JOHNSON'S ISLAND.
BY HEWSON L. PEEKE.
This island lies three miles north of
Sandusky in the bay.
It is nearly a mile long, half a mile
wide, and contains about
three hundred acres rising gradually in
the center to a height
of fifty feet. It was originally covered
with heavy timber and
was a favorite resort of the Indians who
came there to fish, feast
and torture their captives.
Its first owner was E. W. Bull and it
was originally called
Bull's Island until 1852 when it was called
Johnson's Island after
its purchase by L. B. Johnson. In 1811
an effort was made to
found a town on the island and to plat a
village, and the custom
house was located there but the attempt
was abandoned. Some
time later the island was sold under an
execution levied on a
jackass and the island itself and it is
amusing to note that the
donkey brought the most money.
The first historical mention of
Johnson's Island is by Joshua
R. Giddings who enlisted in the war of
1812 when only sixteen
years old and on October first, 1812,
wrote his parents a letter
describing the landing on Johnson's
Island (then called Bull's
Island) from which the following
quotation is taken:
OCTOBER 1, 1812.
HONORED PARENTS,
Having got a little refreshed I take my
pen in hand to inform
you of the past battle that has taken
place in our troops in which some
of our countrymen have lost their lives
to maintain the freedom of our
country. One week ago 150 of our men
volunteered to go to Sandusky
to fetch some property away from there.
They accordingly arrived
there on Friday. On Saturday four boats
set sail from there loaded
with salt fish and apples. On Sunday
night they landed on Bull's Island
near the middle of Sandusky Bay,
etc."
The Register of August 8, 1884,
described a visit of Joshua
R. Giddings to Sandusky in 1853. He was
nearly seven feet
(470)
Johnson's Island. 471
high, and in order to honor him Capt.
Orr's Island Queen was
chartered, and Eleutheros Cooke, Henry
D. Cooke, Earl Bill
and Toby Green and other prominent
citizens formed a party
and Mr. Giddings pointed out to them on
Johnson's Island the
spot where Gen. Harrison's army party
encamped; after their
return from the disastrous sortie at
Fort Meigs in the war
of 1812.
In 1861 the property was leased by the
government as a
depot for rebel prisoners. The necessary
buildings having been
erected, the first prisoners were
installed in their quarters in
April, 1862, under the charge of Company
A, Hoff battalion
which was subsequently increased to a
full regiment, the 128th
O. V. I. The number of prisoners was
constantly varying, the
largest number at any one time being
over three thousand; but
from its beginning till the close of the
war over fifteen thousand
rebels were confined there, mostly rebel
officers.
In a letter published in the Register,
August 20, 1891, Wm.
T. West says that he bought the lumber
for Johnson's Island
prison from R. B. Hubbard at $8.00 a
thousand, and used 1,500,-
000 feet of lumber. He states that he
took the contract Novem-
ber 12,
1861, and gave bond in $40,000 to have the
buildings
ready for occupancy January 31, 1862,
and that he was favored
by the weather and completed the
buildings on time.
The buildings were frame buildings
neither ceiled nor plas-
tered, 100 feet long and two stories high,
each story divided into
two rooms, box style and built of drop
lumber full of knot
holes. The winter of 1862, 1863 and 1864
were all severe, and
many of the prisoners had never seen
snow or ice, and when
they were conducted to Johnson's Island
on the ice and came to
a smooth place they would fall down on
their hands and knees
which was very amusing to the guards.
Among the prisoners on Johnson's Island
was H. H. Lurton
who was afterward Judge of the Supreme
Court of Tennessee,
and later Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States.
At the conclusion of the war on April 12, 1866, the
build-
ings on Johnson's Island were sold by
the government and most
of them bought in by L. B. Johnson.
Nothing now remains of
them except one or two guard posts used
as a pig sty.
472 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
The Register of June 11th, 1862,
quotes a letter from a
rebel prisoner on Johnson's Island,
published in the Memphis
Appeal:
"After a week at Camp Chase I was
sent to Johnson's Island in
Sandusky Bay. This is purely a military
prison. It is designed for
company officers; the buildings are
large, new and commodious, and
the grounds extensive. * * * The prison
covers about fifteen acres
of ground enclosed by a fence similar to
that at Camp Chase. The
grounds slope to the east where they
border upon the lake. Upon the
west the trees of a dense forest reach
to and within the enclosure,
and furnish abundant shade, while a
carpet of fine grass covers the
ground everywhere. Altogether Sandusky
is the least disagreeable prison
I ever saw or heard of. The
officers in command are civil and
courteous-the lake breeze robs the
summer sun of his heat, the view
of the city, lake and neighboring
islands is fine, the restrictions upon
the prisoners are few, and altogether it
is a salubrious pleasant place."
The following shows the view point of
the soldiers guard-
ing the rebel prisoners on Johnson's
Island and is quoted in the
Register of January 19th, 1863, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer
of January 14th.
"Visit our barracks and take a look
at things as they really are.
Opening the door you see before you a
vast army of bunks in three
tiers, one above the other, each bunk
supposed to contain two men.
