Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, October 9, 2020
OGLE COUNTY NEWS
6
LOCAL HISTORY
John Kelley was a prisoner at Andersonville Editor’s note: Otto Dick, Oregon has researched the people, places and events important in the Oregon area’s history for the Ogle County Historical Society. The following is one of a series of the articles he has written.
BY OTTO DICK John Kelley a Civil War soldier from Oregon was a prisoner at Andersonville located in the state of Georgia. This camp held more than 45,000 soldiers during its 14 month existence. More than 13,000 died of starvation, overcrowding and disease. Today this is a National Historic site serving as a memorial to all American Prisoners of War. Visitors are able to explore the National Prisoner of War Museum and the Confederate Andersonville Prison Site. The Andersonville Cemetery created in 1865 is the permanent resting side for 13,000 Union Soldiers, 460 grave sites are marked unknown. Over 800 deaths are listed from Illinois. John Kelley served in Company G of the 74th Illinois Infantry stationed at Rockford. John was captured at Jonesboro, Ga. Dept. 1, 1864. After he was released he returned to Oregon. The 1905 directory shows him living at 707 Jackson Street. His brothers Michael and Patrick also served in the Civil War. Their parents came to Ogle County in 1844 and settled in Rockvale Township. They purchased their land from the government in the early 1840’s. Patrick Sr. and Mary had 10 children. One hundred and 60 boys and men from Oregon served in the Civil War. They are listed on the Lorado Taft Monument located on the Ogle County Court House Lawn. Originally the names listed on the Monument were displayed on the third floor walls of the Ogle County Courthouse. In 1864 Camp Sumter now known as Andersonville Prison, was built 1,620 feet long and 779 feet wide, to house about 10,000 men. This camp was surrounded by a 15 foot high wall constructed of logs.. Inside this wall was a line known as the “dead line.” This 19 foot wide strip of land kept the prisoners away from the stockade walls. Around the dead line were towers known as pigeon roosts where confederate soldiers kept watch. Anyone crossing or even touching the dead line was shot and killed by the soldiers in the roosts.
John Kelley was a prisoner at the Confederate’s Andersonville Prison.
Images provided by Otto Dick
ABOVE: John Kelley’s family lived at 707 Jackson Street in Oregon. BELOW: Andersonville Prison was located in Georgia.
A tattered and torn flag from the 74th Illinois Battalion. After the Civil War ended and Andersonville closed about 500 survivors were transported to hospitals in Memphis. Up to 300 of them died from burns or exposure. In addition to the horrors the prisoners were subjected to at Andersonville Union Soldiers from Andersonville Prison died when the Steamship Sultana carrying soldiers north on the Mississippi River to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio exploded. Fifteen hundred passengers lost their lives making it the largest maritime U.S. maritime disaster. The Taft Memorial on the Court House Lawn lists Ogle County men who served in wars occurring on U.S. Soil. Three men who served in the Revolutionary War are buried in Ogle County. Oregon Founder John Phelps served in the War of 1812 and is buried at Riverview Cemetery. Blackhawk War casualties are
listed at the Stillman Valley Memorial. The Civil War was a horrible war with Americans killing Americans and the conditions at the overcrowded Andersonville Prison were unbelievable. Following this war Captain Witz Camp Director was arrested, tried and hanged as a war criminal. The Civil War occurred 27 years after Oregon was founded. Our pioneers braved and overcame the challenges of establishing their homes
in Ogle County. Then comes the Civil War with their sons going to war where they were lined up in a row out in the open against a row of Confederate Soldiers. When you see Taft’s Memorial at the Ogle County Courthouse remember an estimated over 600,000 Americans lost their lives during the Civil War. Today the City of Rockford’s population is 146,526.
