Camp Chase Ohio, used 1861 to 1865, Maximum Capacity 4,000, Most held 9,423, escapes 57, deaths 2, 260. Resource Portals To Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War by Lonnie R. Speer, published by Stackpole Books CAMP CHASE Out west, Camp Chase, named in honor of Salmon P. Chase, a prominent former abolitionist, then-current treasury secretary under President Lincoln, and governor of Ohio, became a holding facility for political prisoners of Ohio, Kentucky, and Western Virginia as early as August 7, 186 1. By all appearances, anyone from these border states who even mentioned the word "secession' became a prime candidate for confinement. "There have been from six to seven hundred political prisoners at Camp Chase at a time," marvelled one prisoner. "There are unquestionably," noted Captain Henry M. Lazelle, 8th Infantry, U.S. Army, "a large number of prisoners amounting to perhaps 200 confined here whose cases I think are of unjust confinement ... It; here are among the prisoners two idiots, two insane and several so maimed as to be utterly harmless in any community." The camp, originally a training site for Ohio troops, was situated four miles west of Columbus on an extension of Broad Street. From its beginning as a prison facility, it was a source of irritation between the state and Federal governments. There was little doubt who had authority over the facility when it held political prisoners from Ohio, but once Federal authorities brought in those from other states and then started moving prisoners of war to the site the following year, control over the camp became a constant issue. CAMP CHASE was just over a hundred miles south of Johnson's Island, Camp Chase received its first contingent of POWs during the second week of April 1862, complicating the issue of who was to assume control of the camp-federal officials or the state of Ohio, which used the facility for political prisoners. Governor Tod, who insisted on signing all his correspondence "Governor and Commander in Chief," made no claim to Johnson�s Island, but continued his fight with Federal authorities for complete control of Camp Chase. Tod named Colonel Granville Moody, a former minister and commander of the 12th Ohio Regiment, prison commandant. Meanwhile, the lax security under the governor's and Moodys command irritated Federal authorities. Captain Henry Lazelle bitterly complained: "Camp Chase is made the place of rendezvous for all furloughed and paroled or disabled soldiers in the State.... [The governor] gives to the commanding officer such orders as he pleases.... He is utterly ignorant of the most common requirements of the Army regulations. ... He regards this as a camp of instruction of the State of Ohio for its recruits.... that he controls the soldiers and you [the Federal government] care for the prisoners together with him.... He paroles prisoners within the limits of the town and he gives instruction to the commanding officer relating to their control and discipline. He grants permits to visit them ... and has no knowledge of the importance of discipline and of the effect upon it of citizens lounging in great numbers about the camp." Captain Lazelle blasted Colonel Moody as well: "The commanding officer of the camp is uncertain and in constant doubt as to whom he should go to for instructions, which together with his ignorance of his duties quite overpowers him." Prisoners at Camp Chase were allowed the privilege of receiving gifts of food and money and purchasing whatever they wanted from the sutler. Upon a simple oath not to escape, Confederate officer prisoners were allowed to wander the streets of Columbus, register to stay in its hotels, and attend sessions of the state senate. At the same time, for a small admission fee, the public was allowed to tour the prison. It became one of the most popular tourist attractions around. "It is pleasing to [Moody]," grumbled Lazelle, "to talk and guide and explain to [the tourists] all curious points of interest." Before long, complaints over tax discipline and the camp's state administrators provoked anger, even among the Ohio residents. N. A. Reed, pastor of the Market Street Baptist Church in Zanesville, Ohio, griped in a letter to President Lincoln dated April 26, 1862, "Having sons in the Third and Thirteenth Ohio Regiments, the matter has become too much ... to be endured.... [to have our sons toll in the Army and be subjected to trials and the most severe deprivations, and then to have these rebel officers actually at their ease in our streets speaking treason openly and boldly is almost too much for human endurance."60 Somewhat sensitive to the complaints, Governor Tod transferred Moody and his regiment to the seat of war and appointed Colonel Charles W B. Allison, prison commandant. Allison, a lawyer and son-in-law to Ohio's lieutenant governor, proved no better, probably because he, too, was unfamiliar with military procedure and remained under Tod's control. "Colonel Allison," howled an exasperated Lazelle, "is not in any degree a soldier, he is entirely without experience and utterly ignorant of his duties." While the state and Federal governments quibbled over control of the prison, the guards took charge. "I knew nothing of prison rules," declared. Coleman Alderson, Company A, 36th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry. "(But) within one hour after entering the prison I was walking within a few feet of the wall, when on hearing a 'click, click I looked up and saw the guard on top of the parapet with his gun leveled at me." Camp Chase prisoners quickly learned that although state administrators were lax, state troops used as sentries were not. "Shots were fired into the barracks at night," Alderson continued, "often without cause.... On one occasion the moon was shining through a back window in barracks No. 2, on the opposite side from the guard who called 'lights out,' and as the moon did not go out, he (shot and) killed two men sleeping together in their cold, narrow bunks. "A fresh prisoner," wrote prisoner George Moffett, "[who was] ignorant of the rule relating to the extinguishment of fires and lights, was turned into the prison one cold morning and, having a match in his pocket, struck it with the intention of kindling a fire in the stove. The sentinel on the parapet, who saw the light through the window, fired immediately and killed the poor fellow. "I fired at the light to shoot it out according to my instructions," insisted John W White, Company D, 15th Regiment Invalid Corps, one of the many guards involved in shooting prisoners at Camp Chase. "I did not leave my post, and never saw the prisoner that was shot." [C] ases have occurred," declared Colonel Hoffman in a letter to the prison commandant, "of the wounding of prisoners at night by the guard when they neither were sent to the hospital nor received medical treatment until the next morning. Such treatment of prisoners, whatever may be the necessity for wounding them, is barbarous and without possible excuse. " Many prisoners died in such cases because even their mess mates were unable to help them. "It was some time before I could get permission from the sentinel to light a candle to dress the wound," noted J. G. Nance, Company I, 10th Kentucky Cavalry, on his attempt to aid a fellow prisoner who had been Shot. There were other complaints that prisoners were often shot when they misunderstood and stepped out of line during roll call, failed to quickly follow demands yelled down to them from the guards on the parapet, or gathered into large groups. Another incident involved an order prohibiting the wasting of water. "One of the unfortunates," declared John H. King, Company H, 40th Georgia Infantry, "not aware of the order, washed out his tin cup at the pump and threw out the water on the ground before filling the cup with water to drink. A guard seeing him throw the water on the ground, at once fired at him and missing his aim severely wounded an unlucky prisoner standing some distance beyond." Various regiments performed sentinel duty at different times at Camp Chase. Those involved in a majority of the shootings belonged to the 12th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, the 88th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and the 15th Regiment Invalid Corps. By the end of September, Colonel Allison's term of service had expired. Tod quickly replaced him with Major Peter Zinn of the Governor's Guard. 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