Life of the 111th Paroled at Camp Douglas Sept - Nov 1862

View of Camp Douglas

The captured, now paroled soldiers arrived on September 27^th at the Union Camp southeast of Chicago near land once owned by Stephen A. Douglas of the famed Lincoln–Douglas debate (1858). Soon after arriving and settling into the dismal place where they were housed during their removal from service, the men learned that the food was just as dreary as the location. Stale bread, wormy rice, and old beans, were described in letters home as “unfit for anything but swine”. For those men with money, there was an opportunity for some better food to purchase at a sutler store in camp. As their stay dragged on, they were thankful to receive packages of food and sundries from home. Occasionally, the men would find milk and other food around the camp to supplement their meager diets.

According to the parole agreement, the men could not bear arms while on parole, and it was unclear if they could even practice drills. There was little for the men to do.  Writing home became a good way to occupy time and stay connected with loved ones. Since money was tight for most of the men, they learned that postage stamps could be recycled by carefully removing the postmark with oxalic acid. The paymaster did not come regularly, and $13 a month pay, minus any deductions for shoes and clothing, didn’t go far.

One day, the bread was so stale that the men decided to use it for a food fight. The regiment was divided into left and right wings and fought until only crumbs were left. It was recorded that they did have to clean up the mess. A similar incident happened when the quartermaster ran out of bread and tried to substitute hardtack. John Thomas, a soldier with Company K, recorded that 1,000 men chased the quartermaster around the camp, pelting him with hardtack and stale bread. He wrote, “We were a bad lot, but we were only eighteen or nineteen years old”. John, who would be wounded at Gettysburg and discharged for disability, also wrote about a night when they visited McVicker’s theater and shared a canteen of whiskey. They had to sneak back into camp to avoid the guards and officers.

However, camp life was not all food fights and nights on the town in Chicago. The poor food and cramped quarters often led to serious health issues. The small hospital had limited staff, inadequate waste disposal, and a lack of effective treatments which led to overcrowding and, in some cases, death.

Rumors were frequent in the camp. Each man questioned how long they would stay and whether they would be sent home, back to war, or out west to fight “Indians”. Malnutrition, irregular pay, and hard, wooden beds covered with hay soon led to low morale. Mail from home was a welcomed relief.  Many of the men had their pictures taken in Chicago and sent them home. Visits from family and friends were also much-needed distractions from the dullness of camp life.

It should be no surprise that food was always on their minds. Care packages were prized. Even though food could be purchased from the sutlers  like a quart of milk for six cents a quart and apples for a penny, the men did not like the sutlers or stores in Chicago because it felt like they were being taken advantage of. One sutler made the mistake of calling some of the men “the Cowards of Harper’s Ferry”; his store was later looted and torn down in repayment for this offensive comment. Even though the men had surrendered, it was not due to lack of courage, but rather, ineffective senior officers. Many diaries and letter entries from the men stated that they were forced to surrender despite their desire to continue to fight and do their duty.

Discipline was also a constant problem at Camp Douglas. Vandalism was an everyday occurrence; one regiment even burnt down their own barracks. The camp guards were mainly new troops from Ohio and Indiana who were, as it was recorded, “in perfect terror of all the Harper’s Ferry prisoners, who think we all go around with pistols and bowie knives, and they dare not oppose us in anything”. After portions of the fence around the camp were destroyed by the “battree” boys, the men came and went as they chose, as long as they returned to camp for roll calls. 

Camp Douglas barracks example

A typical day at Camp Douglas consisted of roll call at 6 a.m., breakfast at 7 a.m., and periodic inspections at 11 a.m. After that, they might have relative freedom for the rest of the day. Some days they might have duties such as washing dishes, repairing portions of the camp, or drilling. Others may “run the guard” and head into town where they often went into the stores or purchase tintype or ambrotype photos, 6 for $13. From there, they could go see the Senator Stephen A. Douglas monument. If they had money, they might have dinner at the Merchants Hotel.

As October closed, rumors were spreading about where, when, and how they would be returning to war. November wore on with little changes but by mid-month, it was clear they would soon be exchanged and head back to the war in Virginia. On November 16^th, the men left Camp Douglas and were on their way to the defense of Washington DC.  

Camp Douglas, which started as a Union training camp and holding tank for Union parolees, soon became a POW camp for Confederate soldiers. It continued to be a POW camp until the end of the war in 1865. It was even sometimes referred to as the “North’s Andersonville” and housed over 26,000 Confederate prisoners.