Camp McClellan (Iowa)
Encyclopedia
Camp McClellan is a former Union Army
camp in the U.S. state
of Iowa
that was established in Davenport
in August 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War
. The camp was the training grounds for recruits and a hospital for the wounded. In 1863 it became a prison camp called Camp Kearney for members of the Sioux
, or Dakota, tribe that were involved in raids in Minnesota
. The camp was decommissioned after the release of the prisoners in 1866.
and consisted of over 300 acres (1.2 km²). The property was directly across the Mississippi River
from the Rock Island Arsenal
, that was also the site of a prisoner of war camp that held Confederate soldiers. Iowa's Adjutant General
Nathaniel B. Baker
moved his offices to Davenport and established Camp McClellan as a training camp for the volunteer soldiers. Lieutenant William Hall was responsible for organizing and running the camp. The camp was named in honor of General George B. McClellan
.
It was the largest of the five camps that were in and around the city of Davenport. 40,000 of the nearly 80,000 Iowa troops that fought the war passed through its gates. They were also treated in the camp's hospital and mustered out from the camp when the war was over. J. W. Willard was given the contract to construct the necessary buildings and a local company, French & Davis, provided the lumber. They built a dozen frame buildings with 52 double berths for bunks, a mess hall, a commissary, a canteen, a granary and officers quarters. There were enough stalls for over 100 horses. More barracks were completed as quickly as possible because of the large number of recruits that were coming into the camp. A thousand recruits would have been at Camp McClellan at one time after it first opened. Because of the haste, the quarters were poorly constructed and started to leak. Lieutenant Colonel Hall was put in charge to bring the camp up to military standards, maximize security and training efficiency. Colonel Hare of Muscatine, Iowa
took over for Lieutenant Colonel Hall on October 11, 1861.
Camp McClellan was the rendezvous of the Eighth
, Eleventh
, Thirteenth
, Fourteenth
and Sixteenth
regiments of infantry, and also of recruits for the older regiments. The number of troops at the camp was diminished by April 1862 and the Relief Association of Davenport began to refit the camp for an army hospital. However, it was thought the war would soon be over and it was decided that the camp was needed as a prison camp and so walls were built. Despite these plans the war raged on and the number of recruits increased, especially after the draft was instituted.
As the sick and wounded returned from the war, they were brought to the camp's hospital. It contained a pharmacy, clean rooms, and a dietary kitchen that were influenced by Iowa Sanitary Agent Annie Wittenmyer.
tribe, 16 women and two children and one member of the Ho-Chunk
tribe, also known as the Winnebago. The men were involved in the Dakota War of 1862
in Minnesota and were held in the camp as prisoners because President Abraham Lincoln
commuted their death sentences. It was felt that Davenport was far enough away from Minnesota to protect the Native Americans from lynch mobs. The steamboat Favorite arrived from Mankato, Minnesota
on April 25. The prisoners were taken to their quarters without incident. They were given beef and four bushels of corn per day, and ten of the women were assigned to cook. They were also given bread, for which they did not like.
A wall was built in December 1863 along the western road that traveled through the camp so as to separate the Native Americans from the recruits. The prison camp portion was renamed Camp Kearney and it was reconfigured to house the guards and the officers. Conditions in the camp became unsanitary and there was some hostility on the part of local citizens that the native Americans were there. The hostile sentiments died down enough that labor parties were taken to work in the nearby farm fields. Major Ten Broeck and Captain Judd, who were in charge of the prison, assured the community that they would be kept safe.
President Lincoln pardoned and freed 27 of the Sioux in August 1864. and they were sent to the Dakota Territories. On April 10, 1866 President Andrew Johnson
released the 177 remaining prisoners from the camp to a reservation in Santee, Nebraska
. The rest of the Native Americans who were held prisoner died in the camp and were buried in unmarked graves in the vicinity.
Scientists from the Davenport Academy of Natural Science opened four graves on July 25, 1878. They removed several skulls for study and the Putnam Museum of Natural History
, as the Academy is now called, retained the skulls in their collection until the state of Iowa enacted burial site protection and reburial laws. In 1986 the Putnam Museum transferred the skeletal remains in its collection to the Office of the State Archeologist of Iowa. The 23 skulls in the collection were given to the Dakota tribe at Morton, Minnesota
for burial. In 2005 the Dakota held a memorial ceremony on the former site of Camp Kearney.
surrendered on April 9, 1865, the War Department
ordered that the camp fire one hundred guns and turn out the military in full regalia. As the Gazette, a local paper, commented, “There being no cannon here and but little military, he (Major Miller) did the best he could.” The following week the camp held a special meeting and ceremony to mourn the death of President Lincoln. The camp then received and mustered out the remaining troops. In August 1865 a fire destroyed the headquarters building. The hospital was closed on October 5, 1865.
