Friday, April 23, 2010

April 1864



A group of Morgan’s Men photographed as prisoners on April 29, 1864. This photo was likely taken by D. F. Brandon.

Conditions were no better at Camp Douglas. Both long roll calls and escape attempts continued as the order of the day.

“April comes in wet and cold this morning. Had to get out to roll call at sun rise and stand for an hour or so more. It is bad enough to stand for that long but when we have to stand for 2, 3, or even 4 hours it is almost beyond human endurance and this is the case if any one of the men is missing. It is [hard] indeed to keep 4 or 5,000 men freezing because one or two is missing but we have to stand until the missing one is found. Many of the prisoners have escaped lately by tun[n]eling but that is about ‘played out’ now for they are raising all the [barracks] 4 feet off the ground.”

-Private William D. Huff[i]

“Sunday April 3d, 1864. Weather a little cool. We were kept out at roll call three hours and a quarter to find one missing man. When the bugle sounded to break ranks several of the regiment hollowed for joy and two of the guards threatened to shoot them. We have a mean set of guard with one exception, a little corporal by the name of Norton. WE nicknamed the four privates, viz: Old red, Jack Curd in disguise, Hessian Dutchman, and the Wild Irishman. Old red alias O’Hara is the most vindictive. He is always on alert, watching for a chance to shoot somebody. I often hear it whispered through the ranks, lookout, here come Old red. He bayoneted several of the men, and we have no particular love for him. A sergeant, two corporals, and five privates have charge of us, most of them I have named above, have to guard us at roll call, make details clean up in and around the barracks, and see that our rations and fuel are hauled to us. They also patrol the camp at night, and are independent of the regular guards on the parapet. Just at dark I took a walk through camp to see how the lamps at the foot of the fence threw their light. I found that the lamps were so close together and the light so brilliant that it would be almost impossible to get to the fence without being discovered by the guards on top. I was standing in the shade of one of the barracks arguing to myself the chances of dropping on the ground close to the fence in the darkest place and quietly digging under or cutting a plank, when Major Skinner and two other officers turned a corner near me with a lamp. The Major asked me where No. ten barrack was. I told him I did not know. He then said never mind, and passed on. I followed at some distance and passed them, halted at the door of one of the Chickamauga prisoners, where religious meeting was going on. I could see the officers I had just passed, in conversation with some reb. Another prisoner passed them and came to where I stood. He said the officers asked the reb if he (the reb) had not applied for the oath. I made up my mind that the reb was a treacherous scoundrel giving information to the Yankees, and returned to my quarters.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[ii]

Burke further recorded in his diary that on April 4, 1864 the prisoners sent a petition to Major Skinner asking to change the roll call so as to not cause the prisoners to stand outside for two or three hours in inclement weather. Major Skinner made no reply to their request.

In Washington, Abraham Lincoln was fielding complaints from fellow Kentuckians. Kentuckians with family, political, or business connects to Lincoln, felt it their right to attempt to sway his opinions.

A. G. Hodges, Esq. Executive Mansion,
Frankfort, Ky. Washington, April 4, 1864.

My dear Sir:

You ask me to put in writing the substance of what I verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows:

I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel. And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. I understood, too, that in ordinary civil administration this oath even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. I did understand however, that my oath to preserve the constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government---that nation---of which that constitution was the organic law.

Was it possible to lose the nation, and yet preserve the constitution? By general law life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tried to preserve the constitution, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution all together. When, early in the war, Gen. Fremont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity. When a little later, Gen. Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity. When, still later, Gen. Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come. When, in March, and May, and July 1862 I made earnest, and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation, and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss; but of this, I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force,---no loss by it any how or any where. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no caviling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the measure.

And now let any Union man who complains of the measure, test himself by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he can not face his case so stated, it is only because he can not face the truth.

I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. Yours truly

A. LINCOLN"[iii]

Lincoln also received letters from prisoner’s families, begging for their release. These letters did not fall on deaf ears. Amazing as it may seem, Lincoln pardoned a few Kentuckians imprisoned at Camp Douglas.

Much to the delight of the prisoners, the new sutler began to sell several newspapers.

“The Chicago morning and evening papers are kept for sale at the sutler’s at ten cents each. They are the Post, Tribune, and Journal. The Times is a copperhead paper and its sale forbidden in camp since the first of September last. It has been smuggled in on a good many occasions at some risk.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[iv]


A copperhead was the slang term used to refer to Northerner’s with Confederate sympathies.


(NOTE: The following letter is presented in the original format)

“Camp Douglas April 7th, 1864

Dear Sister rec’ your letter of the 23rd with the shirts aso one from Father of later date, answered Fathers several days ago delaying yours also Jo’s til now as the nature of his demanded a hasty reply. My health has not been so good lately owing to the cold I caught during the past winter in the delicate state of my health so I reluctunlly obtained my consent to come to the Hospital one week ago where I have been much pleased with my change. I found very clean comfortable bed quarters good medical attention kind and attentive nurses and a wholesome diet as I could ask, all to my surprise as I always had a horror of the Hospital especially since my last summer’s experience. Think I’ve improved wonderfully; beyond my most sanquine expectations. My bowels are checked, my digestion improving rapidly, sufer no pain, only (principal) complain is debility; feel my strength increasing every day in fact I’ve never been so week as to be confined to my bed. Hope I will not be long ere I recover my former vigor & health. With necessary prudence indeed and the blessing of a kind providence, I feel better and more cheerfull than I’ve felt for months. Tel Father to apply directly to his excellency the President which if he had done at first no doubt would have proved successful, as others have to my certain knowledge lately: be not hasty but use every precaution and advantage. All your acquaintances are well. Have a nice place, plenty of leisure to read: have written Cousin F for reading matter, can hear from him nearly every day or get any little thing I want from the city.

