Alton Military Prison

(POW Camp)

Alton, Illinois

Private Eli Whitehurst (1831-1863)

Co F, 4th Alabama "Roddey's" Cavalry, CSA

Perished at Alton Prison

"Born l83l in Haywood County, Tn. the son of Esir H Whitehurst and Elizabeth Crandall Whitehurst. In the spring of l862, Eli joined Roddey's Cav. He was married with children, wife was Emaline Hensley.  Children were Sidney Tapley, Amanda, Catherine, James William, and C E (female) born after her father was captured. Eli was captured on  October 27, l862 near Burnsville, Mississippi. He was interviewed by one of Grant's officers and family legend is that he gave false troop movements,etc. He is listed in the official records of the Civil War.  He was sent to Alton,Ill Military Prison and died there July 5, l863, cause of death was listed as remittent fever.  After the war, another prisoner brought his Bible home to his widow, Emaline. Information taken from United States cenus records, marriage records of Pontotoc County, Ms. Civil War records of Eli C Whitehurst, both the state of Alabama and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He had a brother, James T Whitehurst, who served in Moreland's Regt, CSA and their father, Esir H Whitehurst was pro-Union and tried to talk his sons out of fighting for the South.  (Claim of Esir H Whitehurst, 1874 claim against the United States for property taken by Union soldiers, Tishomingo County, Missisippi, lst Michigan [Yankees] took his property.)" This information is from
Dale Johnson, who is a descendant of Pvt. Whitehurst.



 
 

"They looked so utterly wretched so helplessly depressed that even as a boy I have never forgotten the look of drooping melancholy that rested on every feature." 
--Leigh Russell (20 Jan 1912)

 
 
 


The photo above is Pvt. John Leonard Weeks. First served in the 16th Alabama Infantry until separated from his unit on the retreat from the Battle of Shiloh. Pvt. Weeks then joined  Company A, Ferguson's Scouts,(1st Mississippi Cavalry). On 14 Oct 1863,  he was wounded in the right arm and leg and captured in Tippah Co., Mississippi (at or near Ripley). He was transported to Alton Military prison where he contracted smallpox, but recovered and was shipped off to Ft. Delaware prison where he eventually got exchanged on 05 Oct 1864. He then returned to his native State and joined "Loy's Company, Alabama 4th (Roddy's) Cavalry, as a Private in Jan 1865 at Henson Springs, Alabama. He fought in Wilson's Raid from 22 Mar 1865 to 24 Apr 1865 while assigned to Roddy's Brigade, Forrest's Cavalry Corps, Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. He next fought various conflicts from Montevallo, Alabama to Selma, Alabama, ending with the Battle of Selma on 02 Apr 1865. He was either captured at Selma on 02 Apr 1865 or surrendered at Pond Spring. The remainder of the unit surrendered at Meridian, Mississippi on 04 May 1865. He was paroled in May 1865 at Henson Springs, Alabama." The above photo and information was contributed by J. D. Weeks, gg grandson of Pvt. John Leonard Weeks.


"I was captured on the 13th of July, heavily ironed with log chain and ball, transported to this prison, thrown into a cell 6 X 3 feet with my iron fetters on, kicked, cuffed, taunted, jeered and maltreated in every conceivable form. I remained the inmate of this living tomb until my life was despaired of. I was then removed to the hospital where I have remained ever since, denied the priviledge of a common culprit, denied a parole, denied exchange; I have had to run the gauntlet of every disease which human flesh is heir to--smallpox, measles, mumps, pneumonia; in a word, all the ills of Pandora. Oh! The horrors of this place, the cruelty of my prosecutors, tongue cannot tell, neither hath it entered into the hearts of man to conceive. I have seen hundreds of my companions in arms consigned to a premature and untimely grave here by the cruelty and injustice of my enemies, murdered in cold blood in this terrible house of disease and  death."

--Capt. J.F. Melton
Kentucky Cavalry, Tilghman's Division, CSA
in letter written to the Confederate Senate.
(Capt. Melton was a resident of Calloway County, KY)
 Ruins of Alton Military Prison (POW Camp)
located about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.
"The ventilation was wretchedly poor and in winter it was about as comfortable as an iceberg"
--Leigh Russell  (20 Jan 1912)

Even under these terrible conditions, the prisoners did not allow any opportunity to pass that would let them show their contempt for their oppressors. On one occassion, as the prison flag (U.S. flag) blew down off the flag pole upon the grounds, the prisoners immediately rushed over trampled it, tore it to shrewds so nothing remained to be found. During the demonstration, a guard shot one of the prisoners through the head and everybody fled. The prison commandant, Col. Jesse Hildebrand (77th OH Infantry), who was known as a "ruthless secesh hater", cancelled all rations for a week, causing twelve prisoners, who were already weak from sickness to die.

 

 
 
"These young soldiers died because of indifference and callousness on the part of others. It takes little imagination to envision the heartaches and despair of loved ones, living far distant."
--newspaper clipping (source unknown)

During the smallpox epidemic in 1863, even the prison authorities "were too ill to keep death records." It is estimated that anywhere from 1,354 to 5,000 have died. The lower figure being from Union army records, which is certainly an underestimate. According to one ex-guard, Henry Hatfield, the death estimates were ridiculously low since he remembered "sometimes sixty a day", with prisoners and guards "dropping like flies". When the epidemic hit, a "smallpox hospital" was set up on what was known as "Towhead Island" (island was known also as "Sunflower Island" and also "McPike Island") in the Mississippi river. So many prisoners were sent to the island, with few if any returned, that the trip to the island became known as a "living burial".  Catholic nuns, of the Sisters of Charity order were about the only Christian denomination that gave relief to the POWs.


