George Levy

Camp Douglas has been overlooked by history, and this is yet another example of "Those who win the war write the history". While reading this it was almost as if I could envision being there. This book is filled with tales of the horrible conditions that existed and the autrocities that the rebels faced at the hands of the union. Smallpox, scurvy, and a whole host of other very preventable diseases took many of these mens lives, and was put into motion by the greed of those who were left in charge of Camp Douglas and the northern politicians (including Lincoln) who were bribed or otherwise inclined to look the other way. Outright cruely by use of the "mule", making men sit in two feet of snow without any pants on, hanging by thumbs makes one wonder how these men could endure such horrible conditions. At one point in the history of this camp the guards were pretty much let loose to enforce so called "rules" as they saw fit, and they didn't hesitate to shoot for any real or imagined infraction of the rules. Horrible recordkeeping made it impossible to know exactly how many died, who they were, or where their bodies are now located. There are even stories that some of the medical schools' needs for cadavers was satisfied by stolen rebel bodies.
This is a wonderfully written book and was nicely researched. Anyone who is interested at all in the CW should read it.… (plus d'informations)