June 1864: Starvation and Torture

On June 1, 1864, Colonel Sweet wrote to his superior William Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisons, describing the improvements he had made in the arrangement and policing of Camp Douglas.[i] However, the changes which had been instituted at the camp by Colonel Sweet were not effective against escape attempts. That very night, prisoners made a coordinated attacked on the fence.[ii] Various groups of prisoners smashed the lamps while others rocked the fence. Darkness and motion inhibited the guard’s ability to shoot escaping prisoners as yet another group chopped their way through the fence with axes. Only one guard managed to discharge his gun from the parapet. Nevertheless, patrols on the ground, armed with pistols, halted the attempt and sent the various groups of prisoners fleeing for cover. Enraged, Sweet wrote to Hoffman saying that the rifles used by the guards on the parapets were too old and had been condemned.[iii] He went on to suggest that the prisoners were no longer afraid of these weapons and that he wanted new ones. In retaliation for the escape attempt, Sweet and the War Department reduced rations to starvation levels. When on considers that no one, guard or prisoner, had been injured, this actions seems unjustly punitive. The order written by Hoffman, lists the following:

Daily rations per prisoner:

Meat
14 ounces fresh beef
or
10 ounces pork or bacon in lieu of fresh beef
Bread
16 ounces flour or soft bread
or
14 ounces hard bread in lieu of flour or soft bread
or
16 ounces Cornmeal in lieu of flour or bread
Vegetables
12 ½ pounds of beans or peas per 100 rations
or
8 ounces rice or hominy per 100 rations
15 ounces potatoes per 100 rations

Every other day the sick and wounded were to have twelve ounces of sugar, five pounds of ground or seven pounds of green coffee or one pound of tea to every one hundred rations. Sickness increased and hygiene became an issue as soap was issued at 4 ounces per 100 rations.[iv] Hoffman noted that the saving incurred by the reduction of rations could be placed in the prison fund and used for making further improvements to the camp.

“The carpenters are at work again today. After dinner a Yankee told some of the men that we would have to move into the barrack opposite us, which caused a stampede to secure bunks. I got a middle bunk. The regiment that was in it moved to another barrack and gave us full possession, and we moved in. The barrack was very dirty and the balance of the evening was spent in cleaning out. It is also old and rickety and will have to be put on posts and remodeled. Both ends are now open.”

~ Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[v]

Middle bunks were considered the most choice as leaking roofs affected the top most bunks and cold drafts the bottom most. Yet, none of the bare wooden bunks offered a comfortable night’s sleep.

Further complicating the difficulties of the lack of food were new “mess orders” which forbade anyone to enter the kitchen area of the barracks save the designed cook and two members of the water hauling detail.

“It is rather difficult to escape but now and then some fellow is lucky enough to do so. Several of my old companions have gone to another barracks and my only way of passing time is with my pencil and guitar but it is hard to get strings so I use my pencil more than my Music…They have taken our cooking vessels from us and instituted kitchens and shortened our rations giving us nothing but pork and bread and not quite enough of that .I do not mean fresh pork. Oh! No but salt picked pork. Old and fat and not water enough to wash it down. It is rather tough living but we stand it. I think if the commissioner were here for a week they would agree on an exchange.”

~Private William D. Huff[vi]

“James Terpin the Patrol in charge of our barrack No. 27 made us throw all the cooking utensils, boxes, bottles, old cloths etc. out in a pile, and scour up all the plates, cups, spoons, etc. and put them in our bunks. A few vinegar bottles, cigar boxes and scoured coffee pots were allowed to be kept. Nearly all our shelves were knocked down, and we have a general clean up. Notice was given us that if any person was caught in the kitchen except the cooks and the water details after today they would be punished. The kitchen for each Barrack had been partitioned off of the end of each barrack.

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

Men who had long been mess mates and who had cooked together pooling their rations for group survival were now separated. This virtually ensured starvation for those who were not regrouped with friends.

