Illinois During the Civil War
Questions for you to answer…..
-Why is there a war going on?
-Who is fighting?
-What do they want?
What about Illinois?
• 1,711,951 people lived here at the start of the war
(Illinois has 12,901,563 now!)
• 250,000 is the number of soldiers that Illinois sent
to help fight in the Civil War. (4 th)
What did Illinois have?
• Agriculture!!
• John Deere and the plow
• Cyrus McCormick and the reaper
• Camp Douglas – Chicago was a training camp
• Camp Butler – Springfield was a training
camp.
• Camp Defiance, Cairo
• Camp Dement
Camp Taylor
• Camp Douglas
Camp Yates
• Camp Fry
• Camp Fuller
• Camp Kane
• Camp Mather
Camp Douglas
Camp Douglas
- largest training camp in Illinois
- land provided by estate of Stephen A. Douglas
in 1861
- east side: parade ground and administration
buildings
- south side: camp hospitals
-west side: prison camp
-first prisoners arrived in 1862, about 8000 from
capture of Fort Donelson
- during war held over 18,000 prisoners
- over 12,000 at one time [Dec 1864]
- prisoners included Sam Houston, Jr. and Henry
M. Stanley, African explorer.
Camp Butler
Camp Butler
- major mustering-in site for Civil War
-named for William Butler, treasurer of state of Illinois for 2 terms
[1859-1863] who was from Sangamon County
- first troops arrived in Aug 1861
- troops boarded trains at Jimtown [now Riverton]
- trained 39 regiments of infantry [e.g. 32, 38, 73, 115] and 9
regiments of cavalry
Camp Fuller
Camp Fuller
"In August of 1862, Camp Fuller was established as a training
ground for four Illinois regiments, the 74th, 92nd, 93rd and 95th
Illinois. It was set up in an area of Rockford known as Churchill's
Grove, for an original owner of the tract of land. It was a
picturesque site, along the river with groves of trees. It was a
popular visiting site for the local populace, as they showed their
patriotism and support for the war by showering the soldiers
training in the camp with food and attention.
"When the soldiers left, in December of 1862, the camp was
closed. It's legacy is a stone set in the corner of a street indicating
the entrance to the camp." -- Steve Hass
Rock Island
Rock Island Arsenal
Two days before Christmas, a train rustled into Rock
Island and passed over a wooden bridge to the island
where a landmark clock tower was being built, and
unloaded 468 Confederate soldiers captured in battles
near Chattanooga, Tenn.
They were the first prisoners of war incarcerated on
the 12-acre Confederate prison camp on the northern
side of the island. Before the camp closed 20 months
later, 1,964 prisoners died and were buried in the
cemetery on Rodman Avenue.
Marcy Norton: http://www.qconline.com/progress98/places/prfedcem.html
Camp Kane
Camp Kane
During the period that the new recruits trained, they captured the
attention of many local residents. Children and adults alike came to
the camp and watched the men training and drilling.
On October 14, 1861, the regiments marched to Geneva. There they
took a train to Washington, D.C., where they received their horses
and joined the Army of the Potomac. President Abraham Lincoln
dubbed the 8th Cavalry "Farnsworth's Big Abolition Regiment."
The 8th Regiment participated in the bloody battle of Gettysburg in
July 1863.
The 17th Regiment fought in Kansas.
Following the war, men of the 8th Cavalry continued to serve their
country. In April 1865, they took part in the search for Abraham
Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and also guarded the
President's body.
Danville National
Cemetery
Danville National Cemetery
Danville National Cemetery is located in Vermilion County, Ill.
This area once belonged to the Miami, Kickapoo and
Pottawatomie tribes of the Algonquin Indians. 1818, the
Kickapoo ceded a large area of land to the federal government,
including what is now Vermilion County.
From 1841 to 1859, Abraham Lincoln practiced law in Danville;
in 1852, he established a law practice with Ward Lamon. This
was Lincoln’s only permanent law office in the Illinois circuit.
Although no Civil War battles occurred here, many men from
Danville volunteered for the Union. The men who returned
home were often sick, wounded or disabled. In 1897, Congress
authorized the establishment of the National Home for
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Danville.
Alton Penitentiary
Alton Penitentiary
In 1862 it was reopened as a military prison during the
Civil War. Thousands of captured Confederate prisoners
were housed here during the war. In 1863, a small pox
epidemic spread through the prison killing hundreds. The
prison was closed down permanently in 1865 at the close
of the war, and the remaining prisoners were sent to St.
Louis or released. The prison was then dismantled,
except for a portion of a wall which was relocated in 1970
to its present location in downtown Alton.
Madison county, IL Gen Web - http://madison.ilgenweb.net/prison.html
Prisoner-of-War Camps
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Alton Penitentiary
Camp Butler
Camp Douglas
Rock Island Prison
• One way for a prisoner to leave Johnson’s Island was
to take an Oath of Allegiance to the United States.
The prisoner had to first apply to take the Oath. He
was then segregated from the prison population and
assigned to a separate prison block. This was done for
the safety of those taking the Oath as they were
repudiating their loyalty to the Confederacy. Until
1865, only a small number of prisoners took the Oath
because of their fierce devotion and loyalty to the
cause for which they were fighting. However, in the
Spring of 1865, many prisoners did take the Oath,
feeling the cause for which they fought so hard was
dead. The following letter written by prisoner Tom
Wallace shows that “swallowing the eagle” (taking
the oath) was not done without a great deal of soul
searching.
Confederate Letters….
Tom Wallace was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Kentucky Regiment
and was captured at Bardstown, Kentucky on July 6th, 1863.
U. S. Military Prison
Johnson’s Island _ May 1st 1865
My dear mother _ Perhaps you may be surprised when I tell you that I have made
application for the “amnesty oath”. I think that most all of my comrades have or
will do as I have. I don’t think that I have done wrong, I had no idea of taking the
oath until I heard of the surrender of Johnston and then I thought it worse than
foolish to wait any longer. The cause that I have espoused for four years and
have been as true to, in thought and action, as man could be is now undoubtedly
dead; consequently I think the best thing I can do is to become a quiet citizen of
the United States…..
I will probably be released from prison sometime this month, if so I will go home
immediately via Cincinnati. I wrote to Mr Barret for a hundred dollars and to you for
a suit of citizens clothes, both of which I will have to wait the arrival of. Your letter of
the 20th reached me yesterday. I will take your advice about sending home whatever
I have that is worth shipping. Please write to me immediately and inform me where
your home is, so that upon my arrival at New Albany I will have no difficulty in
finding it.
Love to all. Your devoted son
Tom Wallace
Camp Chase Ohio
April 9th, 1865
Dear and most loving wife, it is with pleasure that I seat myself
to write to a few lines to let you know that I am well, & doing
tolerable well and hope when this comes to hand it will find you
and the rest of the family well. Dear, I hope that it won't be long
until I get to come and see you all and stay with you in peace. I
have no news to write. Only I heard from Brad Will I got a letter
from him and he is well and says that the family is well in doing
well for the Times. He wants to hear from you. Dear, tell all to
write for our want to hear from them all. Tell Lemmy that he
must take good care of himself and get well, and Jimmy to be a
good boy and I will bring him a present. Flemmy that she must
be a good girl and I will bring her a present to. Well sis Tot I will
write you a line to let you know that I still remember you and
want to see you very bad and _ _ _ B. Rogers and all of them.
Dear, I must close now, write soon and often.
T L Lewis"
Biographical Project Overview
-Start with the end in mind – what do I expect
when you are done
-Groups and their jobs
-Time allowed in class
- Deadline
- Grading