Hello,

June 22nd, 2016 – Our 146th meeting. SPECIAL FOURTH WEDNESDAY MEETING NIGHT! We continue our eleventh year!

The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2016 at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Hospital. This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

Our Speaker and Topic - “The Alton, Illinois Prisoner of War Camp and the 10th Kansas Infantry”

Alton, Illinois, right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, was one of the first Union prisoner of war camps established. Based on the 1830s old penitentiary complex that was replaced by a newer facility in Joliet, outside of Chicago, the buildings were taken over by the US Army in early 1862. In early February the first prisoners arrived, taken in the Fort Donelson Campaign among other places. The 13th U.S. Infantry were the first guards.

As with all Civil War prisons, north and south, overcrowding soon took hold. Alton was listed for 800 men but usually double that could be found there. This caused sanitation, water, food and disease problems not only for the inmates but also the guards (often left out of this discussion). Over 1500 prisoners died there, many buried on a now gone island in the river. Cold winters and humid summers indeed took their toll. Some prisoners were able to escape by ingenious methods.
Civil War military prisons all have interesting stories. They range from the horrors of Andersonville to similar stories from Ft. Delaware and Elmira. The struggles of captives and the excitement of escapes predominates prison literature. Less frequently the experiences of guards are told.
Several Union regiments guarded the prison during the war. The 10th Kansas Infantry was assigned guard duty at Alton prison in January 1864 for eight months. This is their and Alton's story.

Our speaker this month is Howard Mann from the Nashville CWRT. Howard is descended from George T. Tracy, 10th Kansas Infantry. He is a former member of the Kansas City Civil War Roundtable and past president in 2009. Howard speaks on a variety of Civil War topics including the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi. He is a member of the Nashville CWRT and now lives in Nashville.