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Mark fought with the 49th Tennessee Infantry, Company C,
CSA. He enlisted 7 Nov 1861 in Benton County, Tennessee. He
was captured at Fort Donelson and sent to Camp Douglas
Illinois. Mark surrendered May 19, 1865 and sign his oath
of allegiance May 20, 1865 at Johnsonville Tennessee.
History of Camp Douglas
Founded in the fall of 1861 as a training camp and staging
center for Union forces, Camp Douglas was named after
Stephen A. Douglas, whose property south of the city
provided its site. In 1862 the camp was hastily adapted to
serve as a prison for rebel soldiers captured by Ulysses S.
Grant at Fort Donelson. Due to occasional prisoner
exchanges during the first two years of the Civil War, the
number of prisoners in the camp fluctuated, although for a
time it was the largest military prison in the North. By
the end of the war a total of 26,060 men had been
incarcerated there.
Escapes were frequent from the camp, but only the abortive
November 1864 "Chicago Conspiracy" roused broad concern.
Federal informants foiled an ill-conceived attempt by local
antiwar activists and die-hard prisoners to disrupt the
1864 election with a mass prison break.
Like all Civil War prisons, Camp Douglas had a high
mortality rate: one prisoner in seven died in Chicago. Poor
sanitation, hastily constructed buildings, and harsh
weather conditions were to blame. In June 1862 a U.S.
Sanitary Commission agent decried the camp's "foul sinks,"
"unventilated and crowded barracks," and "soil reeking with
miasmatic accretions" as "enough to drive a sanitarian to
despair." By the end of the war more than 4,000 rebels had
died in the camp.
Mark and his son married sisters. It was Mark's second
marriage and William's first. Mark married Mary E. Mitchell
and William married Delinda L. Mitchell. Mark and the
sister's father were in the same unit during the Civil War.3 4
Sources:
- Benton County Marriage record, pg 26 Mark Cole-Pheraby Cox
- Benton County Tennessee Marriage License, #80, Mark Cole &Mary E. Mitchell
- Civil War Service Record for Mark Cole, Fold3.com
- The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National ParkService