Love to All write frequently to your Devoted Brother George.”[v]

Alas, George Forbes Adams, my second great-grandfather’s fellow 3rd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment member, did not receive a Presidential pardon. Adams died in the camp hospital on July 1864.

Falling ill while incarcerated at Camp Douglas was an extremely dangerous affair. Estimates range as high as one in seven men who entered the camp succumbed to illness. However, with official documents missing or destroyed, there is no way to verify the death toll.

“April 6th, ‘64

Am so sick today that I had to make an application to go to the hospital again. I have had the [flu] for the last 3 days very bad…

April 7th

I am in hospital again but can scar[c]ely tell what I am doing…My head is as big as a sugar hogshead…”

-Private William D. Huff[vi]

By April 10, 1864 the new prison hospital, located between White Oak Square and Prisoner’s, had been completed. While the new hospital proved to be both sanitary and efficient, the prisoners were much more concerned that day by two visiting ladies. Gawking at the prisoners had become sport for the leisure class.

“Sunday April 10th, 1864. Weather cloudy. Three or four rebs are standing on barrel heads at the gate as punishment for various offences. One of them for being caught with several canteens of the over joyful that he had bought secretly from some guard. Several of the reb workmen are at work at the carpenter shop framing some small buildings for the Yanks. The balance of the rations are being issued to the squads that did not finish yesterday. There is rumors afloat that Gen. Morgan and forces are near Bighill, Ky. There has been a low railing about 18 inches high put all around the camp about ten feet from the fence on the inside. It is called the dead line. Any person caught between the railing and the fence is liable to be shot without warning. If out hat blows over a guard must get it or we lose it. Two ladies escorted by an officer passed through the principal part of our camp. And as usual created some excitement among the rebs. One of the ladies actually of her own free will and accord deliberately kissed a reb. My stars how the rest of us envied him. When they came to the crowd near the gate to go out, some reb cried out, ‘Give way to the right and left, let the artillery pass.’”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[vii]


Colonel Strong continued to display his lack of humanitarianism and over step his bounds as garrison commander. New, visually humiliating forms of punishment came into vogue at Strong’s caprice. These included the wearing of placards stating the often minor offense, wearing the ball and chain, and a being secluded within the new dungeon inside Prisoner’s Square. Colonel Strong’s tactics were not only repulsive to the prisoners; the methods were drawing examination by Northern officials.

“Sometimes our boys, for some trivial offense, would be punished by putting them in the white oak, as they called it. It was a guard house made of white oak logs twelve or fourteen inches in diameter, notched down close with one small window in the end. Inside, the wall was a dungeon eight or ten feet deep. It was entered by a trap door, a pair of steps led down into this dark foul hole. It was pitch dark in there; one could not see his hand before him when the door was closed. One who had not been is such a place cannot have the least conception of it. I was thrown in this place for a trivial offense, for attempting to get a bucket of water at a hospital well while our hydrant was out of fix. I spent four of the most wretched hours of my life in that terrible place. I was taken out by the same guard who put me in there, and the cursing he gave me when he let me out would be a sin for me to repeat. I opened not my mouth; I knew better. I received one more genteel cursing while wounded in the prisoner's hospital at Nashville, which I will speak of later on. There were some of our poor boys, for little infraction of the prison rules, riding what they called Morgan's mule every day. That was one mule that did the worst standing stock still. He was built after the pattern of those used by carpenters. He was about fifteen feet high; the legs were nailed to the scantling so one of the sharp edges was turned up, which made it very painful and uncomfortable to the poor fellow especially when he had to be ridden bareback, sometimes with heavy weights fastened to his feet and sometimes with a large beef bone in each hand. This performance was carried on under the eyes of a guard with a loaded gun, and was kept up for several days; each ride lasting two hours each day unless the fellow fainted and fell off from pain and exhaustion. Very few were able to walk after this hellish Yankee torture but had to be supported to their barracks. There was another diabolical device invented; that was the ball and chain route. However that was seldom used unless some of the prisoners attempted to escape and were caught. The chain was riveted around the ankle and the ball at the other end of the chain. It was almost as much as the poor fellow could carry. That was one thing that stuck closer than a brother. It went with him by day and by night, and even lay by his side in his cold naked bunk at night.”

- M. A. Ryan, Company B, Fourteenth Mississippi Regiment[viii]

“If this failed to cause them to tell who assisted them in escaping, they were then thrown into an iron-clad dungeon ten by ten square, with a single window ten inches by ten. Think of a man staying in this place forty or fifty days, when it was as full as it could be, their only privy being a little hole in the floor, from which all the odor arose in the room.

When this failed a sixty-four pound ball and chain was placed upon their leg, with chain so short as to compel its wearer to carry the ball in their hand, or get some one to pull it in a little wagon while they walked at the side, the chain about twenty-eight inches in length. Some of the balls were worn more than six months.”

-T. D. Henry, Company E, Duke's Regiment, Second Kentucky Cavalry, General J. H. Morgan's command[ix]

“One very common punishment inflicted upon the prisoners was by the ball-and-chain route. An iron ball weighing perhaps seventy-five pounds was strongly attached to one end of a chain, and the chain then riveted to the leg of the offender. To walk and carry the ball was almost a physical impossibility, and the possessors made little carts into which the balls were dumped and hauled around. These pieces of ‘jewelry,’ so called, would stick closer than a brother, and their owners were so much ‘attached’ to them that they always took them to bed with them. It was a most excellent idea – it prevented their tolling out of bunks or walking while sleeping.”

