Camp Chase and the Evolution of Union Prison Policy

by Roger Pickenpaugh

Camp Chase and the Evolution of Union Prison Policy discusses an important yet often misunderstood topic in American History.

Camp Chase was a major Union POW camp and also served at various times as a Union military training facility and as quarters for Union soldiers who had been taken prisoner by the Confederacy and released on parole or exchanged. As such, this careful, thorough, and objective examination of the history and administration of the camp will be of true significance in the literature on the Civil War.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2007

Reviews

[James Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

During the Civil War Ohio's Camp Chase served a number of roles: a mustering site, a prisoner of war camp, a holding place for Union parolees and a prison for Union soldiers guilty of violating the articles of war. Pickenpaugh provides first-hand accounts of how the camp was built and organized, noting the changing roles that the camp fulfilled during the war due to changes in Union policy. The author does a good job of portraying POW life, from the absurd to the reprehensible. The book also discusses the life of "paroles," Union soldiers captured by Confederates but paroled to Union custody until such time as they were officially "exchanged" by the U.S.-C.S. cartel. I had a personal reason for getting this book as my Civil War ancestor was captured by partisans in Kentucky and immediately paroled. He spent several months at Camp Chase.