THE ISLAND BECOMES A MILITARY PRISON By order of the war department in July, 1863, Rock island was made a military prison for the confinement of Confederate prisoners.  During the same month Captain Charles A. Reynolds, assistant quartermaster United States army, arrived and commenced building a prison and barracks.  The first soldiers for guard duty arrived November 2, 1863.  Lieutenant Colonel Schaffner arrived on the 19th of November and took command.  On the 22d Colonel Richard Henry Rush arrived and took command of the post and Colonel A. J. Johnson was appointed in charge of the prisoners.  The first installment of prisoners, taken at the battle of Lookout Mountain, arrived from Chattanooga, December 3, 1863; and from that time until the close of the war a large number of prisoners were kept under a strong guard upon the island.  The whole number of prisoners confined here was 12,215; the number of deaths was 1,960.  About 500 died of smallpox, many of scurvy and others of vaious diseases, chiefly pneumonia.  They were put into rough boxes and buried in trenches.  The corner-posts of the cemetery where their ashes repose are composed of cannon taken  from the Confederates, planted with their muzzles in the ground and strung around with chains.  Within this enclosure sleep nearly 2,000 Confederate dead.  At a few of the graves friends of the deceased have erected plain headstones and placed on them a few simple inscriptions.  There is also near the head of the island a Union soldiers' cemetery where 310 graves are enclosed by a neat fence.  Here exercises are conducted each Memorial Day by the Grand Army posts of Davenport, Rock Island and Moline. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L