"We are all out of rations and had to go without breakfast. The kitchen is furnished with a two pound boiler and a cooking stove. Henry Elder our commissary sergeant has charge of the kitchen. The following men volunteered to cook under him. Geo. Kersey from Co., A, Bolin G. Roberts from Co. B, Robert Feuston from Co. C, Ed Force from Co. D, and Gabriel Williams from squad 24. Rations for ten days were hauled to the kitchen. The first meal, a late dinner, consisted of a small piece of yellow corn bread and fat pickle pork per man. We drew it through a slide window between the kitchen and the barrack, in messes of ten, and it was then divided by the heads of the messes to suit the men. James Allen is the head of mess No. 7 the mess that I and Henry White are in, but we draw our mite together and eat it in our bunk or on the floor. My old mess have disbanded. Pa and Falles are together, Beach and Miller are together, and old Jerry Murphy is by himself.”

~ Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[viii]

Prisoners quickly discovered that the only means left to procure a diet that would insure survival was to either make purchases from the sutler at greatly inflated prices or to write to every friend and family member begging to have packages of food and clothing sent as quickly as possible.

All packages sent to the prisoners were inspected for contraband items. It was not uncommon for inspectors to help themselves to handfuls of cigars or boxes of apples.

“Sunday June 5th, 1864. Weather pleasant. We have had a short roll calls for the last week, but this morning all the prisoners were marched in two lines around the whole prison near the dead line, and several columns through the square. Then Capt. Sponable assisted by Lieut. Proseus and some sergeants and corporals belonging to the patrol guard, counted the prisoners off in squads of 100 each. As soon as a squad was counted the left was advanced about six paces, the right standing firm, making a quarter right wheel, then they were allowed to sit down. When all were counted we were notified that a blue jacket had been stolen from the workshop, and that we would be kept where we were till we told who got it or where it was. This was news to me and it appeared to be the same with everybody else. An hour passed off and no tidings of the jacket. Capt. Sponable then told us that he would let us go to our quarters, and if the jacket was not found by one o’clock he would call us all out again. We were glad to get off for the most of us had not eaten breakfast yet. My mess was just pouring out the coffee when the roll call bugle sounded. When we returned we found everything cold and the fire out. I went to the express office and when my name was called I went in. The Yankee took a handful of cigars out of my box and then gave it to me. On arriving at my barrack I found the box to contain the following articles: A gray jacket and vest, and some socks, soap, crackers, marbles, and two novels for myself. A hat, socks, soap, thread, a pair of shoes, and part of a box of cigars for Pa. Also a hat and a pair of shoes for Estus Garret of 2nd Kentucky, which I immediately delivered to him in person. Everything came that the list called for. The box was started from Lexington, KY on the 1st inst. Making only three days on the way as it arrived at the express office yesterday. Shanks is now writing at the express office. We were not called out again. I think the jacket was found. There was no work done today. We moved our stove into the barrack.”

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

Burke went on to record that by June 6th “a good part of the camp” was out of rations and “it will be three or four days till we draw again.” While Burke and his father could eke by on food sent by family and friends, other prisoners starved.

“Our rations were most radically changed. All vegetables were cut off, and tea, coffee, and sugar became things of the past. One third of our bread was cut off and two thirds of our meat, the later being salted shoulders. Men were hungry now.”

~ R. T. Bean, Company I, Eight Kentucky Cavalry[x]

“The papers say that the U. S. Government can’t afford to issue any more coffee, sugar, or molasses. This is certainly very unwelcome news to us”

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

The Official Records shows that the elimination of coffee, tea, sugar, and molasses was a retaliatory move intended “to reduce the ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops.”[xii] General Halleck, general in chief of the Union army, held Confederate prisoners in contempt and saw no reason to offer them a prison diet which was better than the diet the Confederate Army provided its soldiers in the field. Halleck failed to take into account that soldiers in the field could (or rather had to) forge for additional food stuffs. Furthermore, it was the Union blockade of Southern ports and waterways know as the Anaconda Plan which had effectively ceased Southern trade with other nations and caused wide spread shortages of coffee, tea, and sugar.

