The 2018 Camp Douglas Memorial Ceremony in Chicago (Part 1)

On Sunday, April 22, 2018, for the 27th consecutive year, 'Camp Douglas Memorial' Camp #516 (Chicago, IL) hosted the Illinois Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' annual Confederate Memorial Day service at Confederate Mound within Oak Woods Cemetery on the south-side of Chicago, IL. This year, however, was the first time that the event was threatened by protesters.

Before I go into the details of the memorial service and the events leading up to it, let's take a look at why there are around 6,000 Confederate soldiers buried in Chicago, how the monument at Oak Woods Cemetery came to be and what the 'Confederate Mound' memorial actually consists of.

***CAMP DOUGLAS & THE CONFEDERATE DEAD***

     The history of Camp Douglas, a Union prison camp where tens-of-thousands of Confederate prisoners of war were deliberately mistreated, malnourished and tortured, can not be adequately told here. You should know, however, that over 6,000 Confederate POWs died there due to deplorable conditions & intentionally cruel Union war policies. (See approximate location of Camp Douglas in relation to the present day aerial view, with and without modern street names, in the image below.)

     While the prison camp did have two small cemeteries on it's grounds, most of the Confederate dead were originally buried in Chicago's old City Cemetery (located at present day "Lincoln Park"). Several administrative factors after the war forced the U.S. Federal government to find a permanent burial ground for the remains of those who died at Camp Douglas. A lot within Oak Woods Cemetery was selected, and the remains of the Confederate dead were reinterred there, between 1865-1867, in three concentric trenches within an elliptical plot. Once completed, they had inadvertently created what is believed to be the largest mass-grave in the western-hemisphere. The lot became known as "Confederate Mound." (See image below to get an idea of the location of 'Confederate Mound' within the cemetery and the size of the plot.)

     After removal of the Confederate remains to Oak Woods Cemetery was completed, the U.S. government took no role in maintaining the mass-grave plot for more than thirty years; The Oak Woods Cemetery Association cut the weeds twice per year. According to the National Cemetery Administration, no markers or memorial were initially placed on the lot, and none would be for nearly three decades.

     In 1887, the Ex-Confederate Association of Chicago, largely thanks to the efforts of a former "resident" of Camp Douglas named Thomas P. Longwood, obtained permission from the U.S. Army Quartermaster, Brigadier-General Samuel B. Holabird, to erect a grave monument within the bounds of Confederate Mound. John C. Underwood, a former Confederate engineer who served at the time with the title of "General" in the 'Provisional Army of the North' of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), was placed in charge of raising funds for the monument by UCV Camp #8 of Chicago in 1892, and was granted permission to erect the monument in May of the next year.

John C. Underwood, as he appeared during the War years and then in the mid-1890s.

     In a lavish, yet somber affair of martial pomp & circumstance, the monument to the 6,000+ Confederate dead of Chicago was dedicated on Memorial Day - May 30, 1895. An estimated crowd of 100,000 were on hand for the occasion, and such a large number of floral arrangements were sent from the South to decorate the site that it required multiple train cars to transport them all into the city. Among the many political officials, military dignitaries and prominent citizens who were present at Oak Woods Cemetery that day was sitting U.S. President, Grover Cleveland, who was accompanied by members of his cabinet.

Confederate Mound as it appeared in 1895.

     Of course, a large number of Confederate veterans came up north to be present for the ceremony, including Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. Stephen D. Lee, Gen. Matthew C. Butler, Gen. Henry Heth, Gen. Samuel French, Col. William Lowndes Calhoun, Col. Henry Kyd Douglas & Maj. Holmes Conrad.

Maj.Gen. Fitzhugh Lee

Lt.Gen. Stephen D. Lee

Lt.Gen. James Longstreet

Maj.Gen. Matthew C. Butler

Maj.Gen. Samuel French

Maj.Gen. Henry Heth

Maj. Holmes Conrad

Col. William L. Calhoun

Col. Henry Kyd Douglas

     Speeches at the ceremony included introductory remarks by Cpl. John C. Underwood (Commanding Officer of the UCV's Army of the North), a prayer by Rev. Joseph Desha Pickett (Chaplain of Kentucky's "Orphan Brigade" in the Confederate Army), the dedicatory oration by Gen. Wade Hampton, and a memorial poem by Maj. Henry Thompson Stanton.

