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Gideon and Ursula Allen Johnson, Virginia Gideon Johnson is shown as a witness in Quaker records by 1739, adding credibility to his assigned birth in 1717 in the portion of New Kent Co., Va., that became Hanover Co. four years later. In the mid-1740s, at about age 30, Gideon Johnson married the mother of all his children, Ursula Allen, born Feb. 16, 1728, died before 1807, the daughter of his Hanover Co. neighbors William and Mary Ann Owen Allen and granddaughter of Thomas Owen of Williamsburg, the colonial capital. Allen became a longstanding family given name., though not through our direct family line. Among their children of record, based on Gideon’s will, were William Allen (1749), Gideon Jr. (1754), Abner (1759); Mordecai; Benjamin (1766); Ursula; Elizabeth; Nancy; Judith; and Naomi. Most of the children were born in Nottoway Parish of Amelia or in neighboring Prince Edward and Lunenberg counties where Gideon owned properties that, like his father, exceeded 1,000 acres. Gideon lived in Nottoway Parish on May 23, 1752 when he bought from Samuel Goode 449 acres along Osborn’s Branch on the “lower side” of Saylor’s Creek – the future site of a Civil War battle – that included a Massie cousin among its neighbors. The witnesses were William and Warren Walker, cousins of Gideon’s wife Ursula, and Charles Johnson, Gideon’s cousin. On Sept. 10, 1755, he added a grant of 604 acres on the north side of Meherrin River in Lunenberg Co. to the south. On April 9, 1757, Gideon for 24 pounds sold his brother-in-law John Morgan of Cumberland Co., who married Ursula’s sister Elizabeth, 200 acres of the original Samuel Goode purchase. The land then lay partly in Amelia and partly in Prince Edward Co., which had been created out of Amelia in 1753. This deed places Gideon’s home site 20 miles due east of Farmville, Va., near where Saylor’s Creek crosses the Amelia-Prince Edward boundary. Gideon Sr. witnessed the will of John Watkins April 20, 1762, in Prince Edward Co., but he soon prepared to move south. He was expelled from the Quaker meeting before the family left for North Carolina. Land records indicate the move occurred by 1764 because Gideon is shown as a resident of Rowan Co., N.C. on Nov. 3 when he sold his home place of 249 acres on Saylor’s Creek to Col. Thomas Tabb of Amelia with his cousins Ashley Johnson and John Johnson Jr. as witnesses. A deed disposing of the Lunenberg Co. land has not been located.
Current Map of Virginia Area in red box included region where our Johnson family lived in Virginia for at least two generations before moving to North Carolina
Move to North Carolina Gideon and his family quickly established themselves in their Dan River Valley home, which was in Rowan Co. at the time but became part of Guilford Co., in 1771 and eventually Rockingham Co. In Rowan Co. in 1765, Gideon received an original land grant six miles due west of Wentworth, N.C., on the south side of the Dan River. On March 19, 1765, Gideon bought 250 acres on the south side of the Dan River from Peter and Agnes Wilson Perkins of Pittsylvania Co., Va., for 120 pounds of English money. Rowan Co., N.C. records show Gideon witnessed a land deed from Perkins to Joel Warren, a distant relative of Ursula, for 125 pounds VA money to sell 250 acres on the south side of the Dan River on the same day that Gideon bought his farm. Gideon's neighbors were James Gates and James Presnell of Orange Co., N.C., who also bought land from Peter and Agnes Perkins in 1768. Gideon was a small-scale slaveholder. In the 1790 Rockingham census, he appears to have been living with son Gideon Jr., and that household had two slaves, while son William lived nearby with a single slave. In 1793, the records of Granville Co., N.C. show Gideon – either Sr. or Jr. – bought a slave boy named Nelson from Richard Whitehead of Mecklenburg Co., Va., for 39 pounds. Gideon’s properties lined the south side of Dan River and Moses Creek in North Carolina. By 1790, daughter Elizabeth Wray and her family also lived adjacent to Gideon and Ursula, but both son Abner and daughter Ursula Pillow had moved west to Nashville, Tenn. Jan. 4, 1785, Gideon Johnston, attorney in fact for Sarah DeGraffenreid of Cumberland Co., Va., sold 400 acres. This land had been granted her in Deed Book 2, p. 94, and the sale was recorded in DB 3, p. 202. Gideon Jr. married Mary DeGraffenreid in 1779. Gideon’s sons served in the American Revolution. One of those was Abner Johnson (sometimes spelled”Johnston.”