Forced labor continued with Colonel Strong demanding details of six men a day from each barrack “two to bring water and cut wood for the kitchen, two to keep the barrack and street in front well swept, two to carry out the waste water.” Prisoners were also conscripted to dig ditches, move lumber, and improve the streets.

By the middle of June, the prisoners were surviving on scraps and cooking only two meals per day. Despite the mass starvation, Sweet’s focus remained on superficial appearance. To impress inspectors and visiting members of the public, Sweet maniacally dressed his frail and dying prisoners up in new clothing.

“Friday June 17th, 1864. Weather pleasant. Our rations have given out, and we are living on scraps. There has been a good deal of clothing issued by the Yanks to the needy in the last four or five days, consisting of shoes, dark blue pants, gray jackets or coats, high crowned gray hats, cotton drawers, woolen shits, and a few socks, by the rules of war. When a Government holds prisoners of war a certain length of time or till they become needy, the Government is required to clothe them. So we have a right to the clothing. Most of the workhands have been working for clothing which they could have gotten without working if they had only waited. The majority of the prisoners are against working for the Yankees in any form. Two prisoners got into the Yankee camp and escaped over the fence by means of a ladder where there was no guard. I did not learn their names. I coughed part of the night."

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

Illness was ever present. Prisoners who managed to survive, watched those around them die in alarming numbers. While priests and ministers were allowed to visit the sick in the camp’s hospital, it required the urging of Chicago’s mayor before Sweet allowed nuns from his daughter Ada’s school to distribute food to those in the hospital. The nuns showed their appreciation by baking cakes for the guards.[xiv] One of the priests from St. James Church baptized 250 men. Sadly, 77 died soon there after. These baptism records are the only surviving Camp Douglas record that show the prisoner’s ages. They were as young as 17 and as old as 50.[xv]

J. P Parker died June 12th 1864
A. W. Johnson died June 18th 1864 of smallpox at Camp Douglas

-Company Deaths Recorded in the Diary of Ezekiel A. Brown , 62nd North Carolina[xvi]

“Monday June 13th, 1864. Weather pleasant. At roll call Frank Boyd of Company A was reported to have died at the hospital.”

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

William Henry Adams again wrote home on June 19th to describe the failing health of his brother George:

"He is sinking slowly. He don’t seem to suffer much but is very weak. It seems very hard for such a boy as George to be compelled to suffer so long."

George Forbes Adams lingered on, suffering for another month before his death.[xviii]

Homesickness beleaguered the prisoners.

“I wrote home. We drew rations, but no coffee, sugar, or molasses. Morgan is in Kentucky with a scattered force and has possession of Mt. Sterling, Winchester, Crab orchard, Richmond, Maysville, Cynthiana, Paris, and is near Lexington. Gold is quoted at $1.973/4. I got up on a barrack with some work hands and had a fine view of the lake and country. I saw a crowd collected at the race track nearby waiting for a race. The country looked green and the houses looked clean and comfortable. The people walking about as if there was no war going on, and here I have been wasting part of the prime of life in this miserable place as a prisoner, and not knowing how much longer I will be forced to remain. I could not help envying them their liberty, yet I try to be contented.”

~Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xix]

While his prisoners starved, Sweet was intent on keeping up appearances and expanding his camp. Prisoner’s Square now boasted Nightingale’s store where prisoners could purchase food and other various items from this close friend of Sweet’s at highly inflated prices, an express office where prisoners could send letters home and receive packages, a pharmacy, and D. F. Brandon’s photography studio where carefully staged photos of the prisoners were taken. Sweet plead with Hoffman asking permission to build 39 additional barracks “which would give a capacity to hold 11,880 prisoners, or would accommodate, by placing a few more men in each barrack, in round numbers, 12,000 men.”

