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7 The Health of the Prisoners During Camp Chase’s four years as a Union military camp,the most common complaint from soldiers there was about the ubiquitous mud. The nuisance produced by wet weather, freezing and thawing ground, and the camp’s poor drainage garnished diaries and letters home, whether their writers were Union or Confederate. Recruit Jonathan Harrington, writing on February 2, 1862, informed his parents that the camp was “nothing but a regular mortar bed, the mud is from four to six inches deep.” Prisoner Timothy McNamara agreed. Upon his arrival on February 26, 1862, McNamara’s first observation of his prison was “a wooden wall enclosing about 1/2 acre of the wettest mudiest ground.” Andrew Jackson Campbell termed Prison 3 “the filthiest, muddiest place I ever saw human beings in.” Time apparently did not improve the situation. Writing in February 1863, Lt. J. K. Ferguson noted, “It has become so muddy that it is almost impossible to get about the prison.”The problem still persisted in May 1864, when John Harrod, a Union recruit, attempted to describe the muddy scene to his wife. “It is the allfiredest time for rain and mud I ever seen. Just imagine a tent pitched in the middle of the road in the mudiest place between our house and Huntsville this spring and a thousand men walking around it constantly and in and out and not a dry inch of ground in sight to clean their feet on, and you can have some idea of our fix.”1 As the first large wave of military prisoners arrived, Col. Moody, then commanding, made some attempt to correct the problem. He ran into an obstacle in the form of George B. Wright, Ohio’s quartermaster general. When Moody applied for funds to open ditches in the camp, Wright responded , “I have already expended since the Fort Donaldson prisoners came over $400 in improvements and it is hard to see where all the money has gone.” Still, Wright agreed that “every thing necessary should be done and a wise & prudent discretion must be exercised by you and it will be 122 / Chapter 7 approved by the governor.”Tod’s prudence became less pronounced when federal dollars came into the picture. On July 10 he urged Hoffman to build a new prison between Camp Chase and Columbus. The governor was less worried about mud than about the potential problems created by keeping prisoners and recruits at the same facility. Regardless of Tod’s reasons, his plan was rejected by Stanton. The exchange cartel had just been signed, and the war secretary felt Camp Chase would not be required much longer as a prison.2 This was not the last time the question of moving the camp arose. On August 3, 1863 Dr. D. Stanton, military superintendent of hospitals in Columbus, informed Gen. Mason, “The selection of ground [for Camp Chase] was a most unfortunate one. It is low, flat, and not susceptible of drainage.” The location of the hospital, in the doctor’s opinion, was even more unfortunate.Much of the camp drainage,he explained,accumulated near the hospital. In addition, its location between the highway and the parade ground left it susceptible to dust from both. Stanton concluded, “The occupation of a camp so situated for so long a time, chiefly by prisoners and paroled forces, with whom it is almost impossible to enforce police regulations, has made Camp Chase a very unhealthy place.” Once again, Governor Tod appealed to Washington to have the camp moved, this time to a location near the Scioto River. Secretary Stanton forwarded Tod’s proposal to Quartermaster General Meigs, who suggested that the project would be much more expensive than the governor had estimated. That was apparently all Stanton needed to know; nothing more was heard of relocating the camp.3 Instead, prodded by federal officials, Camp Chase commanders did battle with mud. When Capt. Lazelle made his July 1862 inspection trip at Hoffman’s behest, he attributed much of the “terrible stench” that pervaded the camp to poor drainage. He called for an extensive program of grading the grounds and digging drains and ditches along walkways and roads. Returning in December, Lazelle found the prison to be “quite well drained.” He did, however, suggest that the walks and roads be covered with gravel, a suggestion that Hoffman put into the form of an order. Capt. Webber, then commanding the prisons, put the orders...

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