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 I Also have a picture of this Prison CAMP CHASE In Ohio, Camp Chase and Johnson's Island had gone into full operation as POW facilities by early 1863. At Camp Chase, Major Zinn hadn�t served as commandant for long before he was replaced by Brigadier General John S. Mason of the U.S. Volunteers. He, too, was an Ohioan, but he was also a professional military man who had graduated from West Point. With his arrival in April, the Federal government assumed increased control over Camp Chase and was finally able to keep Ohio Governor Tod from asserting state control of the prison. Mason immediately exercised military control over the compound and tightened security. All prisoners were restricted to the camp. By mid- 1 863, Mason transferred all officers and political prisoners to Johnson�s Island. At the same time, tourists and visitors were prohibited and all mail was censored, the quality of food rations was improved with a change in suppliers and closer inspection, and prisoner trade with the sutler was restricted. Camp Chase was an enclosed barracks prison. It consisted of 160 acres divided into three sections by plank walls sixteen feet high. The divided sections were designated Prisons No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. There were double outside walls, with a sentries parapet along the outside about three feet from the top. Outlooks or guardhouses were located at each corner. Housing and barracks for the Federal officers and guards were located outside the prison walls. In violation of POW regulations, prison labor was often used to rebuild barracks inside the prison or to construct larger or stronger fence sections around the camp.13 Prison No. I enclosed about an acre and could hold approximately 200 prisoners. Prisons No. 2 and No. 3 contained about five acres each and sometimes held as many as 4,000 in each. The original capacity of the camp was estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 but as many as 5,000 to 6,000 were often held there. By January of 1865, the population would reach an all-time high of more than 9,000.14 Prisoners were assigned to quarters in small houses or shanties measuring sixteen-by-twenty feet. "It was without ceiling," noted prisoner John H. King, Company H, 40th Georgia, of one such shanty, "and the floors of green lumber, with cracks between the planks wide enough to let the cold wind freely circulate." Twelve to fifteen POWs occupied each little shed, with double or triple bunks arranged along each wall. At one end of the shanty, a room was partitioned off as a kitchen. A small opening in the partition was just large enough for a plate or cup to be passed through. The living quarters within the three prison sections were generally arranged in clusters of six, with the buildings of each cluster about five feet apart. Narrow streets or pathways separated the clusters. "The spaces between the clusters of quarters are heaped with the vilest accumulations of filth," reported one government inspector. "All the refuse of the prisoners' food, clothing and the general dirt of the camp is gathered here. "86 The streets, drains, and gutters of the camp were in the same condition, and the latrines were nothing more than open excavations. The stench that permeated the air of the camp was described as "horrible, nauseating and disgusting."" The prison grounds were unlevel, soft clayish soil with poor drainage. After a mild rain, stands of deep mud and water would remain for days. Since none of the living quarters were shingled, the roofs leaked. "The buildings are set directly on the ground," complained the inspector, "with the floors in very many instances in contact with it. The drainage is so incomplete that water falling accumulates under the buildings and remains there constantly. "We had never experienced such intensely cold weather," as one prisoner recalled the winters. In December and January the temperatures often went from ten to twenty degrees below zero. "men the chilling winds and the frost and ice of this bleak region came," agreed King, with our bodies wasted by starvation, without fires sufficient to warm our emaciated forms, there came a season of real suffering, of real pain, that ended only in the death of many a helpless victim. � -----Original Message----- From: Alice J. Gayley <agayley@dgsys.com> Date: Saturday, April 18, 1998 11:23 PM Subject: Camp Chase