Finally, cravings for power and control must have overtaken Sweet’s reason. Abandoning all ethics and humanity, Sweet instigated a brutal punishment system which pushed those prisoners on the brink of breaking right over sanitie’s edge.

“I saw one poor fellow who had lost his mind for fear of starving to death, and his cries for bread were pitiful in the extreme.”

~ R. T. Bean, Company I, Eight Kentucky Cavalry [xx]

No system for insuring the humane treatment of prisoners was in place, nor did it appear that anyone thought that such a system should exist. A punishment first conceived in 17th century Spain as an executioner’s torture device was revived and pressed into use at Camp Douglas. Similar to the “Spanish Donkey” which was designed to cleave a victim’s body in two, this new device consisted of a thin pointed rail suspended between two posts some ten to fifteen feet from the ground. It became known as “The Mule.” Prisoners were forced to sit upon the pointed rail with their weight resting against their anus, scrotum or coccyx. The guards often increased the suffering of their victims by attaching weights to their feet or placing large beef bones in their hands. After several hours, the force was so great that it severally damaged the area between the legs.

“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.”

-Milton Asbury Ryan, Co. G, 8th MS Regiment[xxi]

“If the least sign of water or spit was seen on the floor the order was, Come, go to the mule or point for grub, which was to stand with the legs perfectly straight, reach over, and touch the ground with the fingers. If the legs were bent in the least, a guard was present with a paddle which he well knew how to use.”

~ T. D. Henry[xxii]

“June 28, 1864. Weather pleasant. We drew a loaf of light bread per man for one day. I got up on a barrack and had a view of the country. The Yanks have fixed a frame near the gate with a scantling across it edge up, and about four feet from the ground, which they make our men ride whenever the men do anything that does not please them. It is called ‘The Mule’. Men have sat on it till they fainted and fell off. It is like riding a sharp fence top.”

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

Hell had been effectively recreated in Chicago yet, those who permitted it felt fully justified in their actions. Parades of spectators flocked to the camp as if they were visiting a zoo.

“Two carriages full of ladies and a lady on horse back drove through camp this evening. Citizens and ladies often appear on the parapet through the day and take a look at us. They are always accompanied by an officer and only stay a few minutes. They are not allowed to speak to us or we to them.”

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

Sweet seemed to enjoy this public attention, especially the attentions paid by ladies of the upper class. While Sweet generally met with request from clergy and church groups with annoyance, he happily permitted the ladies of Grace Church’s Camp Douglas Hospital Aid Society to nurse prisoners housed in the prison’s hospital.

For the prisoners, there was nothing left but the daily challenge of endurance.

“Life in the prison was going from bad to worse. Half-fed, cursed, kicked, and abused for imaginary more that real misdemeanors, hope was dead and life an existence only that gave no promise of relief or escape. Our guards had been changed several times, but that brought no change in our favor. The meat furnished us was salted pork shoulders, and that was telling upon us. The scurvy broke out in a most virulent and aggravated form. Lips were eaten away, jaws became diseased, and teeth feel out. If leprosy is worse than scurvy, may God have mercy upon the victim! It was shocking, horrible, monstrous, and a disgrace to any people who permitted such conditions to exist…The scurvy sent many a man from Camp Douglas to his grave, and many more bear today its cruel. Loathsome scars. Our cries for relief were unnoticed; and the greater our sufferings, the more satisfaction it seemed to give our captors.”

~ R. T. Bean, Company I, Eight Kentucky Cavalry[xxv]

“Time like a sweeping billow, rolls steadily on, and nothing as yet intervenes to break the dull monotony of our prison life. Every day nearly the same thing is repeated. Our fare is poor, mostly bread and water and a small quantity.”

~ Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xxvi]

ENDNOTES

[i] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII, 184-185
[ii] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII, 187-188
[iii] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII 187-188
[iv] Official Records, Series 2, 7: 183-184
[v] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[vi] Excerpts from the Diary of William D. Huff Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http
[vi] Bean, R. T. “Se://www.chicagohistory.com/
[vii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[viii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[ix] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[x] Bean, R. T. “Seventeen Months in Camp Douglas.”
[xi] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xii] Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Ser. II, Vol. VII, 150 -151
[xiii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xiv] Levy, George. “To die in Chicago” Chap 13, pp. 216-217
[xv] Levy, George. “To die in Chicago” Chap 13, p. 217
[xvi] The Civil War Diary of Ezekiel A. Brown, http://www.jcncgs.com/civilwar/eabdiary.htm
[xvii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xviii] The Wartime Letters of William Henry Adams
[xix] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xx] Bean, R. T. “Seventeen Months in Camp Douglas” p. 270
[xxi] Ryan, Milton Asbury. “Experience Of A Confederate Soldier In Camp and Prison In The Civil War 1861-1865”
[xxii] Henry, T. D. “Treatment of Prisoners” p. 278
[xxiii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xxiv] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry
[xxv] Bean, R. T. “Seventeen Months in Camp Douglas.”
[xxvi] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry

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

December, 1863: No Colder place

"At Camp Douglas, President Bellows of the United States Sanitary Commission found deplorable conditions. Declaring that only some special providence, or some peculiar efficacy of the lake winds, could prevent the camp from becoming a source of pestilence."[i]

Alas, the winds blowing across Lake Michigan proved to be no blessing. These frigid blasts forced the prisoners at Camp Douglas to spend longer amounts of time inside their over crowded barracks. John Barker, of Cluke’s Regiment, wrote home claiming there could be “no colder place that God ever designed.” With little heat, inadequate shelter, and insufficient clothing, the prisoners were quite literally caught in winter’s icy grasp. The Diary of Private William D. Huff, copyrighted by the Chicago Historical Society, contains a riveting sketch of December personified as a dark and bearded male. To view this sketch and a handful of other drawings from Huff’s diary, one must download 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? [ii] The lesson plans may be accessed at http://www.chicagohistory.org/education/resources/history-lab/the-civil-war-up-close-and-personal

On December 3, 1863, nearly one hundred of Morgan’s Men escaped through a tunnel dug in White Oak Square. Only fifty were recaptured.

“I learned that one hundred and two prisoners escaped last night. I went a few doors above here and saw the tunnel. It was commenced in one of the small rooms in the bottom of a bunk and ran out under the kitchen and guard line and came up just outside of the fence. If they had come up two feet back, they would have been seen by the guard. The Yankees were so mad that they came around and tore down all of the partitions [turning] all of the little rooms into one big room in each barrack. They also tore up the floors except under the bunks, and we enjoyed ourselves by jumping around on the sleepers. Col. De Land said that he would turn us all out in the weather if we did not quit digging out. The night air had free range through the barracks, but I slept well.”

~Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[iii]

“A great many escaped by tunneling. On one occasion a tunnel was discovered under the barrack occupied by (Cluke's regiment) the eighth Kentucky cavalry. Without trying to find out who dug the tunnel, the whole regiment was formed in column of eight deep, and a guard placed around them with instructions to shoot the first man who sat down; this was just after sun up; at two o'clock a man who had just returned the day before from the small-pox hospital, unable to stand longer fell; a guard saw him and fired; one man was killed dead, two others were wounded, one of them losing an arm, as it was afterwards cut off. This same fellow, who did the shooting, was promoted to a corporal's position, whether for this act or not, it is impossible to say, for he affirmed that he would not take $100 for his gun, as that was the eleventh prisoner he had shot with it.”

~ T. D. Henry, Company E, Duke's Regiment, 2nd Kentucky Cavalry[iv]

Infuriated with the frequency of escapes due to tunneling, De Land ordered that all planking be removed from the barracks’ floors. This was a drastic measure to take during freezing weather, but the young Colonel, who had once been incarcerated in a Confederate prison camp, showed no compassion for his prisoners.