Rev. Joseph Desha Pickett                    Maj. Henry Thompson Stanton

Lt.Gen. Wade Hampton delivering the dedicatory address on May 30, 1895

***THE MEMORIAL AT CONFEDERATE MOUND***

-The Monument-
     "The monument ... was constructed by the Southern Granite Company of the widely known 'Pear' granite from it's quarries at Constitution Hill, Ga."

     "The lower base or platform is fifteen feet six inches square, upon which are laid three other bases; and, on the front of the center one, cut in raised and polished letters of bold outlines, are the words, 'Confederate dead.' The upper base is adorned with a series of rich mouldings and on the front of this stone is placed an enlarged model of the well-known Confederate seal..."

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

     "The 'die' of the monument is made of one massive stone...; on the front is the inscription and on the other three sides are placed artistic bronze panels."

Confederate Mound in 1895

     "[T]he column is over thirty feet high, [and] the total height of the monument, including the statue, is nearly forty feet."

-The Statue-
     "The statue is over eight feet high, is that of a Confederate infantryman, and every old soldier will recognize the figure as that of a typical Confederate as he appeared at the close of the war. He stands with folded arms looking down in regret upon the field where hosts of his comrades sleep; with travel-stained clothing and shoes worn, he is the picture of one who has suffered many hardships and whose defeat has been accomplished only after a bitter struggle. He has on the usual accoutrements of the soldier, and his face is typical of southern manhood.

Image: c. 1895

     "This statue is true to nature and perfect in detail, even to the placing of the trousers within the socks to guard against dust a common practice with Confederate infantry.

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

     "The figure represents the soldier after the surrender, is without military arms, very impressive in its silent dignity, easy and natural in its pose and readily conveys the story of the past."

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

-The Panels-
     "The panel on the east represents the 'Call to Arms' at the beginning of the Confederacy and is a very striking scene, one that relates the story at a glance. Here is displayed the front of an old style courthouse, with the numeral 1860 over the door. On one side of the door a southern volunteer in uniform is represented, on the other a number of persons flocking to the entrance are seen, some of them going in. Figures representing men in various conditions of life, the laborer, artisan and professional man are depicted as they are hastening from their avocations, encouraged by their wives and daughters, to enroll themselves beneath the southern battle cross, for the 'call' has gone forth throughout the length and breadth of the south and amid wild and sectional enthusiasm all classes rush to the aid of their country. Many a grizzled veteran gazing at this sculptured bronze picture in these later and quieter days will mentally recall the beginning of the arduous struggle, which has no parallel in history.

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

     "The panel on the west [titled, "Veteran's Return Home"] represents an extremely pathetic picture. It is the return of the soldier to his home. The realism thrown into this scene is wonderful. In the foreground of the medallion is an unarmed Confederate soldier in rude and picturesque garb, leaning on a hickory staff cut on his way returning from the 'front,' whose attitude reveals deep dejection. He is gazing upon a dismantled log cabin and sorrowfully thinking of the past. The broken door lies extended across the deserted threshold, part of the roof has been carried away by a round shot, wild ivy has grown up and run over a corner, and the house of his youth is a ruin. Solitude is pictured everywhere, and even the birds are seen deserting the desolate surroundings of the soldier's destroyed home. Near by lies a discarded cannon and war debris, and the sun, slowly declining in the west, by its departing rays furnishes an appropriate setting to the picture, and lends completion to the idea sought to be expressed by the deft hand of the sculptor, that of a lighted hope and a ruined substance, portraying the cause that is lost.

