Alton's Confederate Prison

From First Illinois State Penitentiary to Civil War Prison

Feb 17, 2009 Cheryl Eichar Jett

The first state penitentiary in Illinois was built in Alton in the 1830s and later became a prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

In the late 1820s, several Illinois cities, including Alton, Jacksonville, Peoria, Springfield, and Vandalia, plus a hypothetical community in the state's geographic center, were in the running to become the state capitol. Although Alton lost the designation as capitol, it received instead the right to build the first state penitentiary. It was constructed in stages with prisoner labor and opened in 1833 with 24 cells. As the prison grew to include 296 cells, it became known as the "Bluff Castle" and bordered William Street on the east, Mill Street on the West, Broadway on the south, and present-day Fourth Street on the north.

Overcrowding and Deplorable Conditions Forced Prison's Closing

By 1855, the 296 cells held 332 inmates and was known for its deplorable conditions and overcrowding. John J. Dunphy states in It Happened at the River Bend that by the 1840s, "...the prison had become infamous as a disease-ridden pesthouse. The noted penal reformer Dorothea Dix condemned the place and demanded it be closed." In 1859, a new prison was opened in northern Illinois at Joliet, and the Alton inmates began to be transferred to the new penitentiary, emptying the Alton facility by 1860.

The Prison Was Reopened to House Confederate Prisoners

By February 1862, the federal military prison in nearby St. Louis, Missouri was overcrowded and the Alton prison was reopened as a federal military prison. As it had as a state penitentiary, the facility soon suffered overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Confederate soldiers who had been taken prisoner and locals convicted of assisting the Rebel cause were incarcerated. Dr. Thomas Hope, a former Alton mayor, was a temporary prisoner there because of his secessionist views; while incarcerated he attended ill and dying prisoners. As the 1,200-prisoner capacity was surpassed, disease began to flourish, including dysentery, measles, and pneumonia.

Smallpox Decimated the Confederate Prison Population

In 1862, smallpox was added to the list, and despite efforts to immunize the inmates, the disease spread quickly and many died. The first smallpox victims were buried in a pasture on Rozier Street where penitentiary inmates had been buried. However, public demand soon dictated that city hospitals and cemeteries would be closed to smallpox victims. A quarantine hospital was opened on Sunflower Island near the Missouri shore in 1863; the location soon became known as Smallpox Island. There, more than 260 prisoners died and were buried on the island.

Altogether, sources report that 1,354 Confederate soldiers plus close to 250 Union soldiers and guards and 215 civilians died at the Alton Federal Military Prison.

The Alton Prison Was Closed for Good

In July 1865, the Alton Prison was closed for good and the remaining prisoners were transferred to St. Louis. The empty prison was soon relieved of its imposing stone walls. Over the years stone was taken from the walls and crushed to pave roads or used by locals for building projects. Civil War veterans who had been incarcerated there were known to return to Alton to pick out a stone to take back south with them to use as headstones when they died. One such veteran was said to have escaped from the prison by hiding in a coffin which was being taken out of the facility.

A Monument to Alton's Confederate Dead Was Constructed

For many years the pasture on Rozier Street where both penitentiary inmates and Confederate prisoners had been interred was neglected. A few stones marked specific graves, provided by family members. The site was otherwise overgrown and surrounded by barbed wire. However, in the early 1900s the Sam Davis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned the federal government to construct a monument. In 1909, the government erected a 40-foot stone obelisk with bronze plaques honoring the dead. A year later, the Sam Davis Chapter added an ornamental gate with pillars at the edge of the cemetery. In 2001, a monument was dedicated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Rosenbloom Monument Company to those who died on Smallpox Island. This memorial is located at the Lincoln-Shields area not far from the now-submerged Smallpox Island.

SOURCES:

Davis, James E. Frontier Illinois. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1908.

Dunphy, John J. It Happened at the River Bend. Alton, Illinois: Second Reading Publications, 2007.

Waves of History: along the Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway. Alton, Illinois: Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2008.

The copyright of the article Alton's Confederate Prison in American History is owned by Cheryl Eichar Jett. Permission to republish Alton's Confederate Prison in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.