Archaeologists return to Chicago home's back yard to search for evidence of Camp Douglas

Archaeologists and volunteers are returning to a Chicago residence to dig for more artifacts and evidence of Camp Douglas, a Federal military training center and prison camp during the Civil War.

Last fall's dig (Michael Gregory)

Last fall, a team unearthed debris, several postwar artifacts and one that did date to the period: A .58-caliber Minie ball, about 75 centimeters (30 inches) down, a depth where they were expecting to find Camp Douglas materials.

Diggers will again work in a backyard vegetable garden inside what is believed to be the prisoners’ living area. They will be working in two spots in the garden.

The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation is trying to find precise locations of camp features in an urban area that has seen extensive development in the past century, and where much of history is covered by miles of pavement and buildings. 

Archaeologist Michael Gregory, a member of the foundation’s board, said the work began Thursday and will likely continue through next Wednesday, April 25. The team found a half dime from 1854, he said Friday.

The home, built in 1885, is in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.

Bullet found in home's back yard (Michael Gregory)

The resident had visited one of a half dozen such digs at nearby John J. Pershing Magnet School for Humanities on Calumet Avenue. “He loves the neighborhood and loves everything that goes along with it,” Gregory said this week.

Gregory said the goal this time is to get a better view of the camp layer deposit, recover artifacts if present “and maybe find some type of feature --pier support for a building, pit, fence post holes, etc.-- that we can relate to plans we have for the camp in order to know more specifically where within Prisoners Square we are excavating.”

He believes the location where the bullet was found was relatively undisturbed since the end of the Civil War.

The foundation is trying to bring protection to the 60 acres by having it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That's an involved process that requires evidence that camp-related features survive, even if underground. No buildings survive.

Camp Douglas originally served as a Union training facility for about 40,000 soldiers – including African-Americans -- being rushed to the front. Much of the site was converted to a prison camp for 26,000 Confederates. About 4,000 Rebels died at the prison.

Gregory said the organization also hopes to conduct ground-penetrating radar surveys at six sites, most on public right of way, later this spring. The GPR can see deeper in the soil for any undisturbed camp features.

Camp Douglas exhibit at museum in Wisconsin (Michael Gregory)

Some of the artifacts found in the neighborhood in the past few years are on temporary display at the Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisc.

How does your garden grow? Chicago home yields Minie ball during search for more Camp Douglas artifacts, features

Recent dig at residence in a series of townhouses (Michael Gregory)

Archaeologists usually aren’t welcome on private property. But Michael Gregory and some colleagues proved to be the exception when a Chicago homeowner allowed them to excavate in a back yard garden late last month.

The resident had visited one of a half dozen such digs at nearby John J. Pershing Magnet School for Humanities on Calumet Avenue. He talked with Gregory and others who are looking for further evidence of a Federal military training center and prison camp known as Camp Douglas.

“’I have a garden in the back yard. You are welcome to excavate it,’” Gregory recalls the homeowner telling him. After working out details, Gregory and about a dozen others worked at the Bronzeville neighborhood residence on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30.

“As we dug down to the camp deposit level, we did find a number of interesting artifacts -- gilded ceramic sherds, milk bottles, ceramic doll parts, a toy train engine, a Navy insignia clasp, a burned book, canning jar parts,” the archaeologist told the Picket. The items were most likely dumped in the early 20^th century.

(Courtesy of Michael Gregory)

And there was a little pay dirt in the single rectangular hole dug into a vegetable garden: A .58-caliber Minie ball, about 75 centimeters (30 inches) down, a depth where they were expecting to find Camp Douglas materials.

The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation and volunteers are trying to find precise locations of camp features in an urban area that has seen extensive development in the past century, and where much of history is covered by miles of pavement and buildings. 

They are stymied by the fact that nothing from the massive Union facility is still standing.

But there have been some successes. Foundation official David Keller told the Picket a couple years back that the 2012 discovery of the camp headquarters foundation was an important find.

The crew worked last week under overcast skies and in mid-40s temperatures. They were cheered and fortified by the homeowner’s hospitality: A warm fire and hot soup.

“I am hoping the Minie ball is not our only artifact,” said Gregory as he discussed plans for a return to the home in the spring to dig in three more locations. The work at the 1880s, two-story home was the first Camp Douglas excavation on private property.

One bullet, even for just two days’ work, doesn’t seem much, but it is helping the foundation in its effort to publicize the camp’s story and bring possible protection to the 60 acres by having it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The latter is a lengthy process and has rigorous requirements. The Chicago City Council passed a resolution endorsing approval of that designation.

