John Thompson’s 3-month sickness. Dec-March 1862
During the Civil War, Federal troops occupied the Alexendria VA seaport and the heights around it. On Shuter’s Hill, the “Ellsworth Zouaves” built a fort they named after their beloved commander Colonel Elmer Ellsworth.
On the east side and bottom of the hill stood Camp Convalescent, which earned the nickname “Camp Misery.” One observer called it “a perfect Golgotha.” As many as 15,000 Union soldiers convalesced there, often in terrible and neglected conditions. Some froze to death, prompting the move to a location in modern day Arlington in 1863 (2nd camp convalescent).
John fell extremely sick when he was on picket guard duty in the later part of December 1862, about 9 miles from Arlington Heights where his company was encamped. John was with the 7th WIS INF (996 men, part of Kings Brigade, later known as the Iron Brigade) in camp at Arlington Heights, VA. His medical records found in his pension files said he had malaria during this time along with pneumonia. The documents also said “Chronic Suppuration of the Parotid glands and deafness” He recounted in the pension files that his head swelled up, his hair fell out, his eyes closed up and he lost all his teeth. The modern explanation of what he had would be Parotitis. It is an inflammation of one or both parotid glands, the major salivary glands located on either side of the face, in humans. The parotid gland is the salivary gland most commonly affected by inflammation. He was sick for 3 months but was not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital for the entire time at Fairfax Seminary (hospital) just outside of Alexanderia VA and stayed at the Conversent hospital (Camp Misery) in Alexanderia VA at the base of Shuter’s Hill . Camp Convalescent was set up to house men not well enough to rejoin their regiments but not ill or wounded enough to take up a hospital bed. John was seen by Dr. Henry Palmer at Camp Convalescent on the 18th of March and his discharge papers were signed on 28 March 1861. His brigade had already moved on by then decamping from Arlington Heights on 10 March 1861 to fight in Centerville/ but the fight did not happen and they returned to Arlington Heights on 16 March 1862.
The camp’s nickname, Camp Misery, perhaps tells it all. Soldiers wrote about its insufficient food and poor living conditions. When Clara Barton visited in October 1862, she referred to it as “a sort of pen into which all who could limp, all deserters and stragglers, were driven promiscuously.” The troops had insufficient fuel wood and food; in fact, they were often required to forage on their own. The tents had no ground coverings or bedding; Julia Wheelock, a Michigan relief agent, described the men pacing back and forth to keep warm at night, then trying to sleep when it was a little warmer the next day.
Soldier’s letters provide insight into life at the camp. This letter was written on October 15th, 1862.
Dear Sarah,
I hope you will not be offended at me not writing to you oftener, The truth is I was not able to write I was so sick but thank God I am able to walk around with the aid of a staf. I had a sore spell of rheumatic pains in my head for ten days but has got quite rid of them now….I am so thin of flesh. We get very bad attendance here. I have not seen the Dr. in five days but I begin to think I get along better without him. We don’t get any vegetables of any sort at all. From 3 to 4 dies here daily. We are in tents, five in each tent, no beds, has to lay on the hard ground, which is not a very comfortable bed for sick folks, but we must put up with it now.
A Rhode Island soldier recalled his visit to the Seminary in 1863. There were three principal buildings. “The center building, known as Aspinwall Hall, a fine piece of architecture, at a distance might be taken for an elegant modern church. . . The lower floor of Aspinwall Hall was used for the offices of surgeons and attendants, and the upper floors, which were students’ rooms, were used for hospital purposes. We passed up the staircases through all the halls and ascended to the cupola or steeple, from which we obtained a splendid view of the country for miles around. Every arrangement was made for the comfort of the patients, and the floors and stairways almost shone with cleanliness. Besides a delightful prospect, there was an abundance of sunlight and fresh air.”