De Land conceived a drastic remedy to counter the tunneling. ‘In view of this I have ordered all the floors removed from the barracks and cook-houses and the spaces filled with dirt even with the top of the joist…This will undoubtedly increase the sickness and mortality, but it will save much trouble and add security. ’” [v]

Even the removal of the floor and partitions did not quell De Land’s wrath. He ordered his men to confiscate the prisoner’s coats, tools, and personal cash citing that such items aided their ability to escape. Defective clothing that had been rejected as unfit for army use was issued to prisoners.[vi]

“We were all marched to the main square in front of headquarters where we found all of the prisoners from the other square also in line. All of the Yankee Lieutenants and Sergeants were set to work searching us. Some took our knives, money, etc. and put it on paper, but others kept no account. Like was done at Camp Morton. Then they came around again and took every good coat in the crowd, and distributed some thin cottonade pepper and salt jackets, and some thin black ridiculous looking tight spade tail Yankee coats in the place of their warm coats received from home. Some photographs were even taken from our men. In the meantime, a squad of Yankees and work hands searched our quarters and took all the good clothing they found, and the work hands stole some of the men’s rations. All of the axes, wood saws, and spades were taken away, depriving us of the means of cutting up our wood and cleaning up our quarters. They left a few rakes I believe and said that we could comb our heads with them.”

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

On December 4th, William Huff recorded a snow storm followed by sleet. The ground was covered in ice. He lamented the confiscation of the prisoner’s coats and the intensely cold weather.

By December 9th workmen had removed flooring from every barracks and prisoners were allowed to fill in the spaces between the floor joists with sand.

Edwin M. Stanton, the United Sates Secretary of War, ordered that there be no trade with sutlers. Thus, De Land ordered the sutler’s store closed on December 12th but permitted him to sell out his remaining stock. The barber shop and news stand were closed on December 17th and the sale of stamps, envelopes, and paper discontinued. However, those prisoners fortunate enough to procure Union “greenbacks” were allowed to spend their money “at the commissaries after eleven o’clock on ration days.” [viii] Curtis Burke and his messmate Henry White began laying in the necessary items to prepare a Christmas dinner.

Emily Todd Helm, half sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, visited the White house accompanied by her daughter Katherine. Mrs. Helm’s husband, Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm, had been killed during the Battle of Chickamauga.

"I never saw Mr. Lincoln more moved, than when he heard of the death of his young brother-in-law Ben Hardin Helm, only thirty-two years old, at Chickamauga. I called to see him about four o'clock on the 22nd of September; I found him in the greatest grief. 'Davis,' said he, 'I feel as David of old did when he was told of the death of Absalom.' I saw how grief stricken he was so I closed the door and left him alone."

~ Senator David Davis [ix]

"Mr. Lincoln and my sister met me with the warmest affection, we were all too grief-stricken at first for speech. I have lost my husband, they have lost their fine little son Willie and Mary and I have lost three brothers in the Confederate service. We could only embrace each other in silence and tears. Sister and I dined intimately, alone. Our tears gathered silently and feel unheeded as with choking voices we tried to talk of immaterial things."

~ Emily Todd Helm[x]

It was far from a pleasant trip. Northern newspapers made a great fuss over Mrs. Helm having passed through Union Lines, a U. S. Senator publicly insulted her and her daughter Katherine quarreled with Lincoln children. Feeling highly uncomfortable, Mrs. Helm returned to Lexington, Kentucky. There she wrote to Lincoln requesting permission to send clothing to the prisoners at Camp Douglas.

"I hope I am not intruding too much upon your kindness and will try not to overstep the limits that I should keep."[xi]

On December 23rd, General William Ward Orme replaced De Land as commander of Camp Douglas. Orme was the law partner of one of Abraham Lincoln’s close friends. Orme was also dying of tuberculosis. Disgusted by the chaos he found, Orme tried to bring order to the prison ration and clothing allotment systems.[xii] Meanwhile, in the wake of the Ninian Edwards beef scandal, De Land and the First Michigan Sharpshooters were ordered to the front.