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

     "The panel on the south side of the 'die' is entitled 'A Soldier's Death Dream,' and is an allegorical picture, representing a "private" who, having received a mortal wound on the field of battle, has crawled beneath the sheltering branches of a tree to die. The bronze design further represents a field earthwork and stockade, with a gun silently frowning through an embrazure, and a dead horse lying near by. The moonbeams disclose the dismantled fortification, and in the soft half-light of the distance a battlefield stretches away. The wonderful feat of working the moonlight into this scene has been done by the artist with rare accuracy. The deathly stillness of the after-battle picture is made more vivid by the drooping flag and the night effect produced by the pale rays of the waning moon, shining through clouds, and the hovering of a vampire bat, as an imaginary ghoul, over the hero remains of the dead soldier.

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

     "On the north face the following inscription is worked in incised letters upon a polished granite panel: ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SIX THOUSAND SOUTHERN SOLDIERS HERE BURIED, WHO DIED IN CAMP DOUGLAS PRISON, 1862-5."

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

 -The Cannons & Ordnance-

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

 "These four cannon, being guns captured from the Union forces in the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and afterward manned by the Confederates and fought on the southern side in the battles of Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dalton, Kennesaw mountain, Peachtree creek, Atlanta and Franklin, were finally recaptured by the Federals in the battle of Nashville and subsequent engagements. It constitutes a field battery of light artillery of distinguished battle record and is here permanently parked, never again to belch forth deadly missiles in horrible splendor of war."

Image from the May 1895 Dedication

Image from the May 1895 Dedication

***CONFEDERATE MOUND: 1895 - 2018***

     In the immediate years after the dedication ceremony, Confederate Mound would sit largely undisturbed, and mostly uncared for. The local Confederate veterans group did not have the funds to maintain the site, and the U.S. government seemed unwilling to furnish the funds. A report in 1889 describes the mound in poor condition; in just four short years the marshy land surrounding the mass-grave had been raised, leaving Confederate Mound as a "low & depressed piece of ground." A solution was devised that would see the center of the mound, where the monument is located, raised up.

     On March 9, 1906, the U.S. Congress passed Public Act No. 38, which authorizes, "to provide for the appropriate marking of the graves of the soldiers and sailors of the Confederate army and navy who died in Northern prisons and were buried near the prisons where they died, and for other purposes." This led to federal commissioners floating the idea of installing flat, individual grave markers around the mound for each soldier interred there, but this proposal was never accepted. As a compromise that all parties could agree to, it was decided in 1910 that the existing 1895-monument would be raised and placed on a new base, affixed to which would be bronze plaques bearing the names of 4,275 known Confederates buried there. The work was completed before the end of 1911.

[Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018]

      For more than 100 years, Confederate Mound has remained virtually unchanged in it's appearance. Since the early 1990's, the men of 'Camp Douglas Memorial' Camp #516 (Chicago, IL) and the Illinois Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have held a memorial service at the mound without controversy until this year.

[The second half of this story will be published in the coming days. Stay tuned...]
DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
2nd Lieutenant Commander
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321 (Dearborn, MI)
Army of Tennessee, Sons of Confederate Veterans
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Sources:
- ['REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS INCIDENTAL TO THE ERECTION & DEDICATION OF THE CONFEDERATE MONUMENT' by John C. Underwood (1896)]
- ['THE STORY OF CAMP DOUGLAS: CHICAGO'S FORGOTTEN CIVIL WAR PRISON' (Google Books) by David L. Keller (2015)]
- ['FEDERAL STEWARDSHIP OF CONFEDERATE DEAD' (E-Book) by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2016)]
- [CHICAGO MAGAZINE (Online): How the South Side Came to House a Not-So-Controversial Confederate Memorial]
- [NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION: Confederate Mound]
- [NPS.GOV: Confederate Mound at Oak Woods Cemetery]
- [WIKIPEDIA: Camp Douglas (Chicago)]
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Notes:
- All historical imagery, including those of the monument & it's dedication from 1895, the portraits of the Confederate officers, and the historic quotations have been used from Underwood's 1896 book.
- All images marked [Image Credit: J.M. McCleese; 2018] are the property of Jonathan McCleese, and may be used without permission by any individual or organization that seeks to honor Confederate Veterans and their cause of Southern Independence, provided that recognition is given to Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321 (Dearborn, MI), Sons of Confederate Veterans; all others seeking to use these images must seek permission.