Checks sent to Camp Chase prisoners April-June 1865

16thVA

First Sergeant
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Location
Philadelphia
While working on my project of WV civilian prisoners I came across these few pages in the Camp Chase books detailing names, banks, etc. of checks for prisoners. I thought it might be of interest to some. There is so much information in these books but to my knowledge they have never been collated.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/6...92&wc=M8VN-Z38:203215501,203257701&cc=1916234

Further on I found a list of soldiers along with their regiments and place or residence. I've seen a number of these lists throughout the Camp Chase records but I doubt they have been utitlized by historians. This particular list has soldiers from Mississippi and Louisiana as well as a number of Morgan's cavalry.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/6...14&wc=M8VN-Z38:203215501,203257701&cc=1916234
 
Hello - My
While working on my project of WV civilian prisoners I came across these few pages in the Camp Chase books detailing names, banks, etc. of checks for prisoners. I thought it might be of interest to some. There is so much information in these books but to my knowledge they have never been collated.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5MB-7JR?i=192&wc=M8VN-Z38:203215501,203257701&cc=1916234

Further on I found a list of soldiers along with their regiments and place or residence. I've seen a number of these lists throughout the Camp Chase records but I doubt they have been utitlized by historians. This particular list has soldiers from Mississippi and Louisiana as well as a number of Morgan's cavalry.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95MB-77C?i=214&wc=M8VN-Z38:203215501,203257701&cc=1916234

Hello - According to the Compiled Military Service Record cards, my gr gr grandfather was taken prisoner near Winchester, Va on 13 June 1863 and transported to the Antheneum prison at Wheeling, Va and held there until transferred to Camp Chase on 15 June 1863. One of the CMSR cards says his name appeared on a list of prisoners confined at the Antheneum during this time. His name is John Baker and he was with Company K, 12th Va Cavalry (although, his records are misfiled in the 12th Va Infantry within the CMSR).

I have found his name and information on registers of Camp Chase (and later, Johnson Island) but have not been able to find any lists or registers from Wheeling or the Antheneum. Have you found any lists for Wheeling?

Thanx.
 
My 2nd Great grandpa Cpl. Jenkins Brown Irwin, 4th Alabama Cavalry was captured at Paint Rock AL in 1864 and held at Camp Chase until his release and signed Pledge in 1865. Here is his photo upon release. Looks pretty happy going home.

Jenkins Brown.jpg
 
Hello - My


Hello - According to the Compiled Military Service Record cards, my gr gr grandfather was taken prisoner near Winchester, Va on 13 June 1863 and transported to the Antheneum prison at Wheeling, Va and held there until transferred to Camp Chase on 15 June 1863. One of the CMSR cards says his name appeared on a list of prisoners confined at the Antheneum during this time. His name is John Baker and he was with Company K, 12th Va Cavalry (although, his records are misfiled in the 12th Va Infantry within the CMSR).

I have found his name and information on registers of Camp Chase (and later, Johnson Island) but have not been able to find any lists or registers from Wheeling or the Antheneum. Have you found any lists for Wheeling?

Thanx.

Hello, the only records I have for the Atheneum are in this book on the Internet Artchive. They are interspersed throughout, so I'm afraid you would have to skim the whole thing. A lot of them are for 1863. There are other Wheeling record books in the National Archives but you would have to visit the archive, they are not online, and I've never been able to do that.

https://archive.org/details/selectedrecordso0001unit/page/n225
 
Hey! Thanks for that link! I found gg granddad on image #89 of that reel - he's number 11; he was only at the Atheneum for a day before they shipped him off to Camp Chase. The record just says he was with "Jones Brigade" - that would have been the Brigade of William E. "Grumble" Jones operating within J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry Division.

I had seen these reel scans in the past and I have done a lot of research through the prisoner enrollment registers of Camp Chase, Johnson Island, and Point Lookout but I always thought reel #1 was just hospital lists only.

I guess I may have to go back through these compiled lists of the Commissary General and do a more thorough search.

Thanks again.
 
My 2nd Great grandpa Cpl. Jenkins Brown Irwin, 4th Alabama Cavalry was captured at Paint Rock AL in 1864 and held at Camp Chase until his release and signed Pledge in 1865. Here is his photo upon release. Looks pretty happy going home.

That's a great photo of your ancestor. Where do you think this photo was taken? In Ohio or back home in Alabama?
 
That's a great photo of your ancestor. Where do you think this photo was taken? In Ohio or back home in Alabama?


I have no idea of where this occurred, more than likely it was in Ohio after his release. He wasn't in full uniform as if it was a professional portrait for the home folks. His expression and unkept hair more than likely suggest happiness at the prospect of being released and being free.
 
I have no idea of where this occurred, more than likely it was in Ohio after his release. He wasn't in full uniform as if it was a professional portrait for the home folks. His expression and unkept hair more than likely suggest happiness at the prospect of being released and being free.
I'm sure he was really happy to get out of that place. Another of my ancestors, the youngest brother of my great grand father on my father's side, was imprisoned there in September, 1864 but didn't make it out; he died January 23, 1865 and is buried in the cemetery, grave #855 - Private John G. Deatherage, Co B, 8th Virginia Cavalry (the last name is misspelled on his headstone and they show him in Co D instead of B). The burial register says he died of pneumonia - perhaps so, but the local paper reported that the temperature got down to 18 below zero two nights before he was reported dead; I suspect that he froze to death. John was only 20 years old.
 
I'm sure he was really happy to get out of that place. Another of my ancestors, the youngest brother of my great grand father on my father's side, was imprisoned there in September, 1864 but didn't make it out; he died January 23, 1865 and is buried in the cemetery, grave #855 - Private John G. Deatherage, Co B, 8th Virginia Cavalry (the last name is misspelled on his headstone and they show him in Co D instead of B). The burial register says he died of pneumonia - perhaps so, but the local paper reported that the temperature got down to 18 below zero two nights before he was reported dead; I suspect that he froze to death. John was only 20 years old.

Much horror was conducted by both sides who never planned on how to treat POW's after capture. My ancestor left Alabama to take his bride to Texas and settled here in 1867. I'm sure he spent a hard life fighting off Indians and outlaws while farming his land.
 
Hello, the only records I have for the Atheneum are in this book on the Internet Artchive. They are interspersed throughout, so I'm afraid you would have to skim the whole thing. A lot of them are for 1863. There are other Wheeling record books in the National Archives but you would have to visit the archive, they are not online, and I've never been able to do that.

Hello 16thVa -
In the course of your research I suspect you have come across some 'descriptive list' forms used by the Union Provost Marshal's office at Wheeling - here are two that I found on Fold3, Civil War, Military Service Records, Confederate, Miscellaneous :
Darr_Forms.jpg


The top one is the record of my great great grandfather, John Baker, the other is that of Joseph A. Edmonds, a private of Chews Artillery who was captured and recorded by the Provost-Marshal, Wheeling at the same time as John.

Both soldiers were in units of W.E. 'Grumble' Jones' brigade in the vicinity of Winchester prior to capture and both had been transported to Wheeling for incarceration, held for about a day in the Atheneum then sent to Camp Chase on 15 June 1863. Within the month, both had been transferred to Johnson's Island - they are both recorded as 'deserters' on the rolls of Johnson's Island.

Notice the notation in the 'By Whom Captured' column of each form - here's a blow up of those columns :
CaptureSlipInfo.jpg


I can't really decipher what is written - it might be "2nd Emments" - the CMSR copyist who transcribed these records wrote "Md Exempts" on the index cards of the respective soldier.

Have you seen these notations before? Do you know what they mean?

Thanx,
Dave D
 
Hello 16thVa -
In the course of your research I suspect you have come across some 'descriptive list' forms used by the Union Provost Marshal's office at Wheeling - here are two that I found on Fold3, Civil War, Military Service Records, Confederate, Miscellaneous :
View attachment 297464

The top one is the record of my great great grandfather, John Baker, the other is that of Joseph A. Edmonds, a private of Chews Artillery who was captured and recorded by the Provost-Marshal, Wheeling at the same time as John.

Both soldiers were in units of W.E. 'Grumble' Jones' brigade in the vicinity of Winchester prior to capture and both had been transported to Wheeling for incarceration, held for about a day in the Atheneum then sent to Camp Chase on 15 June 1863. Within the month, both had been transferred to Johnson's Island - they are both recorded as 'deserters' on the rolls of Johnson's Island.

