CAMP, FIELD AND PRISON LIFE by Capt. W.A. Wash

Today while researching another topic, I ran into an amazing book at Google Books. The book is entitled CAMP, FIELD AND PRISON LIFE: CONTAINING SKETCHES OF SERVICE IN THE SOUTH, AND THE EXPERIENCE, INCIDENTS AND OBSERVATIONS CONNECTED WITH ALMOST TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT AT JOHNSON'S ISLAND, OHIO, WHERE 3,000 CONFEDERATE OFFICERS WERE CONFINED. This title is available full-text at Google Books. The author is W. A. Wash, who was a Captain in the 60th Tennessee Mounted Cavalry. An introduction to the book was provided by General L.M. Lewis, and a thorough medical history of the United States Military Prison at Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, by Col. I.G. Steedman, M.D. is included in the appendix of the book. The Southwestern Book and Publishing Company published CAMP, FIELD AND PRISON LIFE in St. Louis, Missouri in 1870.

CAMP, FIELD AND PRISON LIFE is also accessible at the Ebook and Texts Archive of the Library of Congress.

On page 84 Capt. Wash tells of taking a steamer from Sandusky to the prison camp at Johnson's Island. He was placed in a block with about other prisoners, and their meals consisted mostly of bread, beef or bacon, coffee, sugar, rice, and hominy. Sundays were rather a lonesome day, since there no specific military duties on that day. The men imprisoned at Johnson's Island had to wash their own clothes. Capt. Wash, along with several other prisoners, made jewelry out of gutta percha buttons. One summer afternoon the "Island Queen" took an excursion to Johnson's Island, and the ladies waved to the prisoners.

On July 10, 1863, Capt. Wash received a package from home. His treasures included some items of clothing, along with pictures of his mother, sister, and grandmother. When new prisoners arrived at Johnson's Island, they brought the latest news to the prisoners. Men died at the prison, and many suffered with illness. Sometimes the men played cards, or games of checker and chess. Several evenings a week during the summer months, prisoners were able to bathe out in the lake. Of course they were closely guarded. In the winter months, the mail was brought to the prison over the ice. Prisoners could see young people ice skating out on the frozen lake.

An evening of entertainment took place on July 22, 1864, at Johnson's Island. It was put on by "The Rebellonians."

Eventually Capt. Wash got transferred to a Southern prison, and he did indeed survive to see the end of the Civil War. In the 1880s, W. A. Wash moved to Goldendale, Oregon, where he was first associated with the Goldendale public schools, and later went into the newspaper business. In 1888, W.A. Wash became editor of the Polk County Itemizer. William A. Wash died in December of 1915, and he was buried in the Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Photo Credit: Walter Myers, Beaverton, Oregon

If you have time to read through the text of CAMP, FIELD AND PRISON LIFE, you will gain a great deal of insight into the daily life of a soldier in prison during the Civil War. Capt. William A. Wash went to live a very full life. He married and had a daughter. His writings about his war experiences laid the foundation for his future in education and publishing.I am grateful to Capt. Wash for his detailed recollections of a very challenging time in American history.

100 Year Rededication Ceremony of the Bronze Monument to the Confederate Soldiers at Johnson's Island

Click on the word Dixie for a link to a video of the band playing "Dixie." A news article about this event is featured in the News Messenger.

June 12, 2010

Ceremony at Johnson's Island to be Held on June 12, 2010

The Ohio Chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will rededicate the monument at the Cemetery on Johnson's Island at the site of the former Civil War prison camp which housed hundreds of Confederate officers during the war. The Sandusky Register features a front page article today, by Sarah Weber, which discusses the upcoming event. Photos of the bronze monument sculpted by Moses Ezekiel also appear in the the article, taken by Register photographer Laura Woolf.

Photographs taken at the original unveiling of the Confederate Cemetery monument in 1910 appear at the Sandusky History blog.

Leonard Beatty Johnson

Leonard Beatty Johnson was born Ireland in 1807 and moved to Canada with his parents in 1822. Leonard's mother was related to John Beatty, who was a pioneer settler of Erie County.

By 1832, Leonard B. Johnson moved to Sandusky where he had a stove and tinware business. Later he started a Lime kiln business. In 1852, Bull's Island was purchased by Leonard Johnson. He changed the name to Johnson's Island. In the fall of 1861, the U.S. Government leased several acres of land on Johnson's Island to be used as a prison for Confederate officers.

Leonard Beatty Johnson was married to Permelia Rust Nettleton. They had a family of six children. a grandson of Leonard B. Johnson was Reber Nettleton Johnson. Reber was a successful violinist, and he taught at Oberlin College for many years.

Leonard B. Johnson died on January 20, 1898, and his wife died in 1906. They are buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. To learn more about people of Irish descent who settled in Sandusky, see the Sandusky History web site.

Confederate Cemetery at Johnson's Island

In 1861, Johnson's Island, a 300 acre island in Sandusky Bay, was selected as the location for a prisoner of war camp, built to house primarily Confederate officers. (While my ancestor, James Cross, served in the Ohio 123rd Infantry during the Civil War, my husband's ancestor, Ancel Spragg Paul, was 2nd Sergeant in Company F of the 48th Regiment of the Georgia Infantry. Thus I am interested in the history of the soldiers and sailors who served in both the North and the South.) Johnson's Island was thought to be a good location for the prison, due to receiving supplies easily by ship,as well as being an efficient location for keeping the inmates imprisoned.

The prison had barracks for the prisoners, a hospital, and a mess hall. Outside the prison, were barns, barracks for officers, and other buildings. The Ohio 128th Volunteer Infantry was the main infantry that guarded the prison, though at times other units were brought in. While some of the prisoners did lose their lives at Johnson's Island, others prisoners had occasion to engage in recreational activities such as baseball games and amateur theatrical productions.

On June 8, 1910 over one thousand people witnessed the unveiling of the Confederate Cemetery Monument at Johnson’s Island. Moses Jacob Ezekiel sculpted the monument, which had been commissioned by the Robert Patton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Funding was obtained by donations from Masons and military organizations from several states. After the unveiling ceremony, several former Confederate officers were escorted to dinner at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home where they toured the grounds. There was also a parade in which former soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies participated.

Listings of the soldiers who were buried at the cemetery at Johnson's Island are found in several sources, including this list from www.civilwarhome.com as well another listing from the U.S. Civil War Center.

Below left is the tombstone of Second Lieut. B. J. Blount, who served in Co. H of the 55th North Carolina Infantry, C.S.A. Below right is the tombstone of Lieutenant James Lawshe,who served in Co. C of the 18th Mississippi Cavalry, C.S.A.











In sharp contrast to the hundreds of grave markers at the Confederate Cemetery, and the statue of a solider overlooking Sandusky Bay, you can see the outline of several roller coasters from the Cedar Point Amusement Park across the Bay.