Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 32: First State Institution, 1912

Chapter 32: First State Institution

State Penitentiary Established - The Lease System - Penitentiary Moved to Joliet _ As a Military Prison - Commanders - Mortuary Records - Now a Childrens Play- -

Ground

The first public institution provided for by the state of Illinois was located in Madison county. This was the State Penitentiary. The first steps towards its establishment were taken at the legislative session of 1826-27. There was great need for such an institution. The jails of the various counties were inferior and many of them unsafe. The state was poor, and oppressed by the failure of the First State Bank, and the question of how to provide the necessary funds was an obstacle. There was, however, at that time a project on hand to petition congress for permission to sell the Saline lands in the southeastern section of the state. These lands comprised 40,000 acres and had become unprofitable. Congress granted the petition and the lands were sold, the pro¬ ceeds being divided between the eastern and western sections of the state. The former sec¬ tion devoted its share to the improvement of the Wabash river and the draining of swamps, and the latter section applied its share to the establishment of a penitentiary.

The commissioners appointed to select a site and erect the buildings were Ex-Governor Shadrach Bond, Dr. Gershom Jayne and W. P. M'Kee. They selected the site at Alton for which ten acres of land were donated. Be¬ sides the proceeds from the sale of the Saline lands the legislature, in 1831, appropriated $10,000 towards the completion of the build¬ ings. The first building, which was a neat stone structure, contained twenty-four cells and was ready for occupancy in 1833. The system of prison confinement adopted was that known as the congregated, in distinction from the brutal solitary system then gener¬ ally in vogue. At the same time the legisla¬ ture amended the criminal code by abolishing whipping, the stocks and the pillory, as pun¬ ishments for crime, and substituting therefor confinement and hard labor. It commenting on this change Governor Ford observed that the increase in crime the following fifteen years greatly exceeded the relative increase in the population of the state. Some observ¬ ers today hold that there is no punishment so deterrent of crime as a penalty prescribing the laying on of stripes.

For the first five years the state conducted the penitentiary itself, the legislature electing a warden biennially who received a salary of $600. Three inspectors were also elected, who received two dollars per diem for their labors, each of whom was to receive not to exceed $100 annually. Under a law passed in 1837 the inspectors were authorized, at their dis¬ cretion, to farm out the convicts and give a bonus of $800 in addition. Accordingly on the 10th of June, 1838, the penitentiary, then containing 38 convicts, passed from the con¬ trol of the state into the hands of a lessee, S. A. Buckmaster. Thenceforward the lease system was continued for twenty-nine years, from 1838 to 1867. In 1842 the penitentiary was leased to Nathaniel Buckmaster and Isaac Greathouse, but without a bonus from the state. In 1845 it was released to S. A. Buckmaster, for a term of eight years, with a bonus to the state of $5,000, besides which he agreed to feed, bed, and guard the prisoners, pay physicians' bills and the fees of inspectors. The lease was subsequently extended for five years additional. Under the lease system the lessee was vested with the powers of a warden. As the number of convicts increased addi¬ tional cells were built, as well as other build¬ ings, including a residence for the warden, which was situated at the southwest corner, at about the highest point, and commanding a view of the enclosure. In 1846 the construc¬ tion of 96 new cells was authorized, and by 1857 the cells numbered 256, with an average of two convicts to a .cell. The capacity of the institution was overtaxed. At this time the penitentiary was leased to S. K. Casey for five years, oh the same terms as the Buckmaster lease of 1845.

At the same time the legislature (1857) passed a bill moving the penitentiary to Joliet and providing for the erection of a new prison with 1,000 cells. It is presumable that the object of the removal was to have the insti¬ tution nearer the main source of supply. The old prison was to be sold. In May, 1859* the prisoners were forwarded to Joliet in batches of forty or fifty, and by June, i860, the peni¬ tentiary at Alton was finally abandoned. The above facts are mainly gleaned, or condensed, from Davidson and Stuve's "History of Illi¬ nois."

Colonel Buckmaster continued his connec¬ tion with the penitentiