one hundred and six men were arrested, including Wash
and Judge Buckner Stith Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois,
who was treasurer of the Suns. Oh jeez, what is
this burnside?

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Right? It was in this area at this time. Somewhere
over half of those arrested were promptly released. Another search
on eleventh of November turned up seventy eight more guns.
Only six of the eighteen Camp Douglas prisoners from Chicago
were arrested on November six, while the others were arrested
between the twelfth and sixteenth. Sweet found only fifty one

(52:09):
of the sixty nine Chicagoans on his list of one
hundred and eight suspects on November six The other Chicagoans
were seized later, and the other suspects are arrested outside
Chicago in their home countries.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Were counties Sweets claimed to have arrested leaders of the
Klingman Gang of Southern Illinois draft resistors and the Southern Sympathizers,
is not borne out by the records, though Sweet combined
those he arrested in a church before moving them to
Camp Douglas. Secretary of War Stanton approved of sweets action.
Generals Hooker and Cook sent him reinforcements.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
And Governor Yates put the Chicago militia at Sweet's disposal. Ooh, Sweet, he.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Then had about two thousand troops available. Then arrested five
more members of the Suns of limiting November fourteenth, and
this included Richard T.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
Semmes.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
He was not the brother of the Confederate admiral, as
Sweet asserted at the time.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
No Raphael Semes. Okay, some people have the same last name.
A man He also arrested Vincent Marmerduke, who was not
the Confederate colonel. According to Levy, after the release of
number of suspects, the total number of leaders and foot
soldiers an alleged plot to assault the camp and free
the prisoners was just sixty six men. Okay. The Army

(53:17):
agreed with Sweet's advice to try those arrested before a
military commission, but ordered that this trial take place in
Cincinnati and not in Chicago. Sweet did not arrest Mary Morris,
the young pro Southern wife of Judge Morris, but the prosecutor,
Major Henry Burnett ordered her arrested. She was not charged,
likely as part of a deal in return for a testimony.

(53:39):
Her later self incrimination led to the exoneration of her husband.
Oh Oh.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Sweet's main informer and agent, John Shanks, a Confederate prisoner
who was a former Morgan's raider and a convicted criminal.
He testified against the defendants. Sweet kept the pretense that
Shanks was not his agent and lied that Judge Morris
had aided Changs to escape from Camp Douglas. In a
recently discovered letter of March twenty ninth, eighteen sixty five.

(54:05):
March twenty ninth, eighteen sixty five from Sweet to Hoffman.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
He told Hoffman of.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Using Shanks and asked for approval of one year's pay
from the prison fund for him well. No record of
a reply from Hoffman has been found this Sweet skuy
Huh Shank's criminal pass was disclosed to the Military Commission,
but is still convicted many of the defendants.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
On the twelfth of December, President Lincoln awarded to Sweet
the rank of Brevet Brigadier General United States Volunteers from
December twenty of eighteen sixty four, and the United States
Senate confirmed the award on February fourteenth, eighteen sixty five.
Shanks he was recruited as a galvanized Yankee in eighteen
sixty five as a captain commanding Company I of the

(54:47):
sixth US Volunteer Inventory. He was the only former Confederate
prisoner commission as an officer. Was Great Wow.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Former Confederate prisoners of Wars War allegiance to the United
States and then joined the Union Army. Oh Wow, about
fifty six hundred of them.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
And thanks.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Of those, more than two fifty had begun their service
as Union soldiers were captured in battle then listened in
prison to join a regiment of the Confederate States Army.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Heh, there you go. Fuck.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
They were then surrendered to Union in eighteen sixty four,
were held as deserters, but were saved from prosecution by
being enlisted in the fifth and sixth US Volunteers. So
they went from Union to Confederacy back to Union.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Wow, jeez, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
The first use recorded in an Oxford English dictionary of
the phrase to hell in a handbasket was in the
Great Northwestern Conspiracy and All Its starlind Details, which is
an eighteen sixty five account by I. Winslow Air of
events surrounding the Camp Douglas Conspiracy. Ayer alleges that at
an August meeting of the Order of the Sons of Liberty,

(55:47):
Judge Morris, he said, thousands of our best men were
prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty, would
send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
Oh wow. Toward the n of eated sixty four, surgeons
refused to even send recovering prisoners back to the barracks
due to the rampant scurvy, a tributable to Hoffman's policy
of with holding vegetables from the prisoners. In October of
eighteen sixty four, nine hundred and eighty four four hundred
two prisoners reported as sick. Meanwhile, in November of eighteen

