Member Review The Story of Camp Douglas: Chicago's Forgotten Civil War Prison by David L. Keller

Since reading this book would you compare Douglas to the Confederate prison in Richmond.Could it match to the horrors of Andersonville.?The victors interpet events in ways to protect those responsible.Why does this and other Union POW camps not receive the same overview as Confederate POW . Edited; unrelated topics

Probably for two reasons--first, Andersonville was the subject of a book (Pulitzer prize) and very popular film. I read it in high school; saw that (not from the book film) when it came out on TV (1996) You could say it captured the national imagination the way Killer Angels and the film Gettysburg did. Second, once the book came out, the camp really became a national "must see" for CW buffs and tourists--so there's that. Douglas isn't even there any longer! I honestly did not know about it until I stumbled across the names of my grandmother's uncles who died there and started researching. Once I did, I started reading everything I could find. Look on Amazon and see how many books there are on Andersonville (a result, again, of a book in 1955 and the Pulitzer in 1956). I'd say Douglas is catching up, but it was so shrouded in mystery (and isn't an NPS researched site), it just doesn't capture the imagination the way the NPS Andersonville and the film did. Does this make any sense? :D
 
This is where conversations generally devolve into which was worse then the whole thing goes to heck. Since it's the most well known, Andersonville should be the conversation opener on what in blazes we did to each other and what we're capable of. IMO ACW prisons are an incredible chance to learn from history, not relegated another divisive topic.

I don't know. It's always seemed to me that these lessons are lost unless the stories are allowed to be told, barbarism acknowledged. Douglas, Elmira, Belle Island, Libby- there are an awful lot of stories out there.
 
Probably for two reasons--first, Andersonville was the subject of a book (Pulitzer prize) and very popular film. I read it in high school; saw that (not from the book film) when it came out on TV (1996) You could say it captured the national imagination the way Killer Angels and the film Gettysburg did. Second, once the book came out, the camp really became a national "must see" for CW buffs and tourists--so there's that. Douglas isn't even there any longer! I honestly did not know about it until I stumbled across the names of my grandmother's uncles who died there and started researching. Once I did, I started reading everything I could find. Look on Amazon and see how many books there are on Andersonville (a result, again, of a book in 1955 and the Pulitzer in 1956). I'd say Douglas is catching up, but it was so shrouded in mystery (and isn't an NPS researched site), it just doesn't capture the imagination the way the NPS Andersonville and the film did. Does this make any sense? :D
After reading a half-dozen books on the subject of prisons at the start of the year, I have some thoughts on how they are remembered and forgotten. Andersonville does dominate the conversation for a variety of reasons, one of which has to do with the book and other popular culture manifestations edited; modern politics
 
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Probably for two reasons--first, Andersonville was the subject of a book (Pulitzer prize) and very popular film. I read it in high school; saw that (not from the book film) when it came out on TV (1996) You could say it captured the national imagination the way Killer Angels and the film Gettysburg did. Second, once the book came out, the camp really became a national "must see" for CW buffs and tourists--so there's that. Douglas isn't even there any longer! I honestly did not know about it until I stumbled across the names of my grandmother's uncles who died there and started researching. Once I did, I started reading everything I could find. Look on Amazon and see how many books there are on Andersonville (a result, again, of a book in 1955 and the Pulitzer in 1956). I'd say Douglas is catching up, but it was so shrouded in mystery (and isn't an NPS researched site), it just doesn't capture the imagination the way the NPS Andersonville and the film did. Does this make any sense? :D
Thank you.The difficulty as you seem to state is that novels as with movies alter history to the desire of whoever makes the movie or writes the novel .People who read historical novels will forget that it is a novel even when it is stated on the book.Then maybe the historian should label their books as fiction so that people will read them.It would be interested in a history where the Confederacy was the Union and the Union was the Confederacy.Any wages on if people would believe it ?
 
...Camp Douglas is a blot of shame on the state and city. In fact, they so badly starved the men that rather than let the scandal erupt, they loaded up the Bama Boys onto train cars in advanced starvation and shipped them to Camp Randall to die in Madison...carried to the open air prison only to die within hours. Chicago essentially shipping its shame out of state up to Wisc. doorstep...Once they arrived, their condition slowly improved after intervention....

Something is not connecting there. According to a Wisconsin history resource, Confederate prisoners from Island #10 campaign were transferred from Camp Randall (btw not an "open air" prison*) to Camp Douglas in late May,** after being held in Camp Randall. The reasons for the transfer were about the same reasons as listed above for their supposed transfer from Camp Douglas to Camp Randall.

So which is it?

Or did prisoner cars nearly pass each other in Northern Illinois somewhere, going opposite directions for the same purpose?

It appears Camp Randall only ever held Confederate prisoners from April 20th to June 1st, apparently long enough for all the high drama and killing field scenario to have occurred (after all, "to die within hours" is all it took). Perhaps there's a bit of period press (North/South) slants to which we've fallen prey today in the telling of it?


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* Camp Randall CW (lithograph)
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** " ...An inspection on May 1, revealed an inexperienced and poorly armed guard unit...the camp hospital appeared unable to handle the sick Confederate patients. Due to the results of the inspection, the prisoners were transferred to Camp Douglas, Chicago, on the last day of May...” - Wisconsin Veteran's Museum narrative
 
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I'm hiding behind it :frantic: But this is my latest hardback--I ordered it so I could do a quick lookup as I do genealogy. One or two pages aren't copied properly (anyone have it?) but it's a gem. The print is itty-bitty, so I need the magnifying glass! I purchased other books on Kindle, which I'll review later (and I'll do a separate review of this one). There's a separate section in the back for men whose unit was unknown or they were added to the list later (including a number of Forrest's Cavalry Corps--and his Escort!). THOSE may be researched later in the Forrest Forum :smile: Stay tuned. (She's baaaaaaaaaaaaack!)

George Washington Sanders (33rd Miss, Co. K, Scotland Guards), died at Camp Douglas on 3/28/65 after being captured during the Tennessee campaign. His death was attributed to pleurisy in the family records.

Wiley Sanders (1st Alabama, Co A) and D. Sanders/Saunders (17th Alabama, Co. E) may or may not be the same guy. David Wiley Sanders did die there, according to the family records (which I need to access and research--especially his birth/death dates--I'm missing the third page of the family stuff on Ancestry and too lazy to hike way back to my office). I'll be looking them up further on Fold 3 and get back to you.

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This was an example of the POW system that Grant was considering when the decided he would not send the prisoners from Vicksburg north. Those men were already weakened by the 40 day siege and he calculated that at least for several months they were effectively out of action. There was little reason, except cruelty, to pay for transporting and feeding them.
 
By 1864 the same calculation was not available. The temporary end of exchanges was going to kill a known % of POWs held by both sides, but continuing the exchanges was probably going to add months and years to the duration of the war.
 
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