Camp Follower
Cadet
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2014
I was inspired by Derek Maxfield's interesting talk on Elmira to revisit my pictures of one of our digs into Chicago's Camp Douglas, circa October 2014. The archeological work was organized by the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation, founded by David Keller.
As Maxfield mentioned about the Elmira POW camp, Camp Douglas is largely unknown to locals. It seems that prisons, and especially the associated deaths, don't have mass appeal. The 4,000-7,000 bodies from the Camp are interred in one of the largest mass graves in the Western Hemisphere, in a cemetery south of the University of Chicago. The Camp was built on the property of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who died in 1861, and is himself interred just above Lake Shore Drive, near where we were digging. Along the Illinois Central RR tracks that brought the prisoners north.
We were lucky enough, on the last day of that particular dig project, to uncover a "B" kepi badge, a rare CW find for the Midwest, much less Chicago. It was sitting at a depth of about four feet. You can see from that particular pit how far we had to dig to get down to the 1860s. That pit also yielded buttons consistent with period underwear. A subsequent dig uncovered an intact Union eagle button. Prior to becoming a prison, Camp Douglas trained Union soldiers, including some of the first African American soldiers.
As Maxfield mentioned about the Elmira POW camp, Camp Douglas is largely unknown to locals. It seems that prisons, and especially the associated deaths, don't have mass appeal. The 4,000-7,000 bodies from the Camp are interred in one of the largest mass graves in the Western Hemisphere, in a cemetery south of the University of Chicago. The Camp was built on the property of Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who died in 1861, and is himself interred just above Lake Shore Drive, near where we were digging. Along the Illinois Central RR tracks that brought the prisoners north.
We were lucky enough, on the last day of that particular dig project, to uncover a "B" kepi badge, a rare CW find for the Midwest, much less Chicago. It was sitting at a depth of about four feet. You can see from that particular pit how far we had to dig to get down to the 1860s. That pit also yielded buttons consistent with period underwear. A subsequent dig uncovered an intact Union eagle button. Prior to becoming a prison, Camp Douglas trained Union soldiers, including some of the first African American soldiers.
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