Was my second great grandfather, James Edward Evans, imprisoned at Camp Douglas, struck with homesickness as Christmas neared? While I have never found any letters written by James Edward Evans, there was mail service into and out of the prison camp. Prisoners could even send letters from one prison camp to another. Prison correspondence was, of course, subject to censorship. Article XVII of a 20 April 1864 Federal circular specified that outgoing and incoming letters are to be examined by non-commissioned officers, and must be no more than one page in length.[xiii] Prisoners typically used the little space they were allowed to reassure loved ones of their safety and to request items needed for their survival.

“Bureaucracies take on a life of there own, and mail service between Camp Douglas and the Confederacy continued without a blink. It was only a matter of postage. Mail within the Union lines could come and go directly, and mail traffic beyond that went through ‘Flag of Truce’ exchange points in enemy territory. Aiken’s Landing behind the Confederate Lines was designated as such in March 1862. Prisoners attached three cents in Federal stamps and ten cents Confederate, if they had them; otherwise, they had to enclose cash in an outer envelope.”[xiv]

A letter sent by T. M. Page, 2nd Ky. Cavalry to Miss Mary S. Read of Decatur, IL .in which he thanks her for items send to him saying, “ you may rely on the earnest devotion and native courtesy of a follower of the Starry Cross of Dixie for the cordial appreciation of your kindness.” The black oval stamp on the envelope was stamp was applied after the letter was read by censors at Camp Douglas.

Colonel Hoffman, who must not have been in the holiday spirit, ordered the prisoners' rations cut by one quart of molasses and two ounces of bread on the day before Christmas, 1863.

“The regulation ration which prisoners were to receive consisted of 3/4 of a pound of bacon and 1 ¼ pounds of beef, 1 1/3 pounds white or 1 1/4 pounds of corn-bread, 1/10 pound of coffee, and 1 1/2 ounces of rice or hominy, 1/6 pound of sugar, a gill of vinegar, one candle, a tablespoon of salt, and beans, potatoes and molasses in small amounts. Contracts were made with various camps for local dealers for these rations."[xv]

"Since these rations, which consisted of... were considered too much for men leading a sedentary life, portions of the issues were ordered withheld. The sale of this non-issued portion went into the prison fund….”[xvi]

Curtis Burke’s Christmas included a hearty meal, gifts, and a visit from his father who was also a prisoner at Camp Douglas.

“The prospects for a dull Christmas were large. The cry of Christmas gift was seldom heard, and when it was, it was given more as a salute or a joke, no gifts being expected. When Pa came over to get Sergeants Millers and Browns morning reports, I caught him and invited him to take dinner with us. A Yankee Lieutenant came to examine the barracks and asked us if any of us were engaged in the gopher business (he meant digging out.) I got the following articles on order today, 10 candles, one bottle of pepper sauce, two lbs. of coffee, 7 lbs. sugar, 1 paper of black pepper, 1 paper of allspice, 1 lb. of butter, and 1 lb. lard - $2.45. Pa came over and made me a present of a pair of buckskin cavalry gloves, a pair of socks, a fancy shawl pin, and a fifty cent sutlers ticket. I did not get dinner till late. The stove was so crowded by other messes. My bill of fare was biscuits, tea, beans and bacon, buttered bakers bread, toasted, molasses, boiled onions laid in butter, cheese, peach pie, apple pie, onion pie, plain doughnuts, and sweet doughnuts. The tea cups, mugs, and glasses were refilled and Henry White offered the following toast.

Toast of Morgan’s Men

Unclaimed by the land that bore us,
Lost in the land we find,
The brave have gone before us,
Cowards are left behind.
Then stand to your glasses, steady,
Here’s a health to those we prize,
Here’s a toast to the dead already,
And here’s to the next who dies.