Current Map of North Carolina Area in red box included region where our Johnson family lived in North Carolina for a generations before moving to Tennessee
Gideon Sr. died in October 1807 in Rockingham at age 90. His will was proven at the November court.
Gideon left his plantation, additional property and all f u n d s re m a i n i n g afte r settlement of the estate to his son, Gideon Jr. Our ancestor, Abner, and his other three brothers and five sisters, each received five shillings sterling. This had the buyin g p o we r of $20 in today’s terms.
Abner and Nancy Brackett Johnson, North Carolina and Tennessee Our direct ancestor, Abner Johnson Sr., was born c. 1759, in Prince Edward Co., Va., but moved to North Carolina with his parents, Gideon and Ursula Johnson, when he was a boy of about six. Abner volunteered for militia service in the American Revolution under his neighbor, Capt. John Nelson in October 1777, while living in the Dan River valley, according to the testimony given by Abner on Sept. 22, 1832, before the Maury County , Tenn., Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, when he was 73 years old. Johnson said that Capt. Nelson's company was organized under Col. Paseley's regiment with Charles Hughes as lieutenant, Allen Walker as sergeant and George Parks and Abner as ensigns. Col. Paseley's regiment from Guilford Co. was joined with Col. Saunders' regiment from Granville County under the command of Gen. Rutherford. The troops reported to Guilford Court House and then marched to South Carolina through Salisbury and Charlotte, N.C. and Camden, S.C. The destination was Smoky Camp near the town of Purrysburgh, according to Abner's pension testimony. The troops ranged across the Black Swamp and as far as Augusta and Savannah in Georgia. Around May 10, 1778, Abner was discharged, and he made his way back to the Dan River settlement with his neighbor, Capt. Nelson. In a second stint of duty, Abner was called up for three months as a bodyguard against British and Tory attacks for "Governor Martin," who lived in the same county and was traveling to Nutbush for a meeting of the state legislature. However, a quorum of legislators failed to attend. Finally, he again was called to accompany Alexander Martin to "Marcurian Tavern" for another session of the legislature, but again sufficient members failed to gather. The royal governor of North Carolina at the time was Josiah Martin. Abner, however, accompanied Alexander Martin of Guilford Co., who was only a member of the NC legislature. Alexander later became governor of North Carolina after statehood, and Abner referred to him as governor out of habit and respect in the pension papers. Abner's pension affidavit lists no other action except in "scouting parties" when the neighbors "were engaged against the Tories," probably simply other neighbors or small troop units sympathetic to the British. He produced the testimony of David Dobbins, his brother Gideon and sister-in-law Sarah (Mrs. William) Johnson, who was 77 in 1832, but only that of Sarah has survived. In general she confirmed that the entire family lived in households on the Dan River, and Abner was absent for long periods to fight in the Revolution. Notes from Abner Johnson’s War Pension Record Unlike most pioneer settlers who came Abner JOHNSON, Private, North Carolina Militia, $36.66 Annual Allowance $109.98. Amount Received April 16, 1833. Pension to Middle Tennessee, Abner did not Started Age 75, Maury County, Tenn. (1835 Tn Pension Roll) exercise his Revolutionary War land Abner JOHNSON, Private, 39th Regiment U S Infantry, $96 bounty rights. Instead, Abner in 1818 Annual Allowance $542.13. Amount Received Sept. 5 1816. Pension was among 20,485 soldiers who began Started, $24 Annual Allowance, $336 Amount Received, March 4, 1820. Pension Started, Maury County, Tenn. (1835 Tn Pension drawing pensions for his Revolutionary Roll). Abner JOHNSON (Pension R5649) served in the NC Line, War service under an 1816 law that applied Sept. 22, 1832, Maury Co, Tenn, aged 73, had lived in allowed him $96 a year – or half pay – Guilford Co, N.C. at enlistment. His widow, Nancy, applied Oct. 11, for five years in lieu of his land rights. 1852, in Maury Co, TN, declaring that they had married March He then qualified for lesser income 14, 1783, and that he had died Oct. 22, 1850. under an 1820 congressional act for veterans who were indigent. Under laws that became effective in 1832, most veterans lost their pensions, and Abner had difficulties qualifying. But in1838 he regained his rights and back pay to 1832.