Camp Douglas originally served as a Union training facility for about 40,000 soldiers – including African-Americans -- being rushed to the front. Much of the site was converted to a prison camp for 26,000 Confederates. About 4,000 Rebels died at the prison.

Andrew Leith, who is assisting the foundation and works for the Chicago Cultural Alliance, said the significance of Camp Douglas is on par with Andersonville National Historic Site, home to Camp Sumter, a Confederate POW camp, in central Georgia.

“Right in our back yard we have one of the most notorious prisoner-of-war camps from the Civil War,” Leith told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Confederate POWs at Camp Douglas (Library of Congress)

The prison’s 200 structures went down when the site was dismantled in December 1865. Camp Douglas largely faded into history. The rural tract soon became part of Chicago's rapid growth that drew hundreds of thousands of African-Americans during the Great Migration more than a century ago.

While the ongoing excavations  – most on the school grounds -- have largely found items produced after the Civil War, experts and volunteers have recovered Minie balls, a Union cap pin, smoking pipes, a haversack J-hook, grommets, a spread-eagle button, an 1859 penny and other Camp Douglas items.

Gregory, who formerly was an assistant professor at DePaul University, said the foundation met two goals in the recent excavation: It found materials (the bullet) from the camp and determined that the soil was “intact,” or undisturbed by significant development.

He said the discovery of dark, circular stains in the pit may be evidence of fish beds in what was once a marshy area. “We have seen these stains in other units at Pershing School, and when seen there, they certainly defined undisturbed deposits.”

Sketch of the camp (National Archives)

The team believes the home site was little disturbed beyond construction of a basement. “No one has come in there or taken a bulldozer, grader or shovels and really mucked up the lower deposit,” said Gregory. “We are seeing a fairly intact level of the camp.”

The home is just to the east of what’s believed to have been the location of Confederate barracks at Camp Douglas. While Gregory and other haves found a trench and other ground features that may be indicative of construction on a small part of the Civil War camp, they don’t know exactly where in the presumed barracks area they are digging.

Thus far, the archaeological effort in Chicago’s South Side has not found any posts that define the stockade wall. “That would be our dream,” said Gregory.

The barracks in the POW area rested on brick piers, experts believe. Gregory theorizes the buildings were carted off months after the war ended and the piers knocked down. “If we could find a pier than we can begin to understand where we are excavating.”

Previous find (Courtesy CDRF)

The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation (CDRF) wants to show state and federal officials that enough of the site – even underground – remains to consider it worthy of recognition and a protective designation. Gregory said he has done Google overlays over old fire insurance maps, and the result shows many sites have not been disturbed in recent years.

“I suspect between 35 to 50 percent of the camp area has a moderate to high potential to reveal intact camp deposits,” he said.

Archaeology is an exacting science, and field work and analysis take time.

“It’s not as ‘Indiana Jones’ as a lot of us would like to portray it to be,” Leith told the Chicago paper. “It’s tedious and methodological.”

(M. Gregory)

The foundation hopes to return to the home next spring, and perhaps dig in grassy rights of way – areas that are not covered by concrete. Getting access to an area to excavate is challenging.

Gregory said the homeowner was pleased with the archaeological project, including cleanup that put top soil back in place.

“I think they were happy history is there and they are letting us get to it.”

Artifacts from site of Chicago's Camp Douglas a window into war, the Great Migration

Minie balls found during Camp Douglas dig (Courtesy of  Michael Gregory)

The 34 bankers boxes are filled with seemingly ordinary items from a Chicago neighborhood that has seen extraordinary change since its days as home to Camp Douglas, a Federal training center and prisoner of war camp during the Civil War.

Archaeologist Michael Gregory plans to further analyze a wide array of these artifacts at his Milwaukee home. There’s the 1908 license tag for a horse-drawn vehicle, a water dish for a bird cage, Canadian cheese tubs and a ceramic dust bin.

“It has been one of the most interesting collections I have ever worked on,” Gregory recently told the Picket.

Nestled in those containers are 200 artifacts related to Camp Douglas. About 4,000 Confederates died at the prison, most of whom are buried in a mass grave. Gregory, formerly associated with DePaul University, has worked with the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation on a half dozen digs in a corner of the camp.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Gregory)

While those excavations have largely found items produced after the Civil War, experts and volunteers have recovered Minie balls, a Union cap pin, smoking pipes, a haversack J-hook, grommets, a spread-eagle button, an 1859 penny (below), and other Camp Douglas items.

