Prior to the war, the site served as the fairgrounds for the Indiana State Fair. Though the number of prisoners is not certain, it ranged upward from 3,500 prisoners. [34] Approximately thirty-five men escaped between April and the end of October 1863, but others were unsuccessful. Your IP: Click to reveal Only 308 prisoners were left at the camp on June 1, 1865. Stamps, stationary,cooking utinsels, and tobacco bought for prisoners with the camp fund had a brief positive influence on morale. Bodenhamer and Barrows, p. 442 and 106869. [47] In 1993, the names of each fallen Confederate at Camp Morton were inscribed on ten bronze plaques. IARA: 1864 - IN.gov His service record is attached here: Union prison records show him as a "servant" in the 3rd Mississippi Infantry. I fully agree with this. [Between 1862 and 1865] Photograph. Prisoners were also permitted to speak to visitors. Josiah was married to Nancy Ann Jones (1837-1912) in June 1854 and by the time this letter was written in 1864, the couple had three 1 CONFEDERATE SOLIDERS AND SALOIRS* WHO DIED AT CAMP MORTON AND ARE BURIED AT CROWN HILL CEMETERY, LOT 32, INDIANAPOLIS, IN Revision IV, 12/2012 Original Burials at Greenlawn Cemetery - Reinterred Between 1928 and 1931 Confederate Mound at Crown Hill Cemetery, Northwest Corner of Lot 32 (photo by Tim Beckman , 10/3/03) While not all prisons have lists of local newspapers that can provide primary sources, all that exist provide an important insight. Southerners contributed $3,000 for the memorial to Owen, who went on to become the first president of Purdue University in 1873. Between 1862 and 1865, the camp's average prison population was 3,214; it averaged fifty deaths per month. Despite the efforts of Camp Morton officers, prisoners died in large numbers, especially when the exchange cartel broke down when Confederate authorities refused to treat captured African Americans as prisoners of war. World War 2 prisoner of war records now available to read online No deaths or serious injury from the extreme cold. [15] By April 1 the camp's inhabitants, including prisoners and guards, numbered five thousand. The advice was taken, within narrow limits: coffee, rice, hominy, sugar, and other foods were given only to the sick; those better off did without. The purpose of this project is important because the story of these men did not end with the end of the war and the release of their living comrades from Camp Morton, 1,616 Confederate Prisoners of War are still buried in Indianapolis, Indiana, left to their enemys memory, the bodies of these men have interesting stories to tell. In April, a trench about 10 feet wide and 6 feet deep was dug around the camp, just inside the fence, to try to help discourage tunneling attempts, but the tunneling efforts continued. The Alton Military Prison provided for chaplain services and permitted prisoners to correspond with their friends and families. [14] New wards were added to the camp's hospital, but only modest repairs were made to the camp's dilapidated barracks. As prisoners were brought into and shipped out of Camp Morton, some of the men died, being buried both at Camp Morton and at Greenlawn Cemetery. Guthridge resumed the duties of commandant until Colonel Ambrose A. Stevens arrived on October 22, 1863. Camp rations, while deemed sufficient, lacked fresh vegetables. Morton responded promptly by converting his namesake rendezvous camp into a prison camp. More prisoners arrived in subsequent months, including a group of a thousand prisoners from the battle at Shiloh. Deaths at Camp Morton totaled 1,763 at the end of the war, including 7 reported killed in escape attempts and altercations. [19][20] The death rate among the unfortunate Confederate prisoners was high. [45][46], Property remaining at Camp Morton after the last prisoners left was sold at public auction in July 1865 and the buildings were vacant by August 2. Rebel prisoners, Camp Morton, Indianapolis. Camp Morton Indianapolis Indiana | Civil War Potpourri PDF Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861 1865 - National Archives The " Indianapolis Journal" of January 2, 1864, stated: There was a rumor that several of the union soldiers belonging to the veteran reserve corps, who were guarding the prisoners at Camp Morton, were frozen to death on the night previous. A newspaper article with pictures of the escaped POW fugitives courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society. available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm. [6][7], After the fairgrounds were converted into a military camp, it was renamed Camp Morton in honor of Morton, who served as the governor of Indiana from January 16, 1861, to January 23, 1867. Bodenhamer and Barrows, p. 382, 393 and 442. In the meantime, additional facilities for Confederate prisoners were established in two buildings on Meridian Street, known as Military Hospital Number 2 and Military Hospital Number 3, set up in an old post office on Meridian Street, near Washington Street. Camp Morton was a military installation located north of Indianapolis. LC-DIG-ppmsca-33994 (digital file from original item), PH - Unattributed, no. By early 1864, there were 38 hospital tents in use, arranged in pairs along both sides of a street at right angles to the hospital buildings. Instead, they guarded and maintained the camp until they were allowed to continue active military service. While Camp Morton had an estimated maximum capacity of only 3,000 prisoners, it at one point held a total of 5,000 prisoners, and an estimated 9,000 prisoners passed through its gates: 1,763 of those men would die while incarcerated there. While it has been nearly one hundred and fifty years since the end of the American Civil War and the closing of Camp Morton, the Confederate Prisoners who died there and are now buried in Indianapolis have left multiple marks throughout the city. By the end of April 1861 the site was sheltering six thousand newly enlisted men. Search, View, Print Union & Confederate Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865. Camp Morton, 1861-1865 Indianapolis prison camp Source: Excerpted from Camp Morton, 1861-1865 : Indianapolis prison camp. One of these places was Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana at what was the newly built Indiana State Fairgrounds. Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and [50], A monument at Indianapolis's Greenlawn Cemetery was erected to honor the Confederate soldiers who were buried there. An old house inside the camp served as a deadhouse until the dead prisoners could be buried at the cemetary. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Quarters for the camp's prison guards were established at Camp Burnside, a Union camp located between Nineteenth and Tinker (present-day Sixteenth) Streets, south of Camp Morton. This list may not reflect recent changes . Therefore, for several months, there are no Official Records to help understand or know what happened at Camp Morton. Finding newspapers relating to Camp Morton from the time that it was open can be an exhausting experience. New prisoners from arrived at Camp Morton between January 29 and the end of March 1863. The first camp commandant was Col. Richard D. Owen of the 60th Indiana Regiment. [52], A bronze bust of Colonel Richard Owen, designed by Belle Kinney Scholz, the daughter of a Confederate soldier, is installed on the main floor of the Indiana Statehouse as a tribute to Owen's service as commandant at Camp Morton in 1862. The prisoners occupied and slept in the stalls and wherever else that they could find space. Camp Morton - indyencyclopedia.org [16] Drinking water obtained from Fall Creek contained limestone, which caused diarrhea among the men. [9] Existing buildings could not house all the incoming troops, so new sheds were built with bunks; however, the soldiers had to bathe in Fall Creek. In 1891 the property was sold and developed into a residential neighborhood known as Morton Place, a part of the Herron-Morton Place Historic District. FAMM is working in Arizona in 2023. Bodenhamer and Barrows, p. 134 and 74849. American Civil War Prisoner of War Camps List of American Civil War Prisoner of War Camps History Photos Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp Douglas Camp Morton Elmira Prison Point Lookout Johnson's Island Rock Island Libby Prison Photos American Civil War Prisoner of War Camps Thomas' Legion American Civil War HOMEPAGE American Civil War Federal Prisons in Arizona | Arizona Prison The War Department took over the management of the camp. 1863-1865 Role 2-Vol 2. all prisoners. They were marched through the city, arriving about a mile north of town at the fairgrounds. The primary sources coming from Camp Morton are few and far between in the Twenty-First Century, so the sources that are available and that were used in this project frequently speak volumes. The second primary source coming directly out of the prisons are diaries and correspondence. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. 1864: John Wesley Daniels to Col. James Taylor - Spared & Shared 23 Lost Cause mythology promoted by Confederate apologists has long supposed that the camps were officered by cruel, vengeful tyrants who cared little for the welfare of the rebel prisoners. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1940. Augustus M. Clark, a medical inspector who filed a report on October 22, indicated the camp had 2,362 prisoners with a mortality rate exceeding 12.45 percent. This allows for an in-depth examination of sources applying memory theory and public memory studies. Diaries from the prisoners come in many forms: diaries that have been directly transcribed and published such as the diary of Eugene Forbes, who was held at Andersonville, and Curtis R. Burkes diary, who was held at Camp Morton for a short time. In comparison, two regiments guarded about a thousand prisoners at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. Its maximum prison population reached 4,999 in July 1864. CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument, http://www.csa-dixie.com/csa/prisoners/t59.htm, 1963 Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum gas explosion, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Camp_Morton&oldid=1153852160, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, Union soldiers, Confederate prisoners of war, This page was last edited on 8 May 2023, at 18:14. The next image shows that "rations" was used sixteen times total between the articles, but the table also shows how many times each article used the word. Following their departure, Camp Morton was used as a military training ground for Union troops and Indiana volunteers who were sent home on parole. However, there are also other works that detail the hardships of Camp Morton and use even more sources. Conditions at the prison continued to grow worse as time went along. It was named for Indiana governor Oliver Morton. Men occupied horse, cattle, and swine barns for shelter. In early 1865 the prisoner exchanges resumed. About this Item Title Rebel prisoners, Camp Morton, Indianapolis Summary Photograph shows Confederate prisoners of war at Camp Morton. Following Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, many of Camp Morton's prisoners were discharged. Some secondary works rely heavily on these works not only for information, but to validate diaries, Official Records, correspondence, as well as information coming from the citizens outside. Most of those who remained were too ill to travel. the Library of Congress because of rights considerations, but you have access to larger size images on The maximum prisoner population at Camp Morton during that time reach 4,999, in July 1864, and the maximum of deaths reached 133. Below is a list of the world pleasant used in the diary of Curtis R. Burke during his stay at Camp Morton.