-R. T. Bean, Company I, Eighth Kentucky Cavalry [x]

“Tuesday April 12, 1864l Weather cool and cloudy. I wrote to Henry C. Metcalfe of Lexington, Ky. Three of Chenault’s men were caught trying to escape last night. Today they and another for some other offence were balled and chained and put to work at the dirt pile in the center of the square filling the carts that are hauling off dirt. The chain to each iron ball or block is four or five feet long and very stout with a clasp to lock and unlock to fit around the ankle at one end. The ball looks as if it will weight about fifty-six pounds. The men have leather straps tied to their balls to enable them to carry them about when they have to move more than the length of the chain. The men call their balls and chains their time pieces. One of them takes his off on the sly by means of a fiddle string which he doubles and twists in the key hole of the clasp, and unlocks it whenever the Yanks are not about. One of his friends wished to see how it fit on his own ankle, so he sprung the lock and after satisfying himself he proceeded with the assistance of the owner to unlock it with the fiddle string, and it was with some difficultly and a great deal of anxiety to the wearer that it yielded to their efforts. The string having broken three or four times. There is all kinds of rumors about an exchange being agreed upon. Some persons seem to take a delight in starting rumors, and if they hear anything no matter how unreasonable they never rest till they have spread it all over camp. My friend James D______ though a well meaning fellow is one of this class that I noticed particularly. A detail cleaned out the ditches leading from the hydrants, but a good many of the men as usual took the nearest cut to the hydrants jumping or walking across the ditches, which broke in the edges and checked up the free drainage of water. The Patrols getting out of patience telling the men to go around and cross the ditches at the wagon crossing commenced punishing all that they caught jumping by making them jump across the ditch thirty or forty times in quick succession, then making them cross at the wagon crossing.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xi]

In the Western Theater, raiding still remained a viable tactic for the Confederacy. From mid March 1864, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest had been conducting a cavalry raid into Tennessee and Kentucky. As Forrest’s men returned from Paducah, Kentucky, they made an infamous attach upon Fort Pillow, Jackson, Tennessee. The attack was particularly insidious and question remains as to whether it was intended as retaliation for support given to escaped slaves. White Union officers at Fort Pillow had openly recruited runaway slaves and mustered them into two regiments, the Sixth United States Colored Heavy and Light Cavalry, which served as part of the forts garrison of 292 African American soldiers and 285 white soldiers of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry.[xii]

At 3:30 P.M., on April 12, 1864, Forrest displayed a flag of truce and sent a forth a demand for unconditional surrender:

“The conduct of the officers and men garrisoning Fort Pillow has been such as to entitle them to being treated as prisoners of war. . . . Should my demand be refused, I cannot be responsible for the fate of your command.”[xiii]

Conflict and question surround reports as to exactly what happened during the attack. However, it is believed that Union African- American troops were grievously abused and massacred.

"There never was a surrender of the fort, both officers and men declaring they never would surrender or ask for quarter."

-Lieutenant Daniel Van Horn of the 6th U. S. Heavy Artillery (Colored)[xiv]

Van Horns statement may be correct as numerous Federal rifles were found on the bluffs near the river and theUnion flag remained flying over the fort.[xv] These would normally be indications that no formal surrender had been made. However, as historian and author Jack Hurst sagely notes, “Federals running for their lives had little time to concern themselves with a flag.”[xvi]

It is possible that Forrest tired to assuage the furry of his Raiders and stop them. In a letter written to his wife three days after the battle, Confederate soldier Samuel Caldwell stated:

“…if General Forrest had not run between our men & the Yanks with his pistol and saber drawn not a man would have been spared.”[xvii]

There were also statements made by Forrest's Raiders accerting that the fleeing Union troops kept their weapons and frequently stopped to turn and shoot at their persuers. [xviii] Thus the Raiders claimed any man killed, be his skin black or white, was killed in self defense.

A contemporary newspaper account from Jackson, Tennessee, states that ‘General Forrest begged them to surrender,’ but ‘not the first sign of surrender was ever given.’ Similar accounts were reported in both Southern and Northern newspapers at the time.”[xix]

“Our troops, maddened by the excitement, shot down the retreating Yankees, and not until they had attained the water’s edge and turned to beg for mercy, did any prisoners fall into our hands--Thus the whites received quarter, but the Negroes were shown no mercy.”

- A Southern reporter traveling with Forrest[xx]

Others saw the events in a far different light.

“Surviving members of the garrison said that most of their men surrendered and threw down their arms, only to be shot or bayoneted by the attackers, who repeatedly shouted, ‘No quarter! No quarter!’”[xxi]

"…the poor, deluded negroes would run up to our men, fall upon their knees, and with uplifted hand scream for mercy, but were ordered to their feet and then shot down."

- Letter said to be written by Confederate Sergeant shortly after the battle[xxii]

“I with several others tried to stop the butchery. . . , but Gen. Forrest ordered them [Negro and white Union troops] shot down like dogs, and the carnage continued.”

- Confederate Soldier Achilles Clark[xxiii]

“Northerners, however, saw only one side. They read headlines announcing ‘Attack on Fort Pillow -- Indiscriminate Slaughter of the Prisoners -- Shocking Scenes of Savagery;’ dispatches from Sherman's army declaring ‘there is a general gritting of teeth here’; reports from the Missouri Democrat detailing the ‘fiendishness’ of rebel behavior; and editorials like that in the Chicago Tribune condemning the ‘murder’ and ‘butchery’.”[xxiv]

Writing in his Memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant recorded his horror upon hearing of the massacre.

“Forrest, however, fell back rapidly, and attacked the troops at Fort Pillow, a station for the protection of the navigation of the Mississippi River. The garrison consisted of a regiment of colored troops, infantry, and a detachment of Tennessee cavalry. These troops fought bravely, but were overpowered. I will leave Forrest in his dispatches to tell what he did with them.”