Gregory and David Keller, head of the foundation, believe they have clearly identified the camp, though there are significant challenges for urban archaeology.

“The history of the site shows initial significant development between 1900 and 1915.  The property remained substantially unchanged until 1950, when urban renewal affected the area,” said Keller. “There remains about 40% of the property that is available for further study. Alleys and back yards have been identified and offer the best opportunities.”

The excavations, which started in October 2013, have taken place on a grassy lot near a school on Chicago’s South Side. It is in what was the prisoner barracks area in the 60-acre site. The digs have been about 3 feet deep.

U.S. button (Camp Douglas Restoration Found.)

Gregory said it’s difficult to know exactly where in the camp site they are working.

“Our problem right now is we find something that looks like a ditch between barracks, but we will find another feature that would be right in the walkway area,” he said.

One eventual aim is to find a portion of the western stockade wall. “The wall is (elusive) since we cannot find posts or other evidence,” said Keller. “They are likely affected by the development of the property.  However, the streets are largely unchanged.  This gives us a 30-foot area where the fence might have been located.”

Hook for a haversack (Michael Gregory)

Fetid conditions for the prisoners

The Union facility was constructed in an area called Douglas, named for Stephen A. Douglas, the famous Illinois politician.

Camp Douglas originally served as a training facility for Illinois soldiers being rushed to the front. Much of the site was converted to a prison camp. About 26,000 Confederates were housed at the camp during the war.

“Had the military been involved (the site) never would have been selected,” said Keller. “It was noted for its flooding, swampy conditions.”

Confederate POWs at Camp Douglas (Library of Congress)

The U.S. Sanitary Commission, during an inspection, found that the “amount of standing water, of unpoliced grounds, of foul sinks, of general disorder, of soil reeking with miasmic accretions, of rotten bones and emptying of camp kettles … was enough to drive a sanitarian mad.”

It earned well the sobriquet “Andersonville of the North.”

Officials estimate 1 in 7 Confederate prisoners died, although the exact number is not known. Keller said he believes between 5,000 and 6,000 perished.

Pipe bowl likely used at camp (Camp Douglas Restoration Found.)

Area became a 'Black Metropolis'

The prison’s 200 structures went down when the site was dismantled in December 1865. Camp Douglas largely faded into history.

What used to be a rural tract just outside city limits soon became part of Chicago’s rapid growth. A part of Douglas became known as Bronzeville. It attracted German Jews after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It was home to the Swift family and the Marx Brothers.

But the biggest change was on the horizon.

Hundreds of thousands of African-Americans came to Chicago from the South during the Great Migration at the turn of the 20^th century. They wanted a new start after enduring Jim Crow laws.

1908 license tag for horse-drawn vehicle (Michael Gregory)

While they didn’t get away from segregation, they were able to establish an area where they have left a cultural, arts and economic imprint.

“At the Regal Theater on 47th Street, notable entertainers such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington performed frequently, and Nat “King” Cole got his start,” according to articles about the South Side on the website of TV station WTTW. “Other notable Bronzeville residents included boxer Jack Johnson, gospel legend Mahalia Jackson, journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, the writer Gwendolyn Brooks, and many others.”

The area did run into hard times.

“Following World War II, decades of economic disinvestment and social change, Bronzeville's luster diminished. Businesses shut their doors and African-Americans moved further south due to the elimination of restricted housing covenants,” says a neighborhood council.

Animal bones found on site (Michael Gregory)

The recent decades have been kinder, though, according to an October 2014 article in the Chicago Tribune, crime has remained a problem.

“Today, Bronzeville is experiencing renewed energy and development, with an emphasis on the arts and a respect for the rich cultural legacy that Bronzeville has brought to Chicago as a whole,” writes WWTW. It is a center of African-American enterprise.

There’s been a recent move in Congress to create the Bronzeville/Black Metropolis National Heritage Area.

Digging in a land of asphalt

Gregory has worked on all but one excavation outside the John J. Pershing Magnet School for Humanities on Calumet Avenue. He has studied flood insurance and other maps to learn more about the neighborhood during and after the Civil War.

(Wikipedia/public domain)

The foundation is trying to obtain National Register for Historic Places status for the Camp Douglas site, a move it believes should add protection for what’s left. “A listing is a long shot, but important step in recognition of the camp,” said Keller. “The process should be completed early next year.”

