Johnson's Island

JOHNSON'S ISLAND Edward T. Downer In October, 1861, Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman of the 8th U.S. Infantry was appointed Commissary General of Prisoners in the Department of the Quartermaster General. His first assignment was to establish a new depot for prisoners of war in order to relieve the unsatisfactory and crowded prisons at Fort Warren, Fort Lafayette, Governor's Island, and elsewhere. Quartermaster General M. C. Meigs had suggested the Put-in-Bay Islands in Lake Erie north of Sandusky, Ohio. Hoffman visited the islands but found them unsatisfactory. They lay too close to the Canadian border, they were too remote from the mainland , and the owners of the cleared land were unwilling to give up their vineyards. Instead, Hoffman recommended "an island in Sandusky Bay opposite the city." The site he proposed was Johnson's Island, three miles north of the city of Sandusky and a half-mile south of the Marblehead Peninsula, which, extending in a westerly direction for a distance of fifteen mües, created the fine Sandusky Bay. The island lay not far out in Lake Erie, but in the protected waters of the bay. It consisted of 300 acres of clay and loam soil, from two to eight feet deep, underneath which was soUd limestone. Hoffman recommended it because forty acres of land already cleared would afford an excellent site, the fallen timber would serve as fuel, and the camp could be easily supplied from the mainland by boat in the summer and over the ice in the winter. Moreover, he explained, "the proximity of the city [Sandusky] would prevent any possibility of a rising upon the guard." And, finally, one-half of the island "can be leased for $500 a year with the entire control of the remainder."1 To Southern boys who had never seen snow and who found walking on ice a precarious experience, Johnson's Island presented a frigid and forbidding prospect during the winter months. As one remarked, it "was just the place to convert visitors to the theological belief of the NorweMr . Downer is Registrar Emeritus of Western Reserve University and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. He is recognized as a leading authority on all phases of Ohio's Civil War history. 1 U.S. War Dept. (comp.), War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, 1880-1901), Ser. II, III, 54-58. Cited hereafter as OH, with all references being to Ser. II. 202 gians that HeU has torments of cold instead of heat."2 But to the inhabitants of the cities along the shores of Lake Erie—Toledo, Cleveland, and Sandusky, the weather conditions on the island were little different from those to which they were accustomed, and these temperatures could scarcely be called arctic. Meteorological statistics for nearby KeUey's Island, eight miles north of Johnson's Island, gave the mean temperatures, 1860-64 inclusive, as 32.04 for December, 28.08 for January , and 29.47 for February. The shores and islands in and about Sandusky Bay would be popular summer resort areas for many years. A Confederate prisoner wrote in June, 1862, that "the lake breezes rob the summersun ofits heat, the view ofthe city, lake and neighboring islands is fine . . . and altogether it is a salubrious pleasant place." Another added: "Where persons are weU protected, in substantial homes, suited to the climate, well fed and clothed, it is a healthy locality."3 Plans for the prison were approved and the contract let in November, 1861. The work was to be completed by February, 1862, at a cost of no more than $30,000. The prison was located on a cleared area of approximately fifteen acres on the southeast shore of the island. The area was surrounded by a plank stockade fourteen feet in height, with four-inch spaces betwen the upright planks on the bay side. When finally completed , the prisoners' quarters comprised thirteen two-story, barracktype , frame buildings, each known as a "block," facing each other across a 150-foot street. Each block was 120 feet by 28 feet, designed to accommodate 250 men. Buildings for the garrison...