The Story of Camp Douglas: Chicago's Forgotten Civil War Prison

by David Keller

Overview

If you were a Confederate prisoner during the Civil War, you might have ended up in this infamous military prison in Chicago.

More Confederate soldiers died in Chicago's Camp Douglas than on any Civil War battlefield. Originally constructed in 1861 to train forty thousand Union soldiers from the northern third of Illinois, it was converted to a prison camp in 1862. Nearly thirty thousand Confederate prisoners were housed there until it was shut down in 1865. Today, the history of the camp ranges from unknown to deeply misunderstood. David Keller offers a modern perspective of Camp Douglas and a key piece of scholarship in reckoning with the legacy of other military prisons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781540213334
Publisher:	History Press Library Editions
Publication date:	03/23/2015
Pages:	258
Sales rank:	745,293
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

David Keller founded the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation in 2010. He is a docent at the Chicago History Museum and popular speaker on Camp Douglas and the Civil War. The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation has conducted four archaeological excavations on the site of Camp Douglas and has a major objective to develop and operate an on-site museum. David and his wife are longtime residents of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dan Joyce 7

Prefaces 9

Acknowledgements 15

Introduction 17

1 The Role of Chicago in the Civil War 21

2 Creation and Development of Camp Douglas 33

3 Camp Douglas as a Reception and Training Center for Union Troops 53

4 History of the Treatment of Prisoners of War in America 58

5 Camp Douglas Selected as a Prison Camp and Prisoners Arrive 65

6 Camp Douglas and U.S. Prison Camp Leadership 78

7 Prisoner Exchanges Under the Dix-Hill Cartel and Oath of Allegiance 97

8 Prison life: Stories and Treatment from the Prisoners' Perspectives 105

9 Prisoner Health and Medical Care 167

10 Death in the Civil War and at Camp Douglas 179

11 The Conspiracy of 1864 187

12 Reasons for Conditions and Death at Camp Douglas 193

13 Other Union and Confederate Prison Camps 203

Epilogue 215

Appendix I Timeline 221

Appendix II Camp Douglas Principal Commanders 225

Appendix III U.S. Army Units Mustered in at Camp Douglas and Guard Units at Camp Douglas 229

Appendix IV Camp Douglas Prison Population 233

Notes 235

Bibliography 249

Index 253

About the Author 256