Abner married Nancy Brackett in Guilford County, N.C., on March 14, 1783. Abner is mentioned in Rockingham land records in 1786 and 1787, but no later. Abner does not appear in the 1790 North Carolina census although his father and brothers, William and Gideon, were still located in Rockingham. The Avery or Old North Carolina Trace opened Sept. 25, 1788, to allow more convenient transport for Revolutionary War veterans coming west to claim their bounty lands. The trace, however, was only 10-feet wide and too rugged for wagons, so settlers had to arrange for sending their household goods by water. Abner and Nancy were among those who made the trip to the Cumberland Settlements, most likely in November 1788 with his sister, Ursula Pillow, and her family. Abner located his family on Brown’s Creek or near Brown’s Station southwest of Nashville, where his brother-in-law, John Pillow, who was later killed by Indians, bought a 50acre tract in 1791. Davidson Co. court records of the early 1790s refer to Abner Sr. In that era, little of the state was settled except for the eastern mountain counties and the Red River communities around Nashville, also known as Nashboro or French Lick. Abner and Nancy’s eldest children William Allen, Gideon, Elizabeth and Mary were born in Rockingham Co. before the family moved west. Children born in Tennessee included Sarah Ann (Ginger), born 1804, Nancy, 1802 Peter, our direct ancestor, born 1798, Grant Allen, 1796, Mordecai, 1800, Aurora, 1812, and Abner Jr., 1792. Abner’s daughter Elizabeth was married in Davidson Co., Tenn., in April 1804. Abner appears on the Davidson Co. tax rolls in 1805. It is not clear when Abner moved his family to Maury County, but an “A. Johnston” witnessed a Sept. 29, 1812, deed involving land near his nephew, Gideon Pillow’s, plantation in Maury County, Tenn. Abner and Nancy were firmly established in southern Maury County ear the communities of Bigbyville and Southport by 1820. They were close neighbors to their nephews and large plantation owners, William and Gideon Pillow. Abner Johnson, brother of Nancy Cotton, attested to the service of James Cotton, and to his marriage to Nancy Johnson, and to the births of their children. Abner, at this time (1845) was of Maury Co., Tn., and evidently was making deposition for his widowed sister.
1820 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn. 1830 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
1840 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn. 1850 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
Peter and Beady Mobley Johnson Peter and Beady Johnson were married Sept. 25, 1817, in Maury County. Peter was born in Tennessee in 1798, and Beady was born in N.C. in 1807.
Marriage Records, Maury County, Tenn.
1830 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
Peter and Beady lived next to his father, Abner, and brothers Abner Jr. And Mordecai at the 1830 Census. They had a boy age 5-10 and a girl 0-5.
1840 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
1850 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn. Peter said he was born in Tennessee. Peter’s occupation is listed as “trader.”
1860 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
By 1860 Peter’s family had moved to District 8 in Lawrence County. Peter was a stone mason.
1870 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
Beady lives in Lawrence with William and Martha in 1870.