"The river was dyed," he [Forrest] says, "with the blood of the slaughtered for two hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twenty killed. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners."

All of Washington was in outcry. Lincoln’s Cabinet cried for vengance. Secretary of State William Seward, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton demanded that an equal number of Confederate prisoners should be executed in an act of revenge. Grant himself was so outraged by the events at Fort Pillow he called for the end of prisoner exchanges. With the callousness that only a war hardened General would dare exhibit, Grant reasoned that Federal troops, with their superior manpower, could better withstand the loss of men than the Confederacy which had fewer men and more to lose. Bearing in mind the Confederates disregard for African-Americans, Stanton and Lincoln put the proper political spin on Grants’ barbaric observations. They knew Southern leadership considered black soldiers as mere runaway slaves and refused to afford they the rights of white prisoners of war. Further more, the Confederacy had issued an order calling for the summary execution or return to former owner of any former slave. Northern leadership would have the backing of vocal Abolitionist who were highly reluctant to continue prisoner exchanges under these conditions.

Thus, on April 17, 1864 Grant had political backing when he ordered General Benjamin F. Butler, negotiator of prisoner exchanges with the Confederacy, to demand equality in the the exchange and treatment of all prisoners.

“A failure to do so would ‘be regarded as a refusal on their part to agree to the further exchange of prisoners, and [would] be so treated by us.’”[xxv]

The demand was summarily refused. In regard to the matter, Confederate Secretary of War Seddon coldly stated:

“I doubt, however, whether the exchange of negroes at all for our soldiers would be tolerated. As to the white officers serving with negro troops, we ought never to be inconvenienced with such prisoners.”[xxvi]

In reply, Grant canceled all remaining talks regarding prisoner exchange. As a result, of these actions, both Northern and Southern prisoners continued to strave, endure physical abuse, and die from the uncontrolled spread of disease within the camps while the press continued to sell newspapers on the growing sensationalism surrounding the Fort Pillow massacre.

“On the 12th April, the rebel General [Nathan Bedford] Forrest appeared before Fort Pillow. . . attacking it with considerable vehemence. This was followed up by frequent demands for its surrender, which were refused by Major Booth, who commanded the fort. The fight was then continued up until 3 p.m., when Major Booth was killed, and the rebels, in large numbers, swarmed over the entrenchments. Up to that time comparatively few of our [i.e., Union] men had been killed; but immediately upon occupying the place the rebels commenced an indiscriminate butchery of the whites and blacks, including the wounded. Both white and black were bayoneted, shot, or sabred; even dead bodies were horribly mutilated, and children of seven and eight years, and several negro women killed in cold blood. Soldiers unable to speak from wounds were shot dead, and their bodies rolled down the banks into the river. The dead and wounded negroes were piled in heaps and burned, and several citizens, who had joined our forces for protection, were killed or wounded. Out of the garrison of six hundred only two hundred remained alive. Three hundred of those massacred were negroes; five were buried alive. Six guns were captured by the rebels, and carried off, including two 10-pound Parrotts, and two 12-pound howitzers. A large amount of stores was destroyed or carried away.”

- Harper’s Weekly, April 30, 1864


“The blacks and their officers were shot down, bayoneted and put to the sword in cold blood... . Out of four hundred negro soldiers only about twenty survive! At least three hundred of them were destroyed after the surrender! This is the statement of the rebel General Chalmers himself to our informant.”

- The New York Times, April 24, 1864 [xxvii]

“The Fort-Pillow wounded are doing much better than could be expected from the terrible nature of their wounds. But one, William Jones, had died, though Adjutant Learing and Lieut. John H. Porter cannot possibly long survive. Of the whole number, - fifty-two, - all except two were cut or shot after they had surrendered! They all tell the same story of the rebel barbarities; and listening to a recital of the terrible scenes at the fort makes one's blood run cold. They say they were able to keep the rebels at bay for several hours, notwithstanding the immense disparity of numbers and but for their treachery in creeping up under the walls of the fort while a truce pending, would have held out until "The Olive Branch" arrived with troops, with whose assistance they would have defeated Chalmers.

"So well were our men protected behind their works, that our loss was very trifling before the rebels scaled the walls, and obtained possession. As soon as they saw the Rebels inside the walls the Unionists ceased firing, knowing that further resistance was useless; but the Rebels continued firing, crying out, 'Shoot them, shoot them! Show them no quarter!'

"The Unionists, with one or two exceptions, had thrown down their arms in token of surrender, and therefore could offer no resistance. In vain they held up their hands, and begged their captors to spare their lives. But they were appealing to fiends; and the butchery continued until, out of near six hundred men who composed the garrison, but two hundred and thirty remained alive: and of this number, sixty-two were wounded, and nine died in a few hours after.”

- The Cairo News, April 16, 1864 [xxviii]

“A LETTER FROM A NAVAL OFFICER.

The following letter has just been received by Mr. BLOW, of Missouri, respecting the treatment of our soldiers after the surrender of Fort Pillow:

UNITED STATES STEAMER "SILVER CLOUD," MISSISSIPPI RIVER, April 22, 1864.

SIR:

Since you did me the favor of recommending my appointment last August, I have been on duty aboard this boat.

I now write you with reference to the Fort Pillow massacre. I write, because most of our crew are colored, and I feel personally interested in the retaliation which our Government may deal out to the rebels, when the fact of the merciless butchery is fully established.

Our boat arrived at the fort about 7 1/2 A.M., on Wednesday, the 13th, the day after the rebels captured the fort. After shelling them, whenever we could see them, for two hours, a flag of truce from the rebel Gen. CHALMERS was received by us, and Capt. FERGUSON, of this boat, made an arrangement with Gen. CHALMERS for the paroling of our wounded and the burial of our dead; the arrangement to last until 5 P.M. We then landed at the fort, and I was sent out with a burial party to bury our dead.

