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5 The Search for Stability It is not clear when Union officials decided that Camp Chase would remain a Union prison. Indeed, there is no evidence that they ever consciously reached such a conclusion.The end of prisoner exchanges following the collapse of the cartel simply limited their options. As the number of captives in federal hands shot up rapidly, new places had to be found to put them. Point Lookout, Maryland, one of the Union’s largest prison camps, was pressed into service after the battle of Gettysburg, receiving its first prisoners in July 1863. Rock Island, Illinois, followed in December, and the prison at Elmira, New York, began housing Confederate captives in July 1864. With so many major prison camps opening, it was unlikely that any would be closed.1 As circumstances conspired to dictate Camp Chase’s evolution into a permanent Union prison, the depot finally achieved a measure of stability in its command structure. On June 23, 1863, Col. William Wallace of the Fifteenth Ohio assumed command of the camp. He owed the job to his immediate superior. On June 3 Gen. Mason had informed Gen. Rosecrans, then commanding the Department of the Cumberland, “Col. Wallace . . . is here too unwell to take the field. I would like him to command Camp Chase temporarily.” Rosecrans gave his consent. On November 23 Mason recommended Wallace to Hoffman “as the permanent commander with a command reporting only to you.”2 Wallace remained in command until February 10, 1864, when he was ordered to rejoin his regiment. His successor was Col. William Pitt Richardson . A Pennsylvania native, Richardson had served with the Third Ohio Infantry in the Mexican War. After returning from that conflict he was admitted to the bar, settling in as prosecuting attorney of Monroe County, Ohio. When war again broke out in 1861, Richardson raised two companies, which were accepted as part of the Twenty-fifth Ohio. The Search for Stability / 87 veteran soldier received an appointment as major and within a few weeks was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On May 10, 1862 Richardson earned promotion to colonel and took command of the regiment. On May 2,1863 Richardson suffered a serious wound to his right shoulder during the battle of Chancellorsville.The Twenty-fifth Ohio was part of the Second Brigade, First Division of the ill-fated Eleventh Corps, which bore the brunt of Stonewall Jackson’s devastating flank attack during the Virginia battle. In his after-action report, Brig. Gen. Nathaniel C. McClean, commanding the Second Brigade, wrote that the First Brigade had quickly given way to Jackson’s onslaught. McClean ordered Richardson and his regiment to “wheel to the right in column, and deploy on the double-quick into line facing the approaching enemy. This was done with as much precision as if on parade,” McClean boasted, “and as soon as possible the regiment opened fire, and remained firm until ordered back.” The wound Richardson suffered in trying to help stem the Union rout deprived him of the use of his arm. His next duty did not come until January 1864, when he was detailed as president of a court-martial that was convened at Camp Chase. His appointment to command the following month brought a stability that was long overdue. Richardson would remain in the post for the remainder of the war.3 In June 1864 a Camp Chase guard wrote of Richardson,“He is the most capable, efficient, and popular commandant we have ever had.” The colonel had just been nominated for the office of state attorney general. “His election,”the man feared,“ will rob us of an almost father.”Richardson declined the honor, and over the following months he proved worthy of the soldier’s endorsement. He supervised major projects to rebuild the prison barracks and addressed long-standing drainage and health issues. He also earned a reputation among the prisoners as a humane commander. Writing in 1912, Maj. J. Coleman Alderson remembered Lt. Alexander Sankey , who commanded the guard and the prisoners, as being “cruel, even brutal in his treatment of the prisoners. Sometimes, when we were able to reach Colonel Richardson . . . our wrongs were righted.” Former prisoner John F. Hickey, who worked in the camp hospital, concurred with Alderson ’s view of both men. Richardson, Hickey recalled, “at once stopped, in a measure, the inhumanities of Sankey, and inaugurated a pacific and humane course of treatment.” Richardson’s humanity, Hickey admitted, extended to permitting...

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