1840 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49: 1 Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49: 1 Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14: 1 Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19: 1 Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1 Total Free White Persons: 5
Slaves - Males - Under 10: 2 Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23: 3 Slaves - Females - Under 10: 2 Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23: 1 Slaves - Females - 55 thru 99: 1 Total Slaves: 9
MAURY COUNTY, TENN. SCHOOL CENSUS 1838 State of Tennessee Maury County. We the undersigned commissioners for Common schools in District No. 5 do in accordance with a law passed at Nashville on the 24th day of February 1837 entitled an act to establish a system of common schools in the State of Tennessee make the following report of the Scholastic population of said district over the age of 6 years and under the age of 16 years on the 30 day of June, 1838, and the name of the persons with whom they reside. Listed is John JETTON, 2 children, and Peter Johnson, 3 children.
John Jetton lived with his family in the 4th Civil District of Maury County, Tenn., in 1840. This is the only Jetton family listed in the 1840 Census for Maury County with girls near marrying age. Mary is most likely one of the two te e n a g e d fe m ale s co u nte d in t he household. Two years later when she married Edward C. Johnson, the marriage license stated that Mary Jetton was a resident of Maury County. The other Jetton household in 1840 with a young couple between 20 and 29 and two girls, one under age 5 and one age 10-14. The head of household is Benjamin Jetton.
Marriage Bond of Edward C. Johnson and Mary Jetton
Early Tennessee Marriages
In Tennessee, three documents were created at the time of a marriage. 1. The first was the marriage bond. 2. The second was the license, wherein the court authorized the marriage, and the official signed the back to show that it had been performed. 3. The ledger where the clerk copied some information from these two sources is known as the official marriage record. Assurances • The groom had to assure the State that he was able to be legally married (was not already married to someone else, under age or ineligible because of close blood relationship, etc.). No money actually changed hands at the time the bond was issued. • This assurance was given in the form of a bond for a certain amount of money. In this case, $1,250. The friend or relative signed as the groom's security on the bond, commonly known as becoming a bondsman. Edward C. Johnson’s bondsman was Alvin A. Johnson • If indeed the groom had been sued for violating the marriage contract, the bondsman would have had to pay any legal damages if the groom defaulted. • This bonding procedure was used across Tennessee and in other southern states in the 19th century.
Marriage License of Edward C. Johnson and Mary Jetton
Edward C. And Mary Jetton Johnson were married by Felix Kirk Zollicoffer (May 19, 1812 – Jan. 19, 1862), who was a newspaperman, three-term United States Congressman from Tennessee, officer in the United States Army and a Confederate brigadier general during the Civil War. He le d the first Co nfe de rate invasion of eastern Kentucky and was killed in action at the Battle of Mill S p r i n g s , b e c o m i n g t h e fi r s t Confederate general to die in the Western Theater. At the tim e of the Johnso n marriage, Zollicoffer was a justice of the peace in Maury County, Tenn., was owner/editor of the Columbia Observer and Southern Agriculturalist newspapers.
tr y o ok En B e g Marria
1850 United States Federal Census, Maury County, Tenn.
In 1850 Edward C., 27, and Mary, 24, Johnson were living in the 7th District of Maury County, Tenn. They had a son, Edward, 6, Wilkinson, 5, and Benjamin, 2. Their daughter, Cynthia, was age one. She does not appear in future census lists. Edward is employed as a miller.
In 1850 John and Judy Jetton, both age 55, are living in the 8th District of Maury County.
Children of Edward C. Johnson and Mary Jetton Name
Born
Married
Died
Edward Reece
Feb. 2, 1844 Maury County, Tenn.
Lucinda A. Hays May 5, 1880 Lawrence County, Tenn.
Dec. 15, 1912 Lawrence County, Tenn.
Wilkinson H.
Ca. 1845 Maury County, Tenn.
Elizabeth Hamilton Aug. 17, 1868 Lawrence County, Tenn.
??????
Benjamin C.
July 27, 1847 Maury County, Tenn.
Nancy Elizabeth Bird May 27, 1865 Lawrence County, Tenn.
Sept. 24, 1909 Huntsville, Madison County, Ala.
Cynthia
1849
Marilda
1851
No record found
Before 1910?
John P.
Ca. 1852
? Nancy J. Richardson
?1933
Andrew B.
Ca. 1854
Mary A.
Nov. 1860 Lawrence County, Tenn.
She never again appears in the Census
?