I found many of the dead lying close along by the water's edge, where they had evidently sought safety; they could not offer any resistance from the places where they were, in holes and cavities along the banks; most of them had two wounds. I saw several colored soldiers of the Sixth United States Artillery, with their eyes punched out with bayonets; many of them were shot twice and bayoneted also. All those along the bank of the river were colored. The number of the colored near the river was about seventy. Going up into the fort, I saw their bodies partially consumed by fire. Whether burned before or after death I cannot say, any way there were several companies of rebels in the fort while these bodies were burning, and they could have pulled them out of the fire had they chosen to do so.

One of the wounded negroes told me that he hadn’t done a thing, and when the rebels drove our men out of the fort they (our men) threw away their guns and cried out that they surrendered; but the rebels kept on shooting them down until they had shot all but a few. This is what they all say.

I had some conversation with rebel officers, and they claim that our men would not surrender, and in some few cases they could not control their men, who seemed determined to shoot down every negro soldier, whether he surrendered or not. This is a flimsy excuse, for after our colored troops had been driven from the fort, and they were surrounded by the rebels on all sides, it is apparent that they would do what all say they did, throw down their arms and beg for mercy.
I buried but very few white men; the whole number buried by my party and the party from the gunboat New Era was about one hundred.


The rebels had burned some of the white dead.

I can make affidavit to the above if necessary.

Hoping that the above may be of some service and that a desire to be of service will be considered sufficient excuse for writing to you, I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBERT S. CRITCHELL,
Acting-Master's Mate, U.S.N.
Hon. H.T. BLOW, member of Congress, Washington, D.C.”


- The New York Times, May 3, 1864[xxix]

On April 22, 1864 The Joint Committee On the Conduct of the War investigated the events of the battle and concluded that Forrest’s Raiders had shot most of the Union garrison after it had surrendered. [xxx] Further research into the events at Fort Pillow was conducted in the 1950’s and again in 2002.

Meanwhile, Camp Douglas had been inspected by John F. Marsh on April 16 1864.[xxxi] Mash showed open distain for Orme reporting:

“General Orme gives very little attention to his command at Camp Douglas.”[xxxii]

These remarks were the last blow Orme could stand to endure. No longer able to contain his distaste for his intolerable position he planned his resignation, affecting his own escape from Camp Douglas.

On April 27, 1864, General Orme fired Colonel Strong and replaced him with Colonel Benjamin J. Sweet whose right elbow had been crushed by a bullet during the Battle of Perryville.[xxxiii] In making this move, Orme chose his successor and got even with Strong. Two days later, Orme resigned as commander of of Camp Douglas, claiming that his health would not permit him to continue. Shortly there after Abraham Lincoln, Orme’s personal friend, urged him to accepted an appointment to the Treasury Department in Memphis, Tennessee. Orme acted as a as a supervising agent. However, his failing health continued to affect his ability to carry out his work and he resigned from the Treasury Department in November 1865. Despairing, Orme returned to his home in Bloomington, Illinois. There tuberculosis, which he had plagued him since serving in Mississippi, claimed his life on December 13, 1866.

ENDNOTES
[i] Excerpts from the Diary of William D. Huff Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http://www.chicagohistory.com/
[ii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[iii] Lincoln, Abraham. “Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”. Volume 7.
[iv] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[v] Wartime Letters of William Henry Adams http://morgans_men.tripod.com/adams.htm
[vi] Excerpts from the Diary of William D. Huff Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http://www.chicagohistory.com/
[vii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[viii] Ryan, Milton Asbury. “Experience of a Confederate Soldier in Camp and Prison in The Civil War 1861-1865.”
[ix] Deposition of T. D. Henry, Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I. Richmond, Va., March, 1876. No. 4. April - Pages 273 – 276.
[x] Excerpts From An Account of Prison Life at Camp Douglas By R. T. Bean.
[xi] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[xii] Cimprich, John and Mainfort, Robert C. Jr. “Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence about an Old
Controversy,” Civil War History 28 1982 pp.293-94.
[xiii] Wills, Brian Steel. “ A Battle from the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest” 1992 p. 182.
[xiv] Official Report filed by Lieutenant Daniel Van Horn of the 6th U. S. Heavy Artillery (Colored).
[xv] Jordan, John L. "Was There a Massacre at Ft. Pillow?", Tennessee History Quarterly VI (June 1947), pp 99–133.
[xvi] Hurst, Jack. “Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography” 1993, p.174.
[xvii] Cimprich, John and Mainfort, Robert C. Jr. “Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence about an Old
Controversy,” Civil War History 28 1982 p. 300.
[xviii] Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books, “Battles for Atlanta: Sherman Moves East,” 1985, p.25.
[xix] Cimprich, John, and Mainfort, Robert C., Jr., eds. "Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence About An Old Controversy", Civil War History 4 Winter, 1982.
[xx] Cimprich, John, and Mainfort, Robert C., Jr., Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence about an Old
Controversy,” Civil War History 28 1982 p.304.
[xxi] Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books, “Battles for Atlanta: Sherman Moves East,” 1985
[xxii] Foote, Shelby. “The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox” 1974.
[xxiii] Cimprich, John, and Mainfort, Robert C., Jr Fort Pillow Revisited: New Evidence about an Old
Controversy,” Civil War History 28 1982 p.299.
[xxiv] Nevins, Allan. “The War for the Union: The Organized War to Victory 1864-1865.” 1971.
[xxv] Fuchs, Richard L. “An Unerring Fire: The Massacre at Fort Pillow.” 2002 pp. 143 -144
[xxvi] Fuchs, Richard L. “An Unerring Fire: The Massacre at Fort Pillow” 2002 p.144
[xxvii] Fuchs, Richard L. “An Unerring Fire: The Massacre at Fort Pillow.” 2002
[xxviii] William Wells Brown. “ The Negro In The American Rebellion- His Heroism and His Fidelity.” 1867.
[xxix] The New York Times Archive, http://www.nytimes.com/1864/05/03/news/the-fort-pillow-massacre.html?pagewanted=1
[xxx] U.S. Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, "Fort Pillow Massacre", House Report No. 65, 38th Congress, 1st Session.
[xxxi] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII, 57
[xxxii] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII, 57
[xxxiii] Lossing, Benson J. “ Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America,” 2006, p. 449

