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Tyler, TexasThis was the largest Confederate military prison west of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. At its peak in July 1864, over 5,300 prisoners were detained there. Camp Ford was established in August 1863, 4 miles northwest of Tyler. The camp was named in honor of Col. John S. "Rip" Ford, one-time Texas Ranger, state senator, newspaper editor,and commander of Confederate forces in Texas. Originally established as a camp of instruction for East Texas after the war started, in July 1863, it became a P.O.W. facility for the region. The camp was originally, for the prisoners, just an open area surrounded by guards. In November, black laborers erected a stockade around the camp.
The camp was situated on high table lands covered with pine and oak trees. There were about 8 acres in the stockade. A spring in the southwest corner served as the water supply, impregnated with sulphur.
The area outside the camp consisted of prairiues interspersed with timbered hills. The north gate of the prison yard opened up to an open plain where sheep and hogs were herded. On the east side of the stockade were woods and cultivated lands. The west side was hilly, topped with scrubby oaks. On the south side was a hill that abruptly rose with a small stream at its base which flowed within the stockade, called "the spring". The camp's commandant house was located on top of this hill. The stockade consisted of split pine timbers submerged 3 to 4 feet in the ground and extending 8 feet above.
The prison population ranged from fewer than 100 to about 4,900 in July 1864, when most inmates arriving in spring of that year during Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's disastrous Red River Campaign. Both officers and enlisted men were held at the camp. Miles of desolate terrain, not to mention the hostile Indians, separated the camp from any Union forces.
Capt. S.M. Warner was the first camp commandant. Future camp commandants were rotated in and out usually within a few months each time. None of the commandants stayed long enough to improve the camp conditions.
A company of 45 guards were used at the camp. For the most part, Camp Ford was a desirable location to be confined, if confinement was unavoidable.
 Enlarge Image Camp Ford, shown in a period drawing of its later years, when houses lined the streets and a market area was constructed. A central thoroughfare in the camp was tagged, "Fifth Avenue." Drawing, courtesy of Alston Thoms. |
The first prisoners arrived on July 30. They were Union Navy prisoners. In October, they were joined by 11 officers and 203 enlisted men of the 19th Iowa Regiment, captured in an battle at Stirling Plantation. In December, all but 65 prisoners left for Shreveport, Louisiana, almost 100 miles away, for prisoner-exchange. In May 1864, the prisoners who had left the year before returned to the camp along with 340 more prisoners from the 36th Iowa Regiment, who had been captured at the battle of Marks' Mill. In addition there were imprisoned Union sympathizers, spies, and even Confederate deserters.
Like most prisons, Camp Ford was an open stockade. Black slaves constructed the camp, leaving the inmates, as in many other Confederate prison camps, to build their own shelters. The incoming prisoners were not provided with any shelter, and were left to construct their own shelter. Some prisoners burrowed into the ground for shelter, others built elaborate wooden huts with clay chimneys, and some even paid other prisoners to build their huts.
Confederate authorities did not provide any shelters, but the prisoners constructed a variety of enclosures, according to the resources available-sturdy log buildings, half-buried shanties, and caves dug into the ground. Generally, shelter was adequate, and toward the end of 1864, incoming prisoners reported finding satisfactory quarters among those vacated by exchanged comrades.
Fortunately, Camp Ford enjoyed an abundant supply of good water from a stream that flowed through the compound. The prisoners collected the water in wooden resevoirs, keeping it relatively healthful. Though reports of half-rations occasionally surfaced, there seemed to be sufficient supplies of fresh beef, cornmeal, and some bacon and baked beans. In 1864, local farmers were permitted to sell their produce to inmates, and flour could be purchased for about $1 a pound. Prisoners prepared their meals over open fires, gathering their fuel from outside the prison. A variety of supplies was available from Sutler stores, of which 2 were open for business during part of 1864, probably managed by officers of the 42nd Massachusetts. Some of the men were able to keep money or personal possessions, which they traded or sold for goods, but most earned cash by manufacturing items to sell.
Conditions at the camp continued to worsen in mid-1864 with the large influx of additional prisoners. Over the following weeks, an additional 1,186 prisoners, captured from the battle of Mansfield, during the Red River Campaign. The sudden arrival of almost 2,000 more prisoners created pandimonium inside the camp.
A prison hospital was built by the prisoners in June. The hospital was a 1-story building which measured 48x18 feet, with an addition of an 8x36 foot ward. At the same time, the prison was enlarged by 1 acre.
The prevailing illness at the camp was scurvy.
The normal daily ration was 1/2 pint of cornmeal and 3/4 lb. of beef. Up until mid-1864, the prisoners could supplement their meals by buying milk and vegetables from the local farmers allowed in the camp. After the arrival of so many more prisoners, it became to much of a security risk to let the farmers in the camp. Also, rations were reduced to provide enough food for all the prisoners. Supplies were becoming difficult to obtain. Eventually, only cornmeal could be provided.
A small dump cart, driven by local black farmers were allowed in the camp each day to collect the prison's trash. Finally, some prisoners decided to hide in the cart before it left, allowing them to escape. It is estimated that almost 150 prisoners escaped this way. Needless to say, the dump cart was stopped from coming into the camp after the escapes were discovered.
During the camp's existence, prisoners offered more than 40 different items to sell to townspeople. Connecticut Capt. William H. May published at least 3 editions of a camp newspaper, The Old Flag, hand- printed at a subscription price, payable in advance, of $5 a year.
Of 4 planned mass escape attempts planned at the camp, only 1, involving more than 50 men in late 1864, approached success. Most prisoners were recaptured quickly. One deterrent may have been the rugged Western terrain to be crossed before reaching the North and the fact that much of it stretched through Indian country. A young German-born soldier escaped with 2 companions in late 1864, dodged Confederate scouting parties, and fought the elements for nearly 3 months, only to be captured by some of Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper's Choctaw troops and returned to Camp Ford barefooted and dressed in a barrel a few weeks before Gen. E. Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi Department.
There were more than 50 escape attempts by means of tunneling out of the camp. Only a handful of these attempts were successful. Failed escape attempts usually meant certain punishment. many of these prisoners were returned to the camp and hung by their thumbs in full view of the other prisoners. Some were forced to march around the camp wearing only a barrel, while others were held in solitary confinement.
It can be estimated that as many as 6,000 prisoners passed through the camp gates during its 21 months of existence. Union soldiers representing nearly 100 different regiments plus sailors from gunboats and transports were confined here. The average monthly population in 1864 was around 4,700 prisoners.Good health prevailed at the camp. Deaths were estimated at 232-286, with 4 reasonably well substantiated cases of prisoners being shot by guards without provocation. Despite a few reports of guard brutality, health conditions were considered so good that no hospital was ever constructed. Only 250 to 300 men had died of disease by the time the last prisoners were released on May 17, 1865. Records indicate that over 4,700 soldiers were imprisoned at Camp Ford and approximately 280 of them died, this being one of the lowest death rates reported from any Civil War prison.
Even though conditions were primitive, it compared favorably with the other Civil War prison camps. Camp Ford continued to serve as a prison until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May, 1865. By the end of may, the first prisoners from Camp Ford arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas, after covering a distance of nearly 300 miles. They arrived with stories of being allowed to "escape" in large numbers. It was reported that when the guards at the camp heard that Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, many of them just packed up their belongings and left to go home.
Camp Ford was later destroyed by Union occupation troops on July 4, 1865.
