About this item
In 1861, Lt. Col. William Hoffman was appointed to the post of commissary general of prisoners and urged to find a suitable site for the construction of what was expected to be the Union's sole military prison. After inspecting four islands in Lake Erie, Hoffman came upon one in Sandusky Bay known as Johnson's Island. With a large amount of fallen timber, forty acres of cleared land, and its proximity to Sandusky, Ohio, Johnson's Island seemed the ideal location for the Union's purpose. By the following spring, Johnson's Island prison was born.Johnson's Island tells the story of the camp from its planning stages until the end of the war. Because the facility housed only officers, several literate diary keepers were on hand; author Roger Pickenpaugh draws on their accounts, along with prison records, to provide a fascinating depiction of day-to-day life.
About the Author
Roger Pickenpaugh recently retired after a thirty-year teaching career at Shenandoah Middle School in Sarahsville, Ohio. His books include studies of outstanding weather events in Ohio and the Civil War. His first book in the latter category was "Rescue by Rail: Troop Transfer and the Civil War in the West, 1863." In recent years he has studied Civil War prisons. His first book on that topic was "Camp Chase and the Evolution of Union Prison Policy." This was the study of a major Ohio prison. Last year the University of Alabama Press published "Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union." Pickenpaugh is now completing a companion volume, "Captives in Blue." Pickenpaugh lives in Noble County Ohio with his wife and co-researcher, Marion.