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

March 1864: Camp Douglas Mired in Mud and Misery



Colonel James C. Strong[i]
*A special note of thanks to Mr. James I. Evans for his most kind support and encouragement.


On March 1, 1864, diarist Curtis R. Burke recorded that his regiment had received tickets for ten days rations “which is unusual.” On March 3rd, Burke noted that new officers were arriving and “things will probably be harder.” Burke’s dark prediction proved correct.

“About this time Colonel Deland was ordered to the front. He was succeeded by Colonel B. J. Sweet as commandant of camp, Colonel Skinner as commissary of prisoners, and a fiend named Captain Webb Sponable as inspector of prisoners.

From this time forward the darkest leaf in the legends of all tyranny could not possibly contain a greater number of punishments. ”

-Deposition of T. D. Henry[ii]

On March 1, 1864, Colonel James C. Strong had arrived at Camp Douglas to serve as the new garrison commander. Previously, as a Lt. Colonel with the 38th New York, Strong had been severely wounded in the hip at Williamsburg, Virginia in May of 1862. Unable to move, Strong had lain beside a log for hours until his men located him by lantern light.[iii] Now serving with the Fifteenth Invalid Corps, Strong formally assumed command from De Land on March 3, 1864. [iv] De Land’s First Michigan Sharpshooters remained at Camp Douglas until 17 March 1864, when they left to join the Ninth Corps, in Annapolis, MD. In his diary, Burke recorded a camp rumor stating that some of the First Michigan Sharpshooters had deserted when they learned that they had been ordered to the front.

“March 4th, 1864

Today five months ago I landed here and I see no chance of exchange. Yet indeed I have every reason to believe that I will spend five months more under blue coat rule. I drew some comic picture of the convalescents which made Old dry Doctor laugh. Winter is not gone yet for it is snowing strong and swift…”


- Private William D. Huff[v]

Strong began with 526 men from Sweet’s Eight Invalid Regiment, 450 of his own, and the promise that four companies of the 11th Invalid Regiment would soon arrive. Unfortunately, about one third of these men were too sick or injured to serve duty. Thus, Strong was left to face the reality of controlling nearly six thousand prisoners with only 650 able bodied soldiers.[vi] Security was now at issue. Perhaps this was an underlying factor in Strong’s decision to take up residence in the city of Chicago despite Hoffman’s order to reside within the camp.[vii]

“About 166 men, amounting to 10 percent of the guard force, were ill on March 1, 1864. This emergency caused Colonel Strong to bar civilian workers from leaving camp ‘until all Prison workers had returned to their squares.’ He was referring to Prisoner’s Square and White Oak Square, where some prisoners remained.”[viii]

On March 5th Burke wrote that the prisoners received “positive instructions to write but one page of note paper.” By March 6th, new and rather inept officers took over roll call.

“Monday March 7th, 1864. Weather pleasant. We are kept out in the mud at roll call two hours again. The sutler store opened late in the day. I could not get to the counter and I got a friend ahead of me to make my purchases for me. We received the following additional orders:
1st. to rise at sound of bugle at sunrise.
2d. roll call at sound of bugle one hour after.
3d. dismissal at sound of bugle and breakfast.
4th. Fatigue detail at 8 o’clock A. M.
5th. recall of detail at 12 o’clock A.M.
6th. Dinner at 12 ½ o’clock P. M.
7th. Fatigue detail at 1 o’clock P. M.
8th. Recall of detail at 5 o’clock P. M.
9th. Supper detail at 5 ½ o’clock P. M.
10th. Lights out at 7 o’clock P. M.
Forty four more prisoners arrived today and were crowed in with the fourteenth Ky. As company F. They are a good looking set of men. Some of them were captured with paroles given them by the Yankees on a former occasion in their pockets, also writing from the Confederate authorities recognizing their paroles, and their being the rearrested was a violation of the rules of war.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[ix]

While the ban on packages from friends was lifted on March 11, 1864 censorship of mail increased dramatically.[x] Burke fumed that men often receive only an empty envelope, “The letters having been taken out at headquarters by the examiners on account of their being too long or containing contraband news.”

(Note: The following letter is presented in it's original format)

“Camp Douglas, Ill.
Mar. 12th, 1864

Dear Father,

Your kind letter of the 29th was received and read with interest George also received one from sister. It always cheers us up to hear to hear from the old home stead. You know that Georges very delicate and what inclined to have the blues anyway. I don’t think that his health is quite as good as it was when you were hear. The dyspepsy and chronic diarea are the two diseases that he suffers with. We heard directly from Brother John this week he is well and getting along first rate. The gentle man that brought the news belongs to the same Regt. that captured the 25th of Feb. James Gill is well so are Johnson West, Charley and all the rest of the neighbor boys that are hear. We kneed some more P. Stamps. When you write your letters must not be Longer that two pages of note or one of this kind of paper. I would like to have two calico and two woolen shits if you could find a convient way to send them. George joines me in love to all.