Immediately after breakfast you will
find all bunks made up, floor
swept, benches and tables piled up, arms
and accoutrements in their
respective places, and everything in
good order. One table being left
in the center of the room is occupied
the prinicple part of the day by
groups at their honest little games of
seven-up and poker-merely to
pass the time-as the paymaster has not
yet been seen. In another
corner of the room is a musical soiree
composed of two one-horse
fiddlers, trying to squeeze out 'The
Girl I Left Behind Me' in a
manner to set a fellow's teeth on edge
and to cause the blood to run
cold. Another group seated around the
stove are conversing on politics.
At another end of the room a corporal is
drilling new recruits (called
the Awkward Squad) in the manual of arms
in which they take every
position but the right one.
"We have between 300 and 400
rebellious individuals in our pen.
The principal part of them were captured in Kentucky. They are
mostly bush-whackers, and not a very
intelligent looking set, I assure
you. They somewhat resemble the 'Last
Rose of Summer' run over by
a small wagon. We have 46 men detailed
for guard every day, so we
make out to keep things straight in the
prison yard. Everything is
Johnson's Island. 473
satisfactory to the 'rebs' with the
exception of the cold weather which
keeps them in the buildings most of the
time. We have good living
as there is considerable variety about
it. For breakfast fried beef,
bread and coffee; dinner, boiled ditto,
potatoes, bread and water; supper,
bread, molasses and tea. Sometimes for a
change, beef soup or rice."
The Register of May 16, 1863,
contains a two column ac-
count of the execution of two rebel
prisoners William Corbin
and T. P. McGraw convicted of recruiting
for the Confederate
army within the lines of the U. S.
forces, and of carrying mail
and information to the rebels.
The Register of January 4th,
1866, contains the following
article:
"When the rebel prisoners all
officers and many of them high in
rank were confined on Johnson's Island
opposite this city, they ex-
hibited a far greater amount of
ingenuity than they were ever willing
to acknowledge previous to their
undertaking the task of rearing a
southern confederacy. Previous to that
event they considered it de-
grading and beneath the dignity of a
gentleman to perform manual
labor of any kind. Be that as it may, we
know they manufactured
many little articles such as chairs,
tables, bedsteads, etc., with which
to render prison life comfortable. Many of the articles were very
fair specimens of southern furniture and
mechanism and not totally
devoid of rustic beauty. In the line of
chairs they manufactured
hundreds of the old split bottom
variety, bottomed with the leather
of old boots, cut into strings and
neatly interwoven together. Owing
to a scarcity of tools the wooden frames
were made with only the
use of the jackknife and auger, and were
really a very staunch made
chair. On the release of the prisoners
hundreds of these chairs were
sold at public auction. * * * Every
chair was marked with the
name of the owner on the top slat of the
back, together with the
number of his regiment, and the state
from which he came. They
were not marked, we suppose, because
they suspected the honesty of
their fellow prisoners, but simply that
they might be able to tell their
own and be able to reclaim their
property should it stray from their
quarters. It is not an uncommon thing
now to see a chair sitting
around once owned by Colonel Sawyer of
the 14th Mississippi or of
Brigadier Generals Johnson, Marmaduke or
other notables of the once
rebel bull pen. Fifty years hence such
articles will be looked upon as
greater curiosities than many that grace
our public museums and cost
hundreds of dollars."
474 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The Register of October 19th,
1876, contains the following
extract from the report of Jake Thompson
the Canadian agent
of Jeff Davis to the Conferedate
Government which report was
made in 1864 from Toronto:
"It had been previously ascertained
that an organization existed
among the prisoners on the island for
the purpose of surprising the
guard and capturing the island; the
presence of the steamer Michigan
which carried fourteen guns being the
only obstacle. Secret com-
munications were had by which they were
advised that on the night of
the 19th of September an attempt to
seize the steamer would be made.
On that night Captain Cole who had
established the friendliest rela-
tions with officers of the steamer was
to have a wine drunk with them
on board and at a given hour Acting
Master Beall was to appear on
the boat to be obtained for that
purpose, with a sufficient number of
soldiers to board and take the steamer.
Should they capture the steamer
a cannon shot was to announce to the
prisoners that the hour for their
release had come. Should they take the
island boats were to be im-
provised and Sandusky was to be
attacked. If taken the prisoners
were to be mounted and taken to
Cleveland, the boats co-operating, and
from Cleveland the prisoners were to
make for Wheeling and thence
to Virginia. The key to the whole
movement was the capture of the
Michigan. On the evening of the twelfth
by some treachery Cole was
arrested and the messenger who was to
reach Acting Master Beall at
Kelley's Island did not reach him.
Disappointed but nothing daunted
Acting Master Beall having possession of
the Philo Parsons passenger
steamer from Detroit to Sandusky went on
his way to Johnson's Island.