My guests were all well pleased. There was nothing going on at night except several men hollowing New York. The effect of too much mean whiskey aboard.

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

The day after Christmas, Burke learned “that nothing would be sold at the commissaries after today.” He and Henry White devised a plan for hiding their store of food.

“Weather cold and windy with some snow. I got the balance of the order on the commissary filled and copied off three Southern songs for the Rebel clerk for his attention to filling our order properly. I and Henry White concluded to build a swinging bunk across the barracks near the roof for the safety of the contents of our cupboard. We nailed up the rafters for the new bunk after dusk. Henry White made a raid on the lumber pile where the new hospital is being erected and we walked on the planks to make them look old, so the Yanks would not notice it.

~Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry[xviii]

Solomon Floyd Cook of Company G, 62nd Regiment, NC Infantry wrote home to his wife Martha Ann in East Laport, North Caroline.

“Camp Douglas, Chicago, IllDec. the 27th, 1863

Dear companion,

I take this method of letting you know I am well at present. Hoping these lines may find you and the children well. This day twelve months ago I left home. I have lived through many hardships since that time and I am yet alive and enjoying good health, better than usual. It is a sad misfortune that the horror of war has cast our lots in a foreign land but it is even so and we have to submit to its consequences whatever they may be. Hope it will not be long until we are exchanged and get back to our beloved homes and family.

The health of the reg and company is tolerable good at present.

Tell the friends of ____________[illegible], their relatives are generally well. M.M. Shelton is not very well but on the mend. ________ Hooper, L.W. and T.S. are all well. Send word to Pop and Elizabeth.

Martha I want you to write to me and let me know how you are all doing. You will be limited to a short letter otherwise it will not pass through. Write every week, probably I will get a letter after a while. Direct your letters to Chicago Camp Douglas Illinois marked to the Co. and Regt.

Nothing more but remains your affectionate husband until death.

S. F. Cook

Tell L. S. Shelton's family, he has been sick but getting well fast. Asks for them to write to him.”

Less than a year later, Solomon Floyd Cook died of smallpox while still incarcerated at Camp Douglas.

On December 30th, a blizzard and sub- zero temperatures were recorded at Camp Douglas. Neither more clothing nor additional firewood was allowed to the prisoners.

“Meigs [Montgomery C. Meigs, quarter master general of the Union army] vowed to provide supplies to prisoners with ‘the strictest economy’ and expected the prisoners of war to furnish their own clothing. This was impractical for prisoners who arrived at Camp Douglas wearing clothing unsuitable for winter.”[xix]

ENDNOTES

[i] Hesseltine, William Best. “Civil War Prisons” p. 52
[ii] Chicago Historical Society, History Lab activities http://www.chicagohistory.com/
[iii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[iv] Deposition of T. D. Henry, Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I. Richmond, Va., March, 1876. No .4. April - Pages 273 – 276.
[v] Levy ,George. “To Die in Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Chap. 10, p. 165.
[vi] Hesseltine, William Best. “Civil War Prisons” p. 46
[vii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[viii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[ix] Helm, Katherine. “ Mary, Wife of Lincoln”, p. 216-217.
[x] Helm, Katherine. “ Mary, Wife of Lincoln”, p. 221-222.
[xi] Holzer, Harold. “The Lincoln Mailbag,” p. 118.
[xii] Heidler, David Stephen, Heidler, Jeanne T., Coles, David J. “ Encyclopedia of The American Civil War” p. 345.
[xiii] Official Records, Series II, Volume 7, p. 75.
[xiv] Levy, George. “To Die In Chicago, Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65,” 1999, Ch 2, p.44.
[xv] Hesseltine, William Best. “Civil War Prisons” p. 43
[xvi] Hesseltine, William Best. “Civil War Prisons” p. 44
[xvii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[xviii] Diary of Curtis R. Burke, Co. B 14th Kentucky Cavalry.
[xix] Pucci, Kelly. “Camp Douglas: Chicago’s Civil War Prison” 2007 p.91.