(56:19):
sixty four, as repairs were being carried out, water was
cut off to the camp and even to the hospital.
Prisoners had to risk being shot in order to gather snow,
even beyond the deadline for coffee and other uses. Assholes.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
December fifth, eighteen sixty four, prisoners from Confederate General John
bell Hood's army, which had been shattered at the Battle
of Franklin and Nashville, they began to arrive at Camp Douglas.
These weak and destitute prisoners were made to undress and
stand outside for a long period of time in ice
and snow.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Oh guards rob them of any valuables. Jeez. One of these.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Prisoners, John Coppley. He stated that rations were sufficient to
keep the men tolerably hungry, though just a little rumble
and tummy.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
By this time, the new six inch water pipes kept
laterans running smoothly for them. Finally, Huh. With bath and
laundry facilities now available, prisoners themselves and forced clothes washing
and bathing. If other prisoners were reluctant to do so.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
You get your stink ass over there and wash your
ass man.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
Although censored mail was sent and delivered faithfully, even to
and front prisoners in the dungeon, little if any evidence
backs up a few later assertions that prisoners often froze
to death, although some six prisoners who should have been
in a hospital probably did die because of the cold.
Near the end of the March of eighteen sixty five,
they sewer pipe broke, and with the insensitive of forty

(57:40):
two barrels of whiskey, prisoners were put to work.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
The camp officials contracted with an unscrupulous undertaker, C. H. Jordan,
who sold some of the bodies of competitive prisoners to
medical schools and had the rest buried in shallow graves
without coffins. Some bodies reportedly were even dumped into Lake Michigan,
only to wash up. On its show, Levy states that
bodies may have ended up in the lake because they
were initially buried in shallow graves along the shore and

(58:07):
then exposed due to erosion. They just drifted away. Jordan
shipped one hundred and forty three bodies to Kentucky, according
to the official records and claimed to have sent about
four hundred bodies to the families of the d C
sturing the course.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Of the war. Wow many dead prisoners' bodies initially were
buried in unmarked poppers in Chicago City Cemetery, which is
located on the site of today's Lincoln Park. In eighteen
sixty seven, the bodies we reinterred as to what is
now known as Confederate Mound in oak Wood Cemetery, which
is about five miles south of former Cam Douglas Well.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
With the surrender of Lee's army April ninth, eighteen sixty five,
enough former enough former Confederate prisoners volunteered to enlist in
the US Army to join in the Frontier Indian Warfare
to fill ten companies. Despite the imminent end of the war,
a few instances of cruelty by guards were reported even
after this.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Eight May eighth, eighteen sixty.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Five, Colonel Sweet Colonel Sweet received the order to release
all prisoners except those above the rank of colonel. Those
who took the oath of allegiance were provided transportation home,
but those who did not were on their own. So
you can get the hell out of air About one thousand,
seven hundred. Still I went even and took the oath
that I'm still free.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
I'll be home. Figured it out, figured it out, figure deep.
About one thousand, seven hundred and seventy seven. Oh, about
one thousand, seven hundred and seventy prisoners refused to take
to oh and on July fifth, eighteen sixty five of
the guards were drawn from the camp. Oh that's it.
Only sixteen prisoners then remain at the camp. Hospital. Sweet
resigned from the army on September nineteenth, eighteen sixty five,

(59:41):
and he was briefly replaced as commander of the camp
by Captain Edward Shirley. About the first of October eighteen
sixty five, Captain e c fed a place He's appointed
as the last commander of the camp. About twenty six thousand,
sixty Confederate soldiers had passed through to Camp Douglas prison
camp by the end of the War WAZ.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
After the war, the camp was decommissioned and the barracks
and other buildings demolished structures. They were then taken down
by the end of November eighteen sixty five. Property was
sold off or returned to its owners. During the late
eighteen sixty five early sixty six. The official death toll
for Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas is given by several
sources at.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Four four hundred and fifty four damn.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
The worst period for mortality at the camp was eighteen
sixty five, when eight hundred and sixty seventy prisoners eight
hundred sixty seventy prison sixty seventy, when eight hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Sixty seven prisoners died.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
Before the war ended and the remaining prisoners were released,
which were two thousand in May and four thousand in June.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Released. Wow, Okay, Like we said before, sixteen hospitalized men
remained at the camp according to Levy, or thirty according
to Kelly. After the July fifth, eighteen sixty five, eighteen
ninety two, the United Confederate Veterans of Sky appealed for
funds to build a monument in Oakwood Cemetery, where almost