? Z. V. Crook March 6, 1887? Lawrence County, Tenn.
Aug. 15, 1910 - palegra? Maury County, Tenn.
The research on these children continues. The ? denotes UNPROVEN information and is provided ONLY for the purpose of sparking responses from other researchers that may be able to clarify.
1860 United States Federal Census, Lawrence County, Tenn.
Edward C. and Mary Jetton Jo h n s o n h a d m o ve d to Lawrence County by the 1860 Census. Their family included Edward R., 14, Wilkinson H, 14, Benjamin C., 10, John P., 8, Marilda A, 7, and Andrew B., 6. Benjamin’s age is n ot co r re ct. Nu m e ro u s othe r p lace s h i s a g e i s g i v e n correctly, including on his tombstone. He was born in July of 1847, so he was one month away from his 13th birthday w hen the 1860 Census was taken. Census takers were very sloppy and often uneducated. Note that by this time, A n d re w h a d b e e n b o r n . Andrew and Benjamin were two different people, not one with both names as has been m i sta ke n ly p a s s e d d o w n through the Johnson family. Benjam in C. wa s the g ran dfathe r of Benjam in M o nro e Johnso n. An drew (Andy) was the great uncle of B.M. Johnson, Sr. Edward C. continued to work as a miller. His total assets were $100. Next door was Y. H. (Young Haywood Johnson), who had lived in the 8th District of Mau r y in 1850 w ith h is parents, Peter and Beady Mobley Johnson.
Pvt. Edward C. Johnson, 3rd Tennessee Infantry Confederate States of America The 3rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment was organized under a sugar maple tree at Lynnville Station in Giles County, Tenn., on May 16, 1861. The regiment was composed of 10 companies of picked men. Edward C. Johnson was in Company I under the command of Capt. William Peaton. This was mostly made up of men from Campbellsville, but it was not unusual for men from neighboring counties to join these companies. The 3rd Tennessee Infantry went by rail to Nashville on May 16 and camped for the night at the fairgrounds. The next day they went to the State Capitol and drew their weapons – percussion muskets. They moved by rail that day to Camp Cheatham, near Springfield, Tenn. They remained at Camp Cheatham for several weeks, receiving instruction in military tactics, drilling and marksmanship, all under the leadership of Col. John C. Brown. While at Camp Cheatham, the 3rd Tennessee Infantry suffered much sickness, especially measles. On July 28, 1861, the 3rd Tennessee Infantry moved to Camp Trousdale in Robertson County, Tenn., on the L&N Railroad near the Kentucky line. A report dated July 31, 1861, indicated 885 men present. While undergoing further military instruction, the 3rd Tennesseee Infantry suffered even more illness, particularly diarrhea and measles. Tennessee seceded from the Union on June 8, 1861, and the 3rd Tennessee Infantry was accepted into the service of the Confederate States of America on Aug. 7, 1861. From Camp Trousdale, the 3rd Tennessee Infantry moved to Bowling Green, Ky., where they reported to Gen. Simon B. Buckner on Sept. 19, 1861. Col. John C. Brown was senior Colonel and was given command of a brigade composed of the 3rd, 18th, 23rd and 24th Regiments of Tennessee Infantry, Jones' Battalion of Tennessee Cavalry and Porter's Tennessee Battery. Here they suffered much sickness and endured hard drill under the direction of Col. Brown. The drill was very exacting and fatiguing, and in the process of hardening for service, the numbers were reduced by sickness, permanent disability and death. Col. John C. Brown was a strict disciplinarian, full of the magnitude of the work ahead and determined that his regiment, composed of picked material, should not be excelled. Brown's Brigade remained in and around Bowling Green until the following February.
From Camp Trousdale, the 3rd Tennessee Infantry moved to Bowling Green, Ky., where they reported to Gen. Simon B. Buckner on Sept. 19, 1861. Col. John C. Brown was senior Colonel and was given command of a brigade composed of the 3rd, 18th, 23rd and 24th Regiments of Tennessee Infantry, Jones' Battalion of Tennessee Cavalry and Porter's Tennessee Battery. Here they suffered much sickness and endured hard drill under the direction of Col. Brown. The drill was very exacting and fatiguing, and in the process of hardening for service, the numbers were reduced by sickness, permanent disability and death. !