Your sons,

Wm H Adams”
[xi]

A few small sanitary measures were begun around the camp during the change of command. On March 14th Burke’s barrack received two cast iron boilers. He was bemused with these contraptions, declaring “There is six feet of pipe to each, and they look like locomotives on a small scale at a distance.” However, the men now had means for washing their clothing. Even with this new means of maintaining of hygiene,
smallpox continued to spread throughout the camp.

“ Friday March 11th, 1864. Weather cool and cloudy. We had to attend roll call in a misty rain and snow. We drew beef and light bread and had soup for dinner. WE draw beef and light bread nearly every other day. We use the checker board in the mess now to kill time. Cards are rarely played. The small pox is raging moderately. Only four cases were taken from this square today. The mud on the way to and from the sutler store and sink is about eight or ten inches deep and no prospects of its drying up soon. This may encourage the spred of the smallpox. I hear of a man escaping every few nights although it had become a very difficult matter to get out.

Saturday, March 12th, 1864. Weather pleasant. We are still kept at roll call as long as usual. An order was read to us at roll call requesting all that wanted to take the oath to report to Col. Wm. Hoffman at Washington City D. C. by letter, stating why they wanted to take the oath, etc. etc. etc. I learn that two thirds of the prisoners sent to the smallpox hospital have died, and that there is about forty cases in the hospital now. There has been several escaped from there across the prairie on recovering. It rained after dark. Arguments, puzzles and hard questions are all the go this two or three past days to kill the time.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xii]

Rumors and speculation swirled about the camp. Through Northern news papers and smuggled reports, the prisoners were aware of general troop moments, victories, and defeats. Any glimmer of hope for the Confederacy gave rise to a new flurry of rumors. Such was the case by mid March. From February 3 to March 5, 1864, General William T. Sherman conducted a successful campaign around Meridian, Mississippi. Then, misfortune befell them when troops under General William Sooy Smith, intended to join Sherman, were defeated by Confederate cavalry at West Point, Mississippi on February 21, 1824.

“Sunday March 13th, 1864. Weather cool. A little snow on the ground. There is a rumor in camp that the Yankee army under Sherman has been defeated with heavy loss, and that we will be exchanged soon, and we are inclined to put some confidence in the rumor on account of the oaths being offered to us”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xiii]

Strong, perhaps due to his own tragic experiences in the war, was not a humanitarian leader. He showed neither mercy nor concern for his prisoners.

“Strong was the first garrison commander to exploit forced labor, and he searched the barracks ruthlessly to conscript prisoners for work details.” [xiv][xv]

It would appear that in taking these actions, Strong had the full support of the Commissary-General of Prisoners.

“Major-General Rosecrans,
Comdg. Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo:

Your telegram of the 14th is received. Paroled prisoners may perform any service, not armed, necessary for their own preservation. The ordinary fatigue duties about their own camp barracks are not in violation of their parole.

W. Hoffman
Commissary-General of Prisoners”
[xvi]

Strong began to use prisoner labor to construct a drainage system.

“Monday March 14th, 1864 Weather cool. Our Yankee sergeant brought six spades, one rake and two wheelbarrows and called for a detail of nine men to dig a ditch in front of the barracks. The detail was taken from company A in alphabetical order. They dug sixty feet of ditch by twelve o’clock and were dismissed. At one o’clock company B furnished the detail of nine men till five o’clock, and dug one hundred and fifty feet of ditch. James Allen, myself Henry Beach, Chas. Byrnes, Jas. Beeler, Jack Curd, Edwin Colgan, Jorden Cook, and Frank Davis were the detail. Jack Curd was as usual in his comic mood, and took charge of us. The Yankee sergeant kept near us bossing the job. Jack Curd Kept his eye on him and when he turned his back Jack would give the word rest and when he turned towards us Jack gave the word work. The Yank kept pretty close most of the evening .Jack stopped to blow a little and wiping the sweat from his eyes said ‘I told the sergeant my name was spelled with a K instead of a C, but he wouldn’t believe it.’ We were dismissed at five o’clock. The night was cold.

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xvii]

If the intent of the labor program was to break the men’s morale, it appeared to have had mixed success. Some men carried on undaunted. Others, who were exhausted by illness, starvation, over work, and homesickness, entertained thoughts of death as the ultimate escape.

“March 21st 1864

"Dear Friends,

We take this opportunity of informing you that we are all well at this time. Was hoping that these few lines will reach your kind hand and find you all well. We would like to hear from you all and would like to see you all but we cannot tell when that will be, but one thing we must do and that is prepare to meet in Eternity, for it God permits us to live we will live for the future and we tell you all now that we are determined by the help of God to make our way to a better world. So no more at present, write [unreadable].
Stamey J. Dyer
Noah is still around."


-John Henry Dyer
62nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment
[xviii]

Dyer’s best friend, John Noah Frances, died in camp on December 30, 1864.

On March 18, 1864 the Invalid Corp were renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps and hence forth referred to as the VRC.[xix] Strong wrote to General Orme voicing his objections to finding that his men were living in an old barracks without a floor.[xx] This building was damp, poorly ventilated, and smelled of rotting garbage. Thus, the newly arrived jailors were living in the same conditions as the prisoners.

Cut off from the outside world, news became all important to the prisoners.

