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The History Channel is having a program Monday called ” 80 Acres of Hell” about Camp Douglas POW Camp. About 3000 Confederate prisoners are buried in a mass grave there
Camp Douglas and Elmira were as bad or worse than Camp Sumpter(Andersonville) and they did not have the excuse that supplies were short. A lot of the POWs at Camp Douglas were members of the 55th Ga Vol Inf captured at Cumberland Gap
The enlisted men went to Camp Douglas and the officers to Johnson's Island in Lake Erie. My G-grandfather was at Johnson's Island. The following is a story of his attempted escape. "Capt. Pole Who Stuck In The Hole" was Capt Turner Isaac Ball Co. A 55th Ga
Wanted to "get out" - A story of Johnson's Island, Ohio
From Civil War in Song and Story: 1861-1865; collected and arranged by Frank Moore; Published in New York; 1882.
The following story was told by a correspondent, at the depot of Prisoners of War, at Johnson's Island:
Last night, a number of prisoners made a futile attempt to escape by digging under the fence. They commenced a mine under the floor of a building next to the wall, and four succeeded in getting through, making their exit on the side of the fence. But fortunately, the fifth was a size larger than he imagined himself to be, and stuck in the mud, as the boys say. He succeeded in getting his head through, but somehow got his arms in such a position that he could not move, being evidently under much excitement, and anxious to make his escape with all possible speed.
In the mean time, his comrades, who had made their escape, were anxious that he should accompany them on their imaginary journey South; and after undergoing a severe operation of hairpulling - as that was the only hold they could get -- he declined going any farther at that time. And after bidding his more fortunate comrades to take a lock of his extricated hair with them to his sweetheart in Dixie, he bade them farewell; and they left him in this ludicrous position, perfectly disguised.
But now arose the second difficulty: his friends on the inside thought he was intruding upon their rights, and informed him that if he did not intend to go any farther it was very impolite to stop up the hole with his precious self, and keep them from going too. After much persuading, by way of pulling at his legs, and again pushing, of no avail, they, too, abandoned the enterprise of extricating the poor miserable wretch. But what this unlucky being lacked in the organ of size he made up for in the organ of endurance, for he actually remained in this tight place from nine o'clock in the evening until half past five in the morning. It was raining nearly the whole night, and was uncomfortably cold. The first that was discovered of him was by the sentinel, who heard a suppressed voice saying: "I want to get out of this."
"Where are you?"
"Here, under the fence. I want to get out!"
"Well, get out or I'll shoot you!"
"I am fast! Don't shoot! I am fast!"
The corporal of the guard was called who brought a light, and, sure enough, there was a rebel planted, with his head protruding out of the solid earth.
It was agreed among the boys, that with the addition of a head-board, with his name inscribed on it, "Capt. Pole, who stuck in the hole" , he would be buried decently enough. But after consulting the officer of the guard they concluded to dig him out. The ludicrous appearance he presented created great merriment; muddy, dripping, half foundered, forth he came, wringing himself as he went with the look of a wetdown rooster in a fall rain storm. He said he was the first who attempted to escape; but no reliance was placed upon his statement, and pickets were sent out, and those prisoners who were out were discovered in the back part of the island building a raft, and were brought in and secured.
I caught the last half or so of the program, which was really interesting. I had never before heard of such cruelty and torture occurring in the United States in the form of prison camps. What the Union did to Confederate soldiers – mostly under Col. Deland and Sweet – rivals some of the cruelty inflicted on the Jews during the holocaust. It’s a shame that this dark chapter in history is not more well known.
Phidippides
I guess the victors write the historys.
Elmira NY POW camp rivaled Camp Douglas for cruelty and death rates. The Johnson Island Camp in Lake Erie was much better until the last year of the war when rations were drasticly cut.
Camp Douglas has the largest mass grave in the US.
The entire 55th Ga Regiment was captured along with a NC regiment at Cumberland Gap Tenn,. They were surrendered without firing a shot by Gen. Fraser( N.Carolina) over the objections of his junior officers to a much smaller Union force under Burnside. They lost more men in Camp Douglas than they would have lost in battle.
H.H. BuggfuzzIt seems, thought, that Camp Douglas became the mission of some men obsessed with power when it was able to assert power over part of Chicago. I wonder if this drive was the same that influenced the leaders at the other camps. Furthermore, the unconstitutional trials that went on in or around the camp (I only caught a part of this during the program) is appears to be a sign of flagrant abuse of power. Perhaps they (Sweet, et al) would have an explanation for such activities, but we do see in other parts of history where unlawful trials signal gross injustices to human rights (such as during the New York Slave Revolt of 1741).
At Camp Sumpter (Andersonville)the conditions were very bad but mostly due to lack of supplies rather than cruelty. Some problems were caused by gangs of prisoners preying on other prisoners. Capt Wirtz allowed the prisoners to try these gangsters and they were hung. I live about 50 miles from Andersonville and have visited several times. The “Raiders” are buried outside the main cemetery. If I remember correctly there are six of them.
The guards did not have much better rations than the prisoners due to lack of supplies. Another one of my
G-grandfathers was a 16 year old guard there(He was on detached service sick when the rest of the 55th was captured at Cumberland Gap).
Gen Grant and the Union officials refused to exchange prisoners because they knew that the Confederacy was short of supplies and that maintaining thousands of POWs would be a tremendous burden. They contributed to the death and suffering then tried and hung Capt Wirtz as a scapegoat.Buggfuzz, interesting what you say, as they mentioned some of those things in the show. There were guards who died along with the prisoners at Andersonville, evidence that it wasn’t a unilateral infliction of pain there as it was at Camp Douglas (the depravation of vegetables, which led to scurvy, is a particularly maddening scenario). The show mentioned that toward the end of the war, Grant did not want to do a prisoner swap with the South because he knew that he would merely be rearming his enemies, leading to more death down the road. Hence, Douglas swelled to some 12,000 prisoners, some of whom were freed to fight out West if they pledged their allegiance to the Union. This pledge also gave prisoners the chance to get a ride home at the end of the war, when they were freed. Otherwise, they had to walk home.
Yes, Wirtz was hung after what happened at Andersonville, but Sweet promoted. Go figure.Here is a link about Camp Douglas. This was researched by C.B. Pritchett of Albany Ga
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/geocitiesInteresting.
Camp Douglas has to be the North=s best kept secret of the Civil War B their Andersonville B but a camp that must be identified with extreme cruelty and Aconvenient@ record keeping of the dead.
I see that the author notes the discrepancy in reporting of the number of dead, just as was mentioned in the program. Do you happen to know the Pritchard man?
I don’t know C.B. Pritchard personally but he owns the Pritchard Ford Dealership in Albany, Ga
Apparently The POW camp at Elmira NY was almost as bad as Camp DouglasWhy is it the commandant of andersonville was tried and executed for really less offensive deeds (for lack of a better phrase) then those who did much worse in the north? Wernt the goings on public knowledge?
Why is it the commandant of andersonville was tried and executed for really less offensive deeds (for lack of a better phrase) then those who did much worse in the north? Wernt the goings on public knowledge?
If the South had won, do you think the actions would have been reversed and the commanders of Andersonville would have been given lighter sentences than those commanders of camps in the North?