Col. John C. Brown was a strict disciplinarian, full of the magnitude of the work ahead and determined that his regiment, composed of picked material, should not be excelled. Brown's Brigade remained in and around Bowling Green until the following February. On Feb. 8, 1862, the 3rd Tennessee Infantry reached Fort Donelson, Tenn., on the Cumberland River, with 750 men present. The 32nd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, which included four companies from Giles County, replaced the 23rd Tennessee Infantry as a part of Brown's Brigade. As Colonel Brown was in command of the brigade, Lt. Colonel Thomas M. Gordon commanded the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. Brown's Brigade was in the worst of the fighting of the Battle of Fort Donelson. The 3rd Tennessee Infantry lost 13 men killed and 56 wounded. Practically all of the rest of the regiment was surrendered on Feb. 16, 1862. The officers were taken to Fort Warren, Mass., and Camp Chase, Ohio. The non-commissioned officers and privates were taken by steamboat to Camp Douglas, Ill. Colonel John C. Brown was offered his freedom but chose to suffer the same fate as his men, who spent the next seven months as prisoners of war in northern prisons.
Prisoners from Fort Donelson arrived at Camp Douglas in February 1862, and within one year the monthly mortality rate was at 10 percent, a rate unsurpassed by any other prison i n t h e N o r t h o r S o ut h . Ultimately, one in five prisoners died, establishing the camp’s reputation for extermination.
CAMP DOUGLAS, NEAR CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WHERE SEVEN THOUSAND CONFEDERATE PRISONERS ARE QUARTERED
Three traits distinguished Camp Do uglas fro m other Northern prison camps: high mortality rates, extreme acts of cruelty and a low official count of prisoners who died compared to documentation from other sources.
CONFEDERATE PRISONERS AT CAMP DOUGLAS, CHICAGO, ILL.
The Chicago Tribune wrote on Sept. 22, 1862, “It is no wonder they died so rapidly. It is only a wonder that the whole 8,000 of the filthy hogs did not go home in pine boxes instead of on their feet.”
Camp Douglas Prison Records – E.C. Johnson’s death recorded on July 29, 1862
E. C. Johnson died far from home in the a Yankee “extermination camp”
The South had Andersonville, an internationally known reminder of prison camp hardships and deaths, immortalized in song, literature, film and by many Union monuments. The North had Camp Douglas, a little known Civil War prison in Chicago that set records for prison mortality, hidden in lost and incomplete records and suppressed publicity. To the victor belongs the silence. Andersonville is the National Prisoner of War Historical Site, with white headstones for each of the 12, 912 Union prisoners who died there with a 475 acre park and monuments erected by every Union State and the National Government. All of the main highways of South Georgia have directional signs to aid the tens of thousand who visit there yearly. Look north to Chicago and you will find at least 6,000 Confederate soldiers buried in a mass grave on one acre of land. There is only one monument to these prisoners who died – erected in 1895 – 30 years after the war by Southerners and their friends in Chicago and the North. The Oak Wood Cemetery monument sustains interest in the camp located near the shore of Lake Michigan. Before the camp closed, it has earned the dubious distinctions of undisputed first place in mortality among Northern prisons. Prisoners from Fort Donelson arrived at Camp Douglas in February 1862, and within one year the monthly mortality rate was at 10 percent, a rate unsurpassed by any other prison in the North or South. Ultimately, one in five prisoners died, establishing the camp’s reputation for extermination. The highest death rate at Andersonville was nine percent set for August 1864.