The camp was decommissioned and the buildings were torn down after the Native Americans left Camp Kearney. The land was returned to Ann R. Allen, Thomas Russel Allen’s widow. In June 1900 the Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR) held an encampment on the site. A proposal was submitted to the Iowa Legislature to turn the former camp into a state park. It had the support of Iowa’s Civil War veterans groups, the GAR, and local citizens, but it was not accepted. The area became a residential area, named McClellan Heights, and the southwest portion became Lindsay Park
. The park held a Civil War Muster and Mercantile Exposition annually in the 1980s. The area is now part of two historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places
. The Village of East Davenport
, which contains the southwest corner of the camp was listed on the register as the Davenport Village on March 17, 1980. Most of what was Camp McClellan is in the McClellan Heights Historic District
, and it was listed on the national register November 1, 1984.
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
camp in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
that was established in Davenport
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
in August 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The camp was the training grounds for recruits and a hospital for the wounded. In 1863 it became a prison camp called Camp Kearney for members of the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, or Dakota, tribe that were involved in raids in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The camp was decommissioned after the release of the prisoners in 1866.
Camp McClellan
The land the camp was built on belonged to Thomas Russel Allen of St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and consisted of over 300 acres (1.2 km²). The property was directly across the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
from the Rock Island Arsenal
Rock Island Arsenal
The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. The island was originally established as a government site in 1816, with...
, that was also the site of a prisoner of war camp that held Confederate soldiers. Iowa's Adjutant General
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
Nathaniel B. Baker
Nathaniel B. Baker
Nathaniel Bradley Baker was born in Henniker, NH. He "read" law under Franklin Pierce before Pierce became president. Baker passed the bar in 1842....
moved his offices to Davenport and established Camp McClellan as a training camp for the volunteer soldiers. Lieutenant William Hall was responsible for organizing and running the camp. The camp was named in honor of General George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
.
It was the largest of the five camps that were in and around the city of Davenport. 40,000 of the nearly 80,000 Iowa troops that fought the war passed through its gates. They were also treated in the camp's hospital and mustered out from the camp when the war was over. J. W. Willard was given the contract to construct the necessary buildings and a local company, French & Davis, provided the lumber. They built a dozen frame buildings with 52 double berths for bunks, a mess hall, a commissary, a canteen, a granary and officers quarters. There were enough stalls for over 100 horses. More barracks were completed as quickly as possible because of the large number of recruits that were coming into the camp. A thousand recruits would have been at Camp McClellan at one time after it first opened. Because of the haste, the quarters were poorly constructed and started to leak. Lieutenant Colonel Hall was put in charge to bring the camp up to military standards, maximize security and training efficiency. Colonel Hare of Muscatine, Iowa
Muscatine, Iowa
Muscatine is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 22,886 in the 2010 census, an increase from 22,697 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Muscatine County...
took over for Lieutenant Colonel Hall on October 11, 1861.
Camp McClellan was the rendezvous of the Eighth
8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 8th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 8th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa and mustered into Federal service between August 31 and September 4, 1861.The regiment was mustered out on...
, Eleventh
11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 11th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 11th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa and mustered into Federal service between September 28 and October 18, 1861.The regiment was mustered out...
, Thirteenth
13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 13th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 13th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa and mustered in for three years of Federal service between October 18 and November 2, 1861.The regiment...
, Fourteenth
14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 14th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 14th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa and mustered in fir three years of Federal service on November 6, 1861.The regiment was mustered out on...
and Sixteenth
16th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 16th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 16th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa and mustered in for three years of Federal service by companies between December 10, 1861 and March 12,...
regiments of infantry, and also of recruits for the older regiments. The number of troops at the camp was diminished by April 1862 and the Relief Association of Davenport began to refit the camp for an army hospital. However, it was thought the war would soon be over and it was decided that the camp was needed as a prison camp and so walls were built. Despite these plans the war raged on and the number of recruits increased, especially after the draft was instituted.
