2007
First Published
3.64
Average Rating
128
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Thousands of Confederate soldiers died in Chicago during the Civil War, not from battle wounds, but from disease, starvation, and torture as POWs in a military prison three miles from the Chicago Loop. Initially treated as a curiosity, attitudes changed when newspapers reported the deaths of Union soldiers on southern battlefields. As the prison population swelled, deadly diseases—smallpox, dysentery, and pneumonia—quickly spread through Camp Douglas. Starving prisoners caught stealing from garbage dumps were tortured or shot. Fearing a prisoner revolt, a military official declared martial law in Chicago, and civilians, including a Chicago mayor and his family, were arrested, tried, and sentenced by a military court. At the end of the Civil War, Camp Douglas closed, its buildings were demolished, and records were lost or destroyed. The exact number of dead is unknown; however, 6,000 Confederate soldiers incarcerated at Camp Douglas are buried among mayors and gangsters in a South Side cemetery. Camp Douglas: Chicago's Civil War Prison explores a long-forgotten chapter of American history, clouded in mystery and largely forgotten.
Avg Rating
3.64
Number of Ratings
14
5 STARS
21%
4 STARS
36%
3 STARS
29%
2 STARS
14%
1 STARS
0%
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Author
Kelly Pucci
Author · 1 book
Kelly Pucci has covered everything from bergamot orchards in Southern Italy, to life on the Cook Islands, urban beekeeping in the Midwest, and history of magic. She is the author of Camp Douglas: Chicago's Civil War Prison, The Hidden History of St. Joseph County Michigan and Chicago's First Crime King: Michael Cassius McDonald. She currently lives in Chicago and Michigan.