While most of the area is under pavement or has been redeveloped, Gregory said it is important to note that “even if you had 140 years of development, it doesn’t mean archaeological resources have been destroyed.”

Ink well may be from camp (M. Gregory)

Teams were able to find a rectangular pit, but Gregory doesn’t know its purpose. A laundry facility is a possibility. He said he believes some smoking pipes pieces and bowls may well be associated with the Civil War. It’s known that one Confederate POW procured or made them for comrades.

Many camp subsurface features have been destroyed by development, along with an untold number of artifacts, since the war. Still, Gregory believes future excavations may find camp-related ditches and footings.

“We have had some residents in the area who said they would be happy for us to bring ground penetrating radar in their yard,” said the archaeologist. “It may provide little windows” into Camp Douglas’ story.

Artifacts, planned museum raise profile of 'forgotten' Camp Douglas prison in Chicago

Recent dig near Pershing East Magnet School (Michael Gregory)

Some heard through word of mouth, others through social media posts. Armed with curiosity and perhaps a hat to better weather the sun, they came to the grassy lot near a school on Chicago’s South Side – willing to dig, fill buckets and sift through dirt.

About 50 volunteers assisted the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation late last month in its fifth excavation aimed at pinpointing features of the little-known Civil War prison camp and gathering artifacts for a planned museum.

“People said, ‘Hey, I just would like to do this,’” said David Keller, a retired banker who is managing director of the 5-year-old foundation.

Archaeologists and volunteers, excavating about 3 feet down in three units, uncovered a Federal uniform button with an embossed eagle and grommets that may have been part of a rubber blanket at the camp. They also found a dark stain in the soil that may have been the remnants of a wooden post. The discoveries will undergo further research.

Button may have been on vest

Rubber attached to grommets (Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation)

Of course, they also find items in the sand and clay that may not be part of the Civil War period. Those items are kept so that other groups or institutions may further research them.

“We find very curious things,” Keller told the Picket this week. “We found in one of the units about a half a dozen clay smoking pipes and pieces of them. Very elaborate, some with floral designs, some very demonic. We have one with the devil and the fiddle.”

The pipes, some of which were made by the Noel brothers of Lyon, France, may indeed be from the period.

For Keller and archaeologist Michael Gregory, an assistant visiting professor at DePaul University, the digs generate public interest and help bring the story of Camp Douglas out of obscurity.

“Camp Douglas wasn’t wiped off the face of the Earth,” said Keller.

In a sense, it was. The prison’s 200 structures went down when the site was dismantled in December 1865. What used to be a rural tract just outside city limits became part of Chicago’s rapid growth. The community, known as Bronzeville, was an African-American mecca during the “Great Migration” of the early 20^th century. The South Side was a cultural bulwark and drew numerous black entertainers, including Louis Armstrong.

Camp Douglas largely faded into history.

Besides a cemetery containing the mass grave of 4,000 Confederates who died at the prison, Chicago currently offers only two signs that mention Camp Douglas -- hence the foundation’s efforts to build the museum that will resemble one of its barracks.

Confederate POWs at Camp Douglas (Library of Congress)

Keller, author of “The Story of Camp Douglas: Chicago’s Forgotten Civil War Prison,” said the 2012 discovery of the camp headquarters foundation was an important find.

“We want to better tie specifically where the camp was,” he said. “We don’t know where the stockade fence was found.”

Previous excavations found the letter “B” from a Union cap and the bowl of a tobacco pipe that would have been attached to a reed stem. Experts at the American Civil War Museum are confident the pipe, found about 10 yards from June’s dig, was of the period, Keller said. “It was the pipe of choice of the Confederate soldier.”

The recent excavation, said Gregory, demonstrates that physical evidence of the prison “has not been completely destroyed by urban development.” While the foundation has been able to dig on public property, much of the 60 acres is covered or in private hands, with no accessibility.

Keller said he believes the artifacts are the first military items found in Chicago in 100 years. “Whatever we can find that is part of the history of the camp is important to us.”

'Andersonville of the North'

Camp Douglas originally served as a training facility for Illinois soldiers being rushed to regiments at the front. Much of the site was converted to a prison camp.

“Had the military been involved (the site) never would have been selected,” said Keller. “It was noted for its flooding, swampy conditions.”

(Library of Congress)

The U.S.Sanitary Commission, during an inspection, found that the “amount of standing water, of unpoliced grounds, of foul sinks, of general disorder, of soil reeking with miasmic accretions, of rotten bones and emptying of camp kettles … was enough to drive a sanitarian mad.”

