Camp Douglas
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Stories of Andersonville prison in the south have long been given full attention to the poor conditions in the Confederate run Civil War prison camp. The other morning, I happened upon a show on the History Channel entitled 80 acres of Hell (link is to a dvd) which documents a much lesser known story. That story is of Camp Douglas, a Union run prison camp at Chicago, Illinois. “80 acres of Hell” was one of the nicknames of this place which was detailed in the book “To Die in Chicago”.
If my memory is correct, I had three ancestors that spent time in Camp Douglas as prisoners during the Civil War (one spending over 2 years there.) I find it quite sad that there is no formal historical site in Chicago to mark the place other than some tombstones. But then, maybe it is for the best as so many cruel things happened there. We ought not forget though.
More information can be found at this link.