Having landed at Middle Bass to procure
a supply of wood the Steamer
Island Queen with a large number of
passengers and thirty-two soldiers
came up alongside and lashed herself to
the Parsons. An attack was
at once resolved on. The passengers and
soldiers were soon made
prisoners and the boat delivered up to
our men. The soldiers were
regularly paroled, the passengers were
left on the Island having given
their promise not to attempt to leave
for twenty-four hours; and the
boat was taken out into the lake and
sunk. The Parsons was then
steered directly for the Bay of
Sandusky. Here the men for certain
reasons not altogether satisfactory
refused to make an attack on the
Michigan. Beall returned, landed at
Sandwich Canada West and the
men scattered through the country. Most
of them have returned to
the Confederate States. But a few days
since Acting Master Bennett
C. Burley was arrested and his trial is
now going on under the extradi-
tion treaty. If we had Cole's, Beall's
or his own commission I should
not fear the result; as it is they will
have to prove they acted under my
order, and that will in all probability
secure his release but it may
lead to my expulsion from the provinces,
at least I have it from a
Johnson's Island. 475
reliable source that this last
proposition has been pressed on the
Canadian authorities and they have
considered it. Should the course
of events take this direction, unadvised
by you I shall consider it
my duty, to remain where I am and abide
the issue. I should prefer
if possible to have your views on the subject. Captain Cole is still
a prisoner on Johnson's Island."
The following is a copy of the order
releasing four Sandusky
citizens arrested for conspiracy to
release the rebel prisoners
on Johnson's Island, and now in the
possession of Fred Frey.
HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES.
At Johnson's Island and Sandusky.
Johnson's Island, Ohio, Sept. 21st,
1864.
Special Orders 227.
2. John H. Williams, Dr. E. Stanley,
John M. Brown, and Abraham
Strain, citizens of Sandusky, having
been arrested by Captain J. Steiner,
Pro. Marshal, 9th district of Ohio, and
awaited at this post further
investigation upon allegations
understood to implicate them with others,
in a conspiracy to capture the U. S.
Steamer Michigan, and rescue the
rebel prisoners at this port, or to aid
and assist them and the facts
having been more fully inquired into,
and they failing to make out a
case against the said Williams, Stanley,
Brown and Strain, they are
hereby released from further detention.
By command of Col. Chas. W. Hill.
JOHN LEWIS,
JOHN M. BROWN, Citizen, Capt. and A. A. A. Gen'l.
Sandusky, Ohio.
In the report on the treatment of
prisoners of war by the
rebel authorities third session fortieth
Congress 1868-1869, page
151, will be
found the following statement by a rebel surgeon
who was released from Johnson's Island
which was also printed
in the Richmond Enquirer:
"The sleeping accommodations are
very comfortable consisting of
a bunk with straw bed and if the
individual has no blanket one is fur-
nished and he is allowed to buy as many
more as he wants. Every
room has a good stove and is furnished
with a sufficiency of wood.
This the prisoners have to saw for
themselves after it is brought to
their doors-by the way a very good
exercise. The prison consists
of thirteen large wooden buildings. The
space of ground is sixteen
acres of which the prisoners have full
liberty to exercise in, to sing
476 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Southern national songs, to hurrah for
Jeff Davis, to play ball or any
other game they see fit.
The rations are exactly the same as are
issued to the garrison, con-
sisting of fresh beef, pork, baker's
bread, sugar, coffee, beans, hominy,
soft soap and candles. Besides these up
to the time I left there was
a sutler's store inside the enclosure at
which we could obtain any kind
of meat or vegetables or knick-knacks if
we chose. We could purchase
anything we wanted. Clothing and
eatables were allowed to be sent
the prisoners by their friends in the
North in any quantity and money
without stint."
The Register of June 20th, 1888, says twenty-five cows were
kept on the milk sold to the prisoners
at six cents a quart. The
number of prisoners was about five
thousand of whom 206 died
over there, most of whom were sick or
wounded on their arrival.
The Register of October 12, 1889,
prints the full list of
those buried on the island and states
that L. B. Johnson and the
Register own the only two lists in existence. Owing to the visit
of a delegation from Georgia an effort
was started to fix up the
graves on the island which plan had
hitherto failed because L. B.
Johnson would not sell the land where
the cemetery was located.
For many years since the graves have
been decorated on Decora-
tion Day, the grass mowed and the
undergrowth kept trimmed.
After the war the graves of the
confederate prisoners on
Johnson's Island were neglected for many
years, until finally on
March 30, 1890, the 206 graves
were marked with headstones.
In 1891 an effort was made by the 5th
Regiment of Ohio In-
fantry to buy a camping ground on the
island but the project fell
through. On January 20th, 1898, L. B.
Johnson died at the age
of 97 and the island passed out of the
hands of the Johnson
family.
On November 18, 1904, an option was
given the Daughters
of the Confederacy to buy the cemetery,
and on March 14, 1905,
they purchased a strip of land 100 feet
wide by 485 feet long
including the cemetery 100 feet wide by
2091/2 feet
long. On
June 8th, 1910, the beautiful monument now standing was un-
veiled, and the statute of the
confederate soldier faces the east
waiting for the arising of his brethren.