The high mortality rate can be attributed to several factors: overcrowding, unhealthy living conditions, ineffective medical treatment, inadequate food supply and brutality. The war lasted longer than expected, resulting in more prisoners than anticipated. By late 1862 there were 8,962 prisoners in the camp with fewer than 900 guards. Over 200 prisoners were crowded in to barracks averaging 70 feet by 25 feet. As the number increased, tents were erected to house them, with little protection against below zero winds. Huge latrines were left open, so rain washed raw sewage into the drinking water supply. Wooden floors were removed to discourage tunneling, so vermin infected the dirt floors. Rats and mice were commonplace. Some unnamed inmates recollecting the camp 37 years later said that they raised the kitchen floor to catch big gray rats, which were made into rat pies. When cholera and a smallpox epidemic erupted, free medicine sent by the South was withheld as contraband of war. Food rations were restricted, partly to cut costs and partly as retaliation for Southern victories. When control of the camp was finally passed to the Chicago Police department, medical supplies were cut off and food severely restricted. On June 30, 1862, Commandant Colonel Tucker was warned by D. V. McVickar, the Post Surgeon that “the surface of the ground is becoming saturated with the filth and slop from the privies, kitchens and quarters and must produce serious result to health as soon as the hot weather sets in.” Colonel Tucker was overwhelmed. There were 326 patients in the hospital and many more in the barracks. Coincidentally, Henry W. Bellows of the Sanitary Commission sent a negative report on the camp to Colonel Hoffman the same day, reporting, “Sir, the amount of standing water, unpoliced grounds, of foul sinks, of unventilated and crowded barracks, of general disorder, of soil reeking miasmatic accretions, of rotten bones and emptying of camp kettles, is enough to drive a sanitarium to despair. I hope that no thought will be entertained of mending matters. The absolute abandonment of the spot seems to be the only judicious course, I do not believe that any amo unt of drainage would purge that soil loaded with accumulated filth or those barracks fetid with two stories of vermin and animal exhalations. Nothing but fire can cleanse them.” The Chicago Tribune wrote on Sept. 22, 1862, “It is no wonder they died so rapidly. It is only a wonder that the whole 8,000 of the filthy hogs did not go home in pine boxes instead of on their feet.” Civilian doctors who inspected Camp Douglas on April 5, 1863, called it “an extermination camp.” They drew an unrelenting picture of “wretched inmates without change of clothing, covered, with vermin, in wards reeking with filth and foul air, and blankets in rags . . . it will be seen that 260 out of 3,800 prisoners had died in twenty-one days, a rate of mortality which, if continued would secure their total extermination in about 320 days.”
Prisoners were deprived of clothing to discourage escapes. Many wore sacks with head and armholes cut out; few had underwear. Blankets to offset the bitter northern winter were confiscated from the few that had them. The weakest froze to death. The Chicago winter of 1864 was devastating. The loss of 1,091 lives in only four months was heavies for any like period in the camp’s history, and equaled the deaths at the highest rate of Andersonville from February to May 1864 (OR Ser-II-Vol. 8, 986-1003). Yet, it is the name of Andersonville that burns in infamy, while there exists a northern counterpart of little shame. Mortality rates increased as Colonel Sweet complained on Oct. 11, 1864, that mortality at the camp was up to 35 percent since June. In November 1864, the death toll was 217; another 323 died in December, 308 in January 1864 and 243 in February. The Sparrow diary specifically mentions the dead line at Camp Douglas. Prisoners were shot for crossing the line there just as at such other Federal prisons as Camp Morton, Ind.; Camp Chase and Johnson’s Islan d in Ohio; Point Lookout, Md.; Newport New, Va.; and Fort Delaware for violating stated bounds, usually to answer Confederate POWs at Camp Douglas the call of nature. Several Confederate prisoners were shot or bayoneted to death w h ile in the ve r y act of relievin g themselves. The arctic weather led to additional suffering. “Another punishment was to make the men pull down their pants and sit, with nothing under them, on the snow and frozen ground. I have known men to be kept sitting until you could see their prints of some days after in the snow and ice. When the [guards] got weary of this they commenced whipping, making the men lay on a barrel and using their belts, which had a leather clasp with a sharp edge, cutting through the skin.” A prisoner swore that when the men who were being punished this way attempted to sit on their coattails they were cruelly kicked in the back by the guards and forced to sit longer on their bare bones. Prisoners were forced to stand in the snow for hours without moving, and guards checked footprints to see if they had moved. Those who did received lashes. Some prisoners who arrived in the bitter cold weather lost toes, fingers and ears. One improvised two wooden pegs as substitutes for feet and hobbled around surprisingly well. The mildest cruelty took the form of random firing into the barracks to disturb the prisoners’ sleep, shooting prisoners who moved too slowly or hanging them by their feet to encourage them to take the “oath to the United States.” The more common severe tortures included “reaching for the grub,” bending over without bending the knees for several hours, causing blood to gush from the prisoners nose and protruding eyeballs almost bursting from their sockets with pain or being lashed a hundred times with the metal buckle end of a belt. “Solitary confinement” meant being squeezed into a 10-foot square room with 20 others, with only a 10” window for ventilation.”