Notice the notation in the 'By Whom Captured' column of each form - here's a blow up of those columns :
View attachment 297467

I can't really decipher what is written - it might be "2nd Emments" - the CMSR copyist who transcribed these records wrote "Md Exempts" on the index cards of the respective soldier.

Have you seen these notations before? Do you know what they mean?

Thanx,
Dave D
Hello 16thVa -
In the course of your research I suspect you have come across some 'descriptive list' forms used by the Union Provost Marshal's office at Wheeling - here are two that I found on Fold3, Civil War, Military Service Records, Confederate, Miscellaneous :
View attachment 297464

The top one is the record of my great great grandfather, John Baker, the other is that of Joseph A. Edmonds, a private of Chews Artillery who was captured and recorded by the Provost-Marshal, Wheeling at the same time as John.

Both soldiers were in units of W.E. 'Grumble' Jones' brigade in the vicinity of Winchester prior to capture and both had been transported to Wheeling for incarceration, held for about a day in the Atheneum then sent to Camp Chase on 15 June 1863. Within the month, both had been transferred to Johnson's Island - they are both recorded as 'deserters' on the rolls of Johnson's Island.

Notice the notation in the 'By Whom Captured' column of each form - here's a blow up of those columns :
View attachment 297467

I can't really decipher what is written - it might be "2nd Emments" - the CMSR copyist who transcribed these records wrote "Md Exempts" on the index cards of the respective soldier.

Have you seen these notations before? Do you know what they mean?

Thanx,
Dave D


I can't say I've seen those notations before. I think instead of 2nd it might be "Ind.", perhaps "Independent", can't make out the E-word. I think it helps if you go through a number of records, sometimes you can see a pattern or variation to the notations and figure it out that way.
 
Interesting.

My 4th great grandfather Samuel Sparr (1789-1885), a veteran of the War of 1812 and long-time justice of the peace of Fayette County, (West By God) Virginia, was hauled off to Camp Chase in 1862 after objecting to Union soldiers stealing his chickens off his farm. I have photocopies of a letter he wrote to Gen. Rosecrans asking for his release and also a letter from his neighbors attesting to his status and patriotism. He was eventually released, but a 70+ year old veteran in prison is a little inconceivable!
 
I can't say I've seen those notations before. I think instead of 2nd it might be "Ind.", perhaps "Independent", can't make out the E-word. I think it helps if you go through a number of records, sometimes you can see a pattern or variation to the notations and figure it out that way.

You hit the nail on the head with "Independent" - see West Virginia Independent Exempts Infantry

Thanx,
Dave
 
Interesting.

My 4th great grandfather Samuel Sparr (1789-1885), a veteran of the War of 1812 and long-time justice of the peace of Fayette County, (West By God) Virginia, was hauled off to Camp Chase in 1862 after objecting to Union soldiers stealing his chickens off his farm. I have photocopies of a letter he wrote to Gen. Rosecrans asking for his release and also a letter from his neighbors attesting to his status and patriotism. He was eventually released, but a 70+ year old veteran in prison is a little inconceivable!

This is a list of prisoners transcribed from a Camp Chase book, not by me, which has a Samuel Sparr listed #47. I think the original book is in the collection of the Ohio Historical Society. Most of the men listed would be from West Virginia and Kentucky, but it is a mix of military and civilian, sometimes without designating one from the other.

https://sites.google.com/site/wvotherhistory/drcamden/camp-chase-civil-prisoners-1861-1862

There is a diary published a few years ago and it has some details about the Ohio soldiers who were moving through Fayette and Nicholas County, they destroyed a lot of buildings, so I'm sure your relative lost a few chickens. He writes from Summersville, Nicholas County, Nov. 7, 1861,

"There are very few chickens this side of Gauley River and pigs are getting scarcer every day." pg. 95

Writing a few days later in Summersville

"On this trip the company (ist Battalion) burned eight barns; twelve ricks of wheat, in sheaf; fifteen stacks of hay; several small buildings; shot six sheep; five head of cattle and three hogs; captured ten horses; twenty-four head of cattle; besides confiscating or destroying quite a number of useful articles in reparation for encouraging rebel raids on Union people and otherwise aiding the enemy in their forays into this district."

Both Fayette and Nicholas counties were secessionist counties.

Another Day in Lincoln's Army: The Civil War Journals of Sgt. John T. Booth
 
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