(01:01:04):
all of the Confederate dead were reinterred from city cemetery
and the cemetery for those who died from smallpox near
Cam Douglas and that document, the UCAV estimated that about
fifteen hundred more on an invite Confederate dead were buried
at Oakwood's there a lot of dead.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
The document states that these bodies cannot be traced further
except in numbers, thereby making the probable aggregate as roundly
stated above, six thousand. In the book Compiling the Speeches
and Material for the Dedication of the Monument, in eighteen
ninety five, John Cox Underwood of the UCV stated he
had identified four three hundred and seventeen of those buried

(01:01:40):
in the Confederate Mountain, that four hundred and twelve more
were identified by the US government and the roster of
those reinterred from the Smallpox Cemetery, and that an estimated
fifteen hundred more were on registers burned in the Great
Chicago Fire of eighteen seventy one, which makes for a
total of six thousands, two hundred and twenty nine deaths WHOA.
In nineteen twelve, Josiah C. Moore Curry he wrote that

(01:02:03):
there are six one hundred twenty nine bodies of the
Confederate soldiers lying in Oakwood Cemetery either were six grand
at least geez.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
Most more recently, in two thousand and seven, Kelly Pucci
used the six thousand figure for Camp Douglas's deaths. Twenty fifteen,
David Keller wrote that the total number of deaths at
the Camp doug is a somewhere between four thousand, two
hundred and forty three names contained on the monument at
the Confederate Mound at Oakwood Cemetery and the seven thousand
reported by some historians. He wrote that the best estimates

(01:02:35):
are between five and six thousand yes. He cited poor
record keeping and the actions of those who handled the
bodies for the lack of exact numbers. Keller also states
that up to fifty percent of those who died before
April eighteen sixty three were not even found until later,
or never at all found later. Because City Cemetery was
close to Lake Michigan, many bodies allegedly swept out to Sea.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Yeah In the aftermath of the war, Camp Douglas, though
not exclusively, it sometimes came to be described as the
Norse Andersonville for its poor conditions and large number of deaths.
Camp Douglas was one of the longest operating and largest
prisons in the North. Although the number of prisoners who
died there was more than at other locations, The percentage
of prisoners who died at Douglas was similar to most

(01:03:18):
of the other Union Prison of War camp.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Okay, doesn't make it good. No, the death rate prisoners
at Camp Douglas was lower than Andersonville and the conditions
at Camp Douglas were better. Yeah, if you guys remember
Anderson moved on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
That was that was literally just a shithole.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
Literally. If anyone camp could be called Andersonville to north,
it would more likely be Elmira Prison at Elmyer, New York,
where the deaths per thousand prisoners were two hundred and
forty one versus forty four at Camp Douglas. Yeah, we'll
get die on Elmira. Yeah, that was roof.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Today, condominiums filled most of the site where Camp Douglas stood.
For many years, a local funeral home built on the site,
maintained prisoner records and a Confederate flag at half staff
in Illinoio Wow business closed the summer thirty first, two
thousand and seven. In twenty twelve, archaeological work at the
site was conducted, and since twenty thirteen has continued. And
I buy annual basis with help from college students from

(01:04:13):
DePaul University as well as other local volunteers and children
from the neighborhood dren bick go uh dick up these
Confederate bones. A group called Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation formed
in twenty ten twenty ten, hopes to spur the development
of a permanent museum on the site, and as of now,
I don't think we've.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
Heard anything about it. No ill happened.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Crazy work one on now, Yeah, for sure, crazy work
there Camp Douglas.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Jeez, that's rough, poor guys. Oh, it sounded worse than
Andersonville to me, If not worse, it was pretty close.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Like we said in Andersonville, wasn't just a Confederates treating
these guys like you saw.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Even what they were doing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
The own Union guys that were still waiting for transfer
treated them like ship too.

Speaker 3 (01:05:01):
The fuck up people were back then crazy. But yeah,
that's us for Camp Douglas.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Back next week for more Behind the Battle is likely
another Union general of some sort, so joint us then
make sure subscribe comment like, share all that good stuff
with your friends, and we'll be back next week for
more Civil War. Behind the Battles were the Mother Musican
This week, Chi