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I never knew this, but there was a Union prison on an island in Lake Erie during the Civil War. While it housed officer prisoners, the treatment there was apparently somewhat brutal. You can read more about it here:http://www.archaeology.org/9907/abstracts/civil.htmlBut what I wanted to point out was that during an excavation(s) some objects were found that the archaeologists could not identify. Can you identify any of these?http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/johnsons/mystery.html
PhidI can't identify any of the objects.If you will refer to a post I made Nov.1 2006 "The History Channel" there is a story about my G-grandfather trying to escape from Johnson's Island.Actually, until late in the war, the inmates were treated much better there than other prisons. Later on conditions got pretty bad.There also was a conspiracy to seize a passenger boat ,the Philo Parsons,and free the prisoners and escape to Canada. A Confederate spy ,Charles H. Cole, posing as a banker was to hold a party aboard the Union gunboat , the Michigan, guarding the prison . He planned to drug the officers and take over the gunboat then join the passenger ship to effect the escape. He was discovered and the gunboat was never taken
That's pretty interesting stuff. I guess I didn't know or had forgotten about your grandfather's time there. Based on what you're saying here the Johnson's Island Prison would make for a good setting for a Civil War movie.
I have no clue what those objects are. I'm not familiar with Johnson's Island Prison either. I wonder how it compared to Leavenworth? 😕
Johnson's Island was used primarily as a prison for officers. After getting stuck in the escape tunnel my G-grandfather was very unpopular with the other prisoners. The ones behind him could not escape and the ones who had made it thru the tunnel were captured when the guards found him stuck in the hole with nothing but his head poked out.