Photo of Alton, Illinois taken in late 1860's. The building that was
honey-combed with cells can be seen in the foreground below the
steamboats.


They had served at Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis previously so were acquainted with working with prisoners before arriving at Alton prison on March 16, 1864. One of the first demands the sisters made was to shut down the "island death house" and began giving prisoners religious burials, many of which took place on the island. Unfortunately these POWs would not rest in peace for long. The Federal government in 1936, uncovered hundreds of skeletons while building Lock and Dam No. 26. The entire island was destroyed and the dirt including the bones was used as fill in one of the enbankments on the Missouri side of the river. Today, Lock and Dam No. 26 has been destroyed, but the enbankment has been left undisturbed, out of what little respect these POWs have been shown by the U.S. government. There has been talk of a monument to be constructed with Federal funds, in retribution for the desecration committed on the island graves.

In the vicinity of Alton, Illinois, approximately 25 miles northeast of St. Louis, resided many southern sympathizers. Even the former mayor of Alton, Dr. T. Hope (who was also an ex-candidate for Gov. of Illinois), became a prisoner due to his pro-secessionist views. During his stay he served as the prison doctor, caring for fellow prisoners. In 1864, a group of masked young women from Alton serenaded the prisoners which included the singing "Dixie". The ladies recieved loud shouts and clapping from the confined prison audience. The following day, the local newspaper lambasted the ladies with an article reading, "it was bad enough they had serenaded the prisoners of war, but it was unforgiveable that they sang "Dixie". In response, the ladies were reported to have stated that "Dixie was too beautiful [of a song] to be possessed by just one part of the country." Public pressure eventually forced the unnamed ladies to apologize for their crime, and evidently the matter was forgotten.  However forty five year later (1909), "Dixie" would once again be played at the prison site, every friday night,  in memory of the thousands of Confederates who died there. This was after the prison grounds were turned into a playground for children, named "Uncle Remus Park", in honor of the Southern author, Joel Chandler Harris, who was a friend of children. Today the prison grounds are not what anyone would call an attractive site. Aside from the small section of ruin, the site is covered with an asphalt parking lot and surrounding businesses.

 
 
 

Samuel A. Harrison (right) at age 96, visits prison site where he once was an
inmate. Harrison, resided near Rolla, Missouri was a private in the Confederate
Army (unit designation listed as "Coleman's"). He came to Alton to retrieve a stone
from the prison to be used as his grave marker. A newspaper article states he was a cousin to
President Benjamin Harrison. The gentleman on the left is unidentified. Photo is dated
June 1938. Harrison apparently he passed away before 1945, because the stone
he claimed was delivered in 1944.

 

About the Background Music:

"Rebel in the Woods"

 The background tune is the music to the following song, "Rebel in the Woods", written by a anonymous Confederate Guerilla in North Missouri to his friend condemned to die in a St. Louis prison. The song was found from a St. Louis newspaper clipping dating back to around 1863.  The phrase "my jacket so bleue" may appear that the writer was a Union soldier, but this is not the case since in Missouri, rebels frequently wore the clothes removed from their victims.

(Click on Refresh/Reload if background tune does not play when page first loads)

The MIDI file used in this webpage is from the "Borderland Collection", Copyrighted 1998, Scott K. Williams, All Rights Reserved.

1st Verse:

The winter is gone and the spring has come once more.
The rebels rejoice that the winter is no more,
For now it is spring and the leaves are growing green,
And the rebels rejoice that they cannot be seen.


chorus:

Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.


2nd Verse:

We have taken up arms in defense of our farms,
And if the Federals trouble us we'll surely do them harm,
For we have declared that our land shall be free
But if they stay away how quiet we will be.


Chorus:

Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.


3rd Verse:

The rebels from their homes are compelled to go
And stay in the woods in the bushes thick and low,
For if they go home and there attempt to stay
The Federals will come and force them away.


Chorus:

Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.


4th Verse:

Away from their sweethearts they have to stay
And lay in the woods by night and by day,
For if by the Federals they should captured be
They will be carried to the penitentiary.


Chorus:

Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.


5th Verse:

Now my song is almost ended, and since it is so,
Back to the wars with all speed I must go.
With my gun in my hand and my jacket all so blueu
Farewell, my dear friends, I must bid you adieu.
Chorus:
Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.

6th Verse:

When the war is over I will return to thee,
And we will get married if we can agree,
And when we are joined in wedlock's happy band,
Then we never more will take the parting hand.


Chorus:

Then home, soon home, home they will be;
Home, dearest home, in this our country,
Where the rose is in bud and the blossom's on the tree,
And the Lark is singing home to North Missouri.

 
 

Another Great website, visit:  Alton in the Civil War (contains searchable database for Confederate dead)

Copyrighted 1998, Scott Williams, member of Sterling Price Camp, No. 145 Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The MIDI file, "Rebel in the Woods"  used in this webpage is from the "Borderland Collection",
Copyrighted 1998, Scott K. Williams, All Rights Reserved.