Beginning in February of 1862 and lasting throughout the War, nearly all of the Medical Colleges in the northwest were supplied with the bodies stolen from the dead buried at the city cemetery. On June 9, 1862, a difference between the Chicago Tribune and Official Records was reported, with 1,480 men unaccounted for according to the Tribune. One of the reasons was that some deaths were unreported. In July 1862, commandant Tucker, in taking command of Camp Douglas, reported, “there is scarcely a record left at camp and it will be difficult to ascertain what prisoners have been at the camp or what has become of them.” Unfortunately, record keeping was atrocious. It seems that in the period from February 1862, to April 1863, about 728 Confederates were missing. If 700 died in early 1863, as the Tribune and some historians of the period believed, the superintendent should have found 1,636 graves. Various explanations were put forward for this discrepancy. The bodies were being washed into the lake, according to the Tribune, toward the water one mile south. The cemetery was also a favorite hunting ground for grave robbers. Another explanation is that the dead were dumped into unmarked gave and soon lost in the swampy soil. By 1864, about 2,235 prisoners had lost their lives since the prison opened according to the Official Records. This may be 967 short of the true figure at the time, based on the Tribune’s figures. Oak Woods Cemetery could have become the largest Confederate burial site outside of the South, but subsequent events made it impossible to learn the number buried there. The Oak Woods Cemetery simply buried whatever the O’Sullivans, (unqualified grave removers) brought in and numbered the grave markers at Oak Woods according to City Cemetery records. These records cannot be verified because no Confederate burials were recorded with the City Clerk. In addition, the army failed to supervise, inspect or validate the removals. History had been blindfolded, and there is no way of knowing how many Confederates, or which ones, are at Oak Woods. On Sept. 1, 1880, General Bingham reported, “many of the graves are sunken and many of the corner stakes are missing. There is evidence that one of the sections has been used as a roadway. The ground around these lots has been raised and improved which gives them the sunken appearance.” The mound area was later filled in to the level of the rest of the cemetery. Other than the modest obelisk on this mound, completed in 1893 by sympathizers from the South, from Chicago and other parts of the North, there was nothing to distinguish this burial site. Thirty years later, bronze tablets were added with a partial list of the dead. About 100,000 sympathetic persons, inclu ding President Grover Cleveland, attended the dedication of the edifice on Memorial Day 1895. Since that time, nothing has been done to memorialize these unfortunate Confederate prisoners of war, other than a small gathering of supporters each year on Memorial Day. This article was researched by C.B. Pritchett Jr., Albany, Ga. The most complete treatment of the horrors of Camp Douglas is contained in George Levy’s To Die in Chicago (1994) from which some of the information for this article has been drawn.
Mary Johnson applied to the Lawrence County, Tenn., Court for the January Term 1863, to be appointed administrator of E.C. Johnson’s estate.
Oak Woods Cemetery Chicago, Ill. E.C. Johnson’s name appears on the marker to the memory of the 6,000 Confederate soldiers who died at Camp Douglas.
The final resting place of Mary Jetton Johnson has yet to be identified. She is last known to have lived in Lawrence County, Tenn.
Part II of the Johnson history project will resume with Benjamin C. Johnson.