It earned well the sobriquet “Andersonville of the North.”

Officials estimate 1 in 7 Confederate prisoners died, although the exact number is not known. Keller said he believes between 5,000 and 6,000 perished.

In his book, Keller tells Camp Douglas’ story through the eyes of five POWs who kept journals.

“There were haves and have nots in the prison. There were people who lived pretty well, and there were those who lived deplorably,” he told the Picket. “It was not a pleasant place, but it was not as bleak as the Lost Cause tries to paint it.”

Untrained officers and guards and a constant change in commandants made matters worse. And soldiers who were taken prisoner during the Civil War had no training in how to weather the crisis and survive.

One exception, Keller said, were members of Confederate Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan’s raiders, captured in 1863. By then the parole and exchange system had broken down, and the raiders knew their stay at Camp Douglas might be lengthy.

By not allowing a comrade to starve and by sticking together, they endured death rate about half of the general prison population, according to Keller.

“They didn’t cooperate with the prisoner officials. They tried to escape. They refused to sign anything. They kept faith in their fellow prisoners and respected their chain of command.”

Pipe bowl likely used at Camp Douglas

Pipe with devil/fiddle theme (Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation)

Choices and consequences

Several times a month, Keller gets information requests from descendants of Confederate soldiers held at Camp Douglas.

In central Georgia, the staff at Andersonville National Historic Site tells the story of the infamous Confederate prison there and answers questions from those curious about other facilities.

“It is very common for folks who are interested in Andersonville to be familiar with the names of other large prisons, traditionally Elmira and Douglas,” said Stephanie Steinhorst of Andersonville. “Those prisons tell the parallel story of Confederate prisoners of war, and the choices that United States commanders made during the war.”

Steinhorst said visitors struggle to grasp the scope of Andersonville’s misery.

She continued: “At the National Prisoner of War Museum, we have highlighted the stories of prisoners of these other locations, like Douglas, through programs and some of the museum exhibits.  Each prison could have thousands of pages of text about their struggles, because each page could be one of the lives that passed through the gates.  However, our site was not built immense enough for every name and every image.  We begin the conversation and then hope that people go home, carrying the questions of prisoners of war to their local historical societies, the National Archives, the town church, the historic site, or better yet, their own family tree. ...”

(Michael Gregory)

Plans for museum, soldiers database

The foundation wants to builds it museum – which will include references to African-American troops who were trained at Douglas – “sooner rather than later,” Keller said, adding it is close to securing a location within the camp’s confines and is negotiating details.

Once that is worked out, the group hopes to raise $2.5 million to build, equip and operate the venue, which will resemble a single-story barracks that was rated for 100 occupants, but sometimes held 300, a sign of the prison’s overcrowding. The barracks were 90 feet by 24 feet.

Keller said he would like to see ground broken this fall.

In addition to its small collection of artifacts, the foundation wants to display items from the Chicago History Museum, including the camp chapel bell, and other institutions. The owner of a locket made by a prisoner also has expressed interest in loaning that item.

The interior would include bunks, mannequins playing cards, photographs and a video loop.

Also in the plans is a database of the prisoners. Nearly 30,000 Confederates went through the camp. Most of the dead are listed on plaques at Oak Woods Cemetery. The National Archives and Ancestry.com have nearly 12,000 additional names, though they are not currently searchable.

Keller has several hundred names given to him. “If I can get between 15,000 and 20,000 names, I would be pleased.” The foundation would like the database – when possible -- to include names, units, capture date, capture location and the soldier’s disposition.

(Michael Gregory)

In the meantime, the foundation continues its education outreach by speaking to various groups and at schools.

Steinhorst, with Andersonville National Historic Site, said every Civil War prison failed to protect human life.

“Men died in these places and the legacy of any of the Civil War prisons is how did they survive, what did the survivors want us to understand, and how can we learn from their sacrifices. The study of prisons needs to be based on the flaws and merits of each prison as a single moment in history,” she told the Picket.

“To compare them, and shape all your understanding on which is worse or who is to blame is a lost opportunity. We hope that when folks visit places like Andersonville, Richmond, Elmira or Point Lookout that they find space to explore the complexities of the story and connect to the landscape. After the crucible of captivity it was the survivors, women, and freedmen who called for memorials, monuments and ceremonies.  Today, we live in the legacy of their work, and the work continues.”