“In March 1864, members of the 14th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, Morgan’s Raiders, published a four-page newspaper called the ‘Prisoners Vidette.’ The name was derived from a variation on the Italian word for sentinel, and the handwritten newspaper carried reports and rumors. In addition to serious articles about unsanitary conditions and smallpox at Camp Douglas, prisoners placed personal advertisements, such as, “Wanted a Save Conductor out of Camp Douglas. Any price will be paid for the service. Rebel’ which was a sly reference to escape tunnels being dug by Morgan’s Raiders. Pvt. Abraham Lappin, who spent two years as a prisoner of war, placed an advertisement for handmade smoking popes, sold ‘wholesale and retail at Lappins factory. Block 17 three doors west of the south east corner. Give him a call you will hot be otherwise than satisfied.’’”
[xxi]

While, strictly copyrighted by the Chicago Historical Society, the Diary of Private William D. Huff contains a drawing of “The Evening Journal.” It is possible to download Huff’s drawings from the History Lab lesson plans in “The Civil War” Up Close and Personal” section entitled “Who is William Huff? Blueback or Grayback” and “Look Out My Window. What Do You See? [xxii] The lesson plans may be accessed at http://www.chicagohistory.org/education/resources/history-lab/the-civil-war-up-close-and-personal

“Monday March 21st, 1864. Weather cool. Companies D and E furnished nine men each on detail to clean up around the barracks. The boys in next room are making a little newspaper called the Prisoners Vidette. It is on a sheet of foolscap and written with the pen altogether. It contains all of the camp rumors, original poetry, songs, and jokes, advertisement, etc. A good thing to kill time with.”

-Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xxiii]

As always, escape remained foremost in the prisoner’s minds.

“Wednesday March 23rd, 1864. Weather very pleasant. Twelve men escaped from the dungeon last night by means of a tunnel. Three of them passed out after day light, and but for day light coming too soon for them everybody in the dungeon would have escaped. The hole was soon discovered after day light and filled up. I visited David Hickey’s mess and saw a snow white mouse with pink eyes under a tumbler. It was the size of a common mouse and was caught in the coal box.”

“March 27th 1864. Weather cool. A tunnel was discovered by some treacherous rebel and reported to the Yanks. It is in the other square by the side of the fire place a kitchen near the fence. The rebs were busy cooking over the covered hole when an officer came in and said, “What are you cooking over that hole for? Ain’t you afraid your things will fall in?’ There is no hole here said rebs. Yes there is take the pots off, and I’ll show you. The rebs moved off their things and the officer removed the fire and ashes and raised a trap door disclosing the hole, much to the feigned astonishment of the rebs. The officer was angry and told the men that he would find every hole that they dug, and it was no use to dig them. The hole was filled up by pressing the rebs standing around into service. The men that dug it say that it would have been through on the outside of the fence in one more night. They had been detained a couple of nights on account of water rising in the hole. The ground being still very wet from the recent rains. There was only a few rebs that knew where the hole was, but there was a good many that suspicioned that there was one somewhere in that neighborhood and so put on their best cloths for two or three nights past in the hope of finding it, and escaping. The diggers were afraid of traitorous spies and worked secretly. Many true men were not posted. They were out slipping around as soon as it was well dark to learn something, and whenever they heard a noise or saw a Yankee patrol they would dodge into the nearest barracks like scared rats. Some rascally fellow played what would have been a severe joke on one Robert Lowery of Company A of this regiment, had he succeeded in escaping. “Secesh soap for sale!” were written on his back in large letters with chalk or soap. Of course, this would have caused his arrest on the first appearance of light. I received a letter from home from Brother Alonzo dated the 2th inst. The Chicago papers the Post and Tribune gives an account of the rebel Gen. Forest capturing Paducah, Ky and the city nearly burned down in the fight.”

- Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xxiv]

“The prisoners suspected treachery, but they were wrong. Reverend Tuttle wrote that Capt. Wells Sponable discovered the hole after spotting a prisoner running to the kitchen at one o’clock in the morning.”[xxv]

In response to the tunneling, kitchens near the fence were removed. Barracks were moved toward the center of the square, set on five foot post, and arranged into a grid pattern with streets between the buildings. Barracks floors which had been removed in December were now reinstalled and reinforced.[xxvi]

At the end of March 1864, 5, 462 Confederates were had been crowded into Camp Douglas.[xxvii] Hoffman had tents delivered in the event that the barracks could not handle that number of men. Rumor spread about the camp. Men were certain that the barracks would be destroyed and they would all be forced to live in tents. As usual, the rumor was incorrect and the tents were never used. [xxviii]
ENDNOTES

[i] New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center , NYS Division of Military and Naval Affairs http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/38thInf/38thInfPersonStrong.htm
[ii] Deposition of T. D. Henry, Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I. Richmond, Va., March, 1876.No.4. April - Pages 273 - 276
[iii] Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. “ The Theosophist, Part Six 1884 to 1885: Why They Couldn’t Hear Him” p. 75
[iv] Herek, Raymond J. “These Men Have Seen Hard Service” 1998, p.91
[v] Excerpts from the Diary of William D. Huff Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http://www.chicagohistory.com/
[vi] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 195
[vii] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 195
[viii] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 197
[ix] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[x] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 198
[xi] Wartime Letters of William Henry Adams http://morgans_men.tripod.com/adams.htm
[xii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xiii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xiv] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 197
[xv] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xvi] Scott, Robert Nicholson. “The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the Offical Records of the Union and Conferderate Armies, Series II, Vol VII, Republication 1972
[xvii]
[xviii] Deaths of Prisoners of War from the 62nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nchaywoo/campdouglasdeathsnc.htm
[xix] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 198
[xx] RG 94, Regimental Letter Book
[xxi] Pucci, Kelly. “Camp Douglas: Chicago’s Civil War Prison” 2007, p. 50
[xxii] Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http://www.chicagohistory.com/
[xxiii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xxiv] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xxv] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 199, Tuttle. Edmund B. “ History of Camp Douglas,” p.17
[xxvi] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry, Official Records, Ser. II, Vol. VII, 184-185.
[xxvii] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 199
[xxviii] Levy, George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 12, p. 199