"the largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere: a mound of roughly 4,000 Confederate soldiers who died at Camp Douglas, now buried at Oak Woods Cemetery at 67th Street and Cottage Grove. (The soldiers had originally been buried in City Cemetery, now Lincoln Park. But soon after the war, the city thought better of placing the dead so close to Lake Michigan — Chicago’s principal source of drinking water. That cemetery was closed and the Confederate soldiers were moved to Oak Woods, the only cemetery that would accept them.)
Staring up at the forty-foot-tall bronze and granite memorial where a despondent-looking Confederate soldier stands atop a granite column, bowing his head in remembrance, "
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Two of my great great grandfathers escorted prisoners from the battlefield to the prison camp in Chicago. They stopped every 25 or 30 miles to bury both prisoners and guards who died from disease. Their Regiment lost far more men from disease than from combat.
"Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 11 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 244 Enlisted men by disease. Total 258."
Both of my great great grandfathers survived the war but were discharged for disability.
"SERVICE.--Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 22, 1862, to January 2, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28, 1862. Chickasaw Bluffs December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault on and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Chicago, Ill., with prisoners January 17-February 5. At St. Louis, Mo., until April 1. Guard prisoners to City Point, Va., April 1-20. Moved to Pilot Knob, Mo., and duty there until June 3. Moved to Vicksburg, Miss., June 3-10. Siege of Vicksburg June 10-July 4. Expedition to Yazoo City July 12-21. Occupation of Yazoo City July 14. Moved to Port Hudson, thence to Carrollton, La., August 20-24. Expedition to Morganza through swamps of the Atchafalaya September 9-10. Sterling's Plantation September 29. Moved to Carrollton October 10. Expedition to the Rio Grande, Texas, October 24-November 8. Brazos Santiago, November 2-3. Advance on Brownsville November 3-6. Expedition to Arkansas November 14-21. Mustang Island November 17. Fort Esperanza November 27-30. Duty on Matagorda Island until April. Moved to Alexandria, La., April 20-27. Red River Campaign April 27-May 22. Construction of dam at Alexandria April 30-May 10. Graham's Plantation May 5. Retreat to Morganza May 13-20. Mansure May 15-16. Expedition from Morganza to the Atchafalaya May 30-June 6. Moved to Baton Rouge and duty there until July. Operations against Fort Gaines, Mobile Bay, August 2-8, and against Fort Morgan August 9-23. Capture of Fort Morgan August 23. Moved to Morganza August 7-11. Duty there and at mouth of White River, Ark., until January 25, 1865. Expedition to Morgan's Ferry December 13-14, 1864. Moved to New Orleans, La., January 25, 1865; thence to Barrancas, Fla., January 26-28, and to Pensacola, Fla., March 11, March to Fort Blakely, Ala., March 20-April 2. Occupation of Canoe Station March 27. Siege of Fort Blakely April 2-9. Capture of Fort Blakely April 9. Duty at Mobile and Selma, Ala., until May. Ordered to Texas May 12. Duty at Galveston and Houston, Texas, until August. Mustered out August 15, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 11 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 244 Enlisted men by disease. Total 258."
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