Camp Douglas Prisoner of War Camp (Chicago) Civil War

[rangerrebew]

Camp Douglas Prisoner of War Camp
 
Union 1862-1865
Chicago, Illinois

Camp Douglas was the largest training camp in Illinois. On the east side of the camp was the parade ground and administrative buildings: on the south side was the camp hospitals: on the west side was the actual prison camp.

Camp Douglas, located near Chicago, was originally created as a rendezvous point to train and quarter regiments raised in the Chicago area at the beginning of the war. It was a sprawling training base. The camp was named in honor of Illinois statesman Stephen A. Douglas, whose residence was nearby. The camp was located on the south side of Chicago on grounds used for fairs. The Northern equivalent of the South's Andersonville Prison, Camp Douglas was the most notorious Federal POW camp of the Civil War. Camp Douglas was a gallery of horrors on the fringes of the bustling urban center of Chicago.

https://www.mycivilwar.com/pow/il-camp-douglas.html

[HoustonSam]

My GGGrandfather Samuel Stafford, 9th TN Cavalry, was captured near Bardstown Kentucky in 1863 during Morgan's Great Raid, and sent to Camp Douglas.  He survived smallpox and the war and returned home, else there would be no HoustonSam today.

As bad as it was for him and his colleagues at Douglas, I'm sure the Union men imprisoned at Andersonville had it worse.

[Cripplecreek]

My GGGrandfather Samuel Stafford, 9th TN Cavalry, was captured near Bardstown Kentucky in 1863 during Morgan's Great Raid, and sent to Camp Douglas.  He survived smallpox and the war and returned home, else there would be no HoustonSam today.

As bad as it was for him and his colleagues at Douglas, I'm sure the Union men imprisoned at Andersonville had it worse.

I've read that the early days of Camp Douglas as a POW camp were pretty chaotic and lax. Security in the early days was so poor that Confederate prisoners would often wander the streets of Chicago, going to bars and cathouses. Some POWs even went out and found jobs in the city.

Sam Houston is my all time favorite southerner BTW.

[HoustonSam]

I've read that the early days of Camp Douglas as a POW camp were pretty chaotic and lax. Security in the early days was so poor that Confederate prisoners would often wander the streets of Chicago, going to bars and cathouses. Some POWs even went out and found jobs in the city.

Sam Houston is my all time favorite southerner BTW.

It was probably tighter by the time my GGGF arrived in '63.  I myself wandered the Windy City streets a couple of times in my own mis-spent youth.  Bars yes, cathouses no, jobs hell no.

No relation to The Raven, I just adopted the username because it is my first name and I live in the suburbs of his namesake city.  Like him, I am a native Tennessean; other collateral ancestors of mine served in the 14th TN regiment, ANV.

[Cripplecreek]

It was probably tighter by the time my GGGF arrived in '63.  I myself wandered the Windy City streets a couple of times in my own mis-spent youth.  Bars yes, cathouses no, jobs hell no.

No relation to The Raven, I just adopted the username because it is my first name and I live in the suburbs of his namesake city.  Like him, I am a native Tennessean; other collateral ancestors of mine served in the 14th TN regiment, ANV.

Sam Houston was a cooler head who would have prevented the civil war if his contemporaries had listened to him.

[HoustonSam]

Sam Houston was a cooler head who would have prevented the civil war if his contemporaries had listened to him.

Yep he tried hard to talk them out of it, and he was proven correct about how the North would ultimately respond.  At the time he died (long about '63 IIRC) I understand he was not in good repute around here, but of course his memory was rehabilitated later.