History in the Making
Welcome to the home of “Captured and Confined: Enemy Combatants and Illinois Military Prisons 1861-1865.”
This site highlights and aims to encourage future research on the subject of Civil War Prisons active in Illinois from 1861-65. The research will includes significant events during the four years of war at each of four military prisons in Illinois; Alton, Rock Island, Camp Douglas, and Camp Butler. The site includes an interactive geographic map tracing the movements of the prisoners as they were captured and transported for each Prison; death statistics of all soldiers including P.O.W.s and guards; a history of each of the prison camps, as well as a resources page and external linkage throughout the site for further reading. This is a digital history class project to meet partial requirements of coursework. We feel this research is important because the camps no longer exist and as early as 1900 they were excluded from the Civil War histories of the State. These institutions were a blemish on Illinois history, but we must remember the ugly same as the proud moments of the past.
Welcome to the home of “Captured and Confined: Enemy Combatants and Illinois Military Prisons 1861-1865.”
This site highlights and aims to encourage future research on the subject of Civil War Prisons active in Illinois from 1861-65. The research will includes significant events during the four years of war at each of four military prisons in Illinois; Alton, Rock Island, Camp Douglas, and Camp Butler. The site includes an interactive geographic map tracing the movements of the prisoners as they were captured and transported for each Prison; death statistics of all soldiers including P.O.W.s and guards; a history of each of the prison camps, as well as a resources page and external linkage throughout the site for further reading. This is a digital history class project to meet partial requirements of coursework. We feel this research is important because the camps no longer exist and as early as 1900 they were excluded from the Civil War histories of the State. These institutions were a blemish on Illinois history, but we must remember the ugly same as the proud moments of the past.