As the sick and wounded returned from the war, they were brought to the camp's hospital. It contained a pharmacy, clean rooms, and a dietary kitchen that were influenced by Iowa Sanitary Agent Annie Wittenmyer.
Camp Kearney
Camp McClellan became a prison camp of a different kind in 1863. The federal government imprisoned 277 male members of the SiouxSioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
tribe, 16 women and two children and one member of the Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
tribe, also known as the Winnebago. The men were involved in the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
in Minnesota and were held in the camp as prisoners because President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
commuted their death sentences. It was felt that Davenport was far enough away from Minnesota to protect the Native Americans from lynch mobs. The steamboat Favorite arrived from Mankato, Minnesota
Mankato, Minnesota
Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...
on April 25. The prisoners were taken to their quarters without incident. They were given beef and four bushels of corn per day, and ten of the women were assigned to cook. They were also given bread, for which they did not like.
A wall was built in December 1863 along the western road that traveled through the camp so as to separate the Native Americans from the recruits. The prison camp portion was renamed Camp Kearney and it was reconfigured to house the guards and the officers. Conditions in the camp became unsanitary and there was some hostility on the part of local citizens that the native Americans were there. The hostile sentiments died down enough that labor parties were taken to work in the nearby farm fields. Major Ten Broeck and Captain Judd, who were in charge of the prison, assured the community that they would be kept safe.
President Lincoln pardoned and freed 27 of the Sioux in August 1864. and they were sent to the Dakota Territories. On April 10, 1866 President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
released the 177 remaining prisoners from the camp to a reservation in Santee, Nebraska
Santee, Nebraska
Santee is a village in Knox County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 346 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Santee is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land....
. The rest of the Native Americans who were held prisoner died in the camp and were buried in unmarked graves in the vicinity.
Scientists from the Davenport Academy of Natural Science opened four graves on July 25, 1878. They removed several skulls for study and the Putnam Museum of Natural History
Putnam Museum and IMAX Theater
The Putnam Museum and IMAX Theatre is a museum of history and natural science in Davenport, Iowa, United States. The museum was founded in 1867, and was one of the first museums west of the Mississippi River. It houses 160,000 historical artifacts and specimens...
, as the Academy is now called, retained the skulls in their collection until the state of Iowa enacted burial site protection and reburial laws. In 1986 the Putnam Museum transferred the skeletal remains in its collection to the Office of the State Archeologist of Iowa. The 23 skulls in the collection were given to the Dakota tribe at Morton, Minnesota
Morton, Minnesota
Morton is a city in Renville County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 411 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.U.S...
for burial. In 2005 the Dakota held a memorial ceremony on the former site of Camp Kearney.
Aftermath
After General Robert E. LeeRobert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
surrendered on April 9, 1865, the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
ordered that the camp fire one hundred guns and turn out the military in full regalia. As the Gazette, a local paper, commented, “There being no cannon here and but little military, he (Major Miller) did the best he could.” The following week the camp held a special meeting and ceremony to mourn the death of President Lincoln. The camp then received and mustered out the remaining troops. In August 1865 a fire destroyed the headquarters building. The hospital was closed on October 5, 1865.
The camp was decommissioned and the buildings were torn down after the Native Americans left Camp Kearney. The land was returned to Ann R. Allen, Thomas Russel Allen’s widow. In June 1900 the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
(GAR) held an encampment on the site. A proposal was submitted to the Iowa Legislature to turn the former camp into a state park. It had the support of Iowa’s Civil War veterans groups, the GAR, and local citizens, but it was not accepted. The area became a residential area, named McClellan Heights, and the southwest portion became Lindsay Park
Lindsay Park (Davenport, Iowa)
Lindsay Park is a park. located in the Village of East Davenport in Davenport, Iowa, United States. The lower park is a contributing property of the Davenport Village Historic District that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980, and the upper park is part of the...
. The park held a Civil War Muster and Mercantile Exposition annually in the 1980s. The area is now part of two historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The Village of East Davenport
Village of East Davenport
The Village of East Davenport, also known simply as The Village is located along the Mississippi River on the southeast side of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Davenport Village...
, which contains the southwest corner of the camp was listed on the register as the Davenport Village on March 17, 1980. Most of what was Camp McClellan is in the McClellan Heights Historic District
McClellan Heights Historic District
The McClellan Heights Historic District is a historic district in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, at which time it included 354 buildings deemed to contribute to the historic character of the area. The area was known as Camp...
, and it was listed on the national register November 1, 1984.