MILITARY PRISON
In July, 1863, according to an order from the war department, Rock Island was made a military prison in which Confederate prisoners were confined, with Captain Charles A. Reynolds, assistant quartermaster of the United States army, in charge. He built a prison and barracks, and the first soldiers to report for duty as guards arrived November 2, 1863. Lieutenant-Colonel Scbaffner arrived November 19, 1803, and took charge of the prison, and Colonel A. J. Johnson was appointed to assume charge of the prisoners.
On December 3, 1863, the first installment of prisoners arrived, having been captured at the battle of Lookout Mountain, and from that date until the close of the Civil war. many prisoners were kept under strong guard, the entire number confined here being 12,215. There were 1.900 deaths, about 500 of this number passing away from the effects of smallpox. They were buried on the island. The corner posts of the cemetery where these bodies repose are made of cannon taken from the Confederates, planted with their muzzles in the ground and strung around with chains.
Within the little cemetery these graves of nearly 2,000 Confederate dead are well cared for. and each is marked by a simple headstone. Near the head of the island is a little Union soldiers cemetery surrounded by a fence, and each resting place is marked by a headstone.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois
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