Prehistory
Johnson’s Island is a small, 300-acre island in Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio. It is perhaps most famous as the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers, occupied at the height of the American Civil War between 1862-1865. However, humans have occupied Johnson’s Island for thousands of years. The presence of prehistoric Indigenous peoples on the island is documented through the extensive presence of stone tools and debitage from the production of these tools, pottery fragments, and scattered features uncovered as part of archaeological investigations. By 1650, these original populations had vacated most of their permanent settlements in Ohio, including the Lake Erie area.
Building of a Prisoner-of-War Depot on Johnson’s Island
By the early nineteenth century, the island was known as Bull Island, named for its owner of the time, Epaphroditus W. Bull. It was renamed in 1852 to Johnson’s Island when it was purchased by Leonard B. Johnson, who primarily used the land for farming.
When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, neither the Union nor the Confederacy anticipated that the war would extend beyond a few months. However, by that first fall it was clear that the war would not end swiftly and the problem of what to do with prisoners of war was becoming a priority. Early on in the war, there were only a handful of makeshift prisons established and all of them were repurposed institutions such as the Alton Military Prison, which formerly served as Illinois’s first State Penitentiary. Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Douglas in Chicago were military training grounds that were also repurposed into Prisoner-of-War (POW) camps.
Lt. Col. William Hoffman was dispatched to the Lake Erie Islands in Fall 1861 by General Montgomery C. Meigs to identify a suitable location for a prisoner-of-war camp; it would be the first and only camp built originally and solely for use as a military prison. Earlier recommendations for a site included the Bass Islands, but Hoffman thought they were too far out for reliable, secure transportation of supplies from the U.S. shore. Kelleys Island was another serious consideration and would have been suitable had there not already been a sizeable population and wine industry there. Hoffman feared the latter would be too tempting for the guards stationed there.
Finally, Hoffman came to Johnson’s Island, which is nicely situated about 2.75 miles from Sandusky in a sheltered bay. The island was unpopulated and because of Mr. Johnson’s farming activities, over half the land was already cleared and the other wooded half could be used for building materials and fuel. The plan was approved, about 40 acres were then leased to the US Government by Mr. Johnson for $500/year, and Hoffman set to work to open the prison by spring of 1862.
History of the Prison
Between April 1862 and September 1865, over 10,000 Confederates passed through Johnson’s Island Civil War Military Prison, and close to 300 died there. These men left behind an extensive historical and archaeological record. In some cases they wrote things they hoped would be read by their loved ones in case they never made it home. Others wrote to document their experiences for future generations. None of them could have dreamed that their trash and lost belongings would be of so much interest to us today.
Many of these officers recorded daily happenings in diaries and letters home. They collected autographs, sketched maps, and carved intricate jewelry. They shivered as cold winter winds blew off Lake Erie and through the board walls of the barracks. One even operated a secret photo studio in a garret, using tin cans and chemicals stolen from the prison hospital to create photographs, a handful of which survive today to show us the faces of prisoners.
The 16.5-acre compound contained 13 “blocks,” buildings that served as prisoner housing and a hospital, covered toilets called latrines, a sutler’s stand where a private civilian vendor operated a store, three wells, a “pest house” for quarantining diseased patients, two large mess halls (added in August 1864), and open spaces where prisoners walked, socialized, and played ball. Outside the stockade stood more than forty support buildings, including barns, stables, a lime kiln, a powder magazine, and guard barracks. In response to the events of the Lake Erie Conspiracy in September 1864, a failed attempt by Confederate conspirators to capture the USS Michigan—the only Union gunboat on Lake Erie—and use it to liberate the Johnson’s Island prisoners, two earthen fortifications, Fort Johnson and Fort Hill, were constructed in the winter of 1864-1865 to protect the island from potential future attacks.
The prison guards were Union soldiers, including a unit called the “Hoffman Battalion” that was absorbed into the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry under the charge of William S. Pierson, former mayor of Sandusky. Because of his cruelty to prisoners and his inability to handle problems and keep the prison in good order, Pierson was replaced on January 18, 1864, by Brigadier General Harry D. Terry. A few months later, on May 9, 1864, Colonel Charles W. Hill took command at Johnson’s Island, where he served until the end of the war.
As prisoners of war, Confederate officers on Johnson’s Island had to decide, over and over again, how to confront their imprisonment. Would they actively resist or try to escape? Would they try to just survive? Or would they assimilate by taking the Oath of Allegiance, which offered the potential of better quarters and eventual release? Each prisoner’s choice informed his life on the island. If he contemplated escape, he might disguise himself as a guard or even tunnel under the walls from a latrine but then face the daunting prospect of walking across Lake Erie’s ice to Canada (in the winter) or finding some other way off the island.
Other prisoners devoted their time and talents to enlivening their experience behind the walls. They carved rings, broaches, and other jewelry out of hard rubber, bone, and shell, organized theatrical and musical events, and followed the war news through newspapers and active correspondence. Union guards inspected incoming and outgoing mail, and they often confiscated or damaged goods before prisoners received them. This encouraged a thriving business for the camp sutler, from whom prisoners bought sewing supplies, ink, stationery, clothes, food, combs, toothbrushes, and so on. Late in the war, in retribution for atrocities at Andersonville and other Confederate prisons, authorities restricted the sale of food and other items inside the prison.
After the War
After the Civil War, the government auctioned off most of the buildings on Johnson’s Island and returned it to private ownership. Farming continued and a large limestone quarry began operating there in the late 1800s. The island simultaneously became a short-lived resort destination. In the 1950s, residential building, especially around the island’s perimeter, began. In 1990, shortly after archaeological investigations began under the guidance of Dr. David R. Bush, Johnson’s Island was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Today, visitors can explore the Confederate Stockade Cemetery on the island, maintained by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. For guided tours of the prison site and Fort Johnson, advance arrangements can be made by contacting FDJI or by attending one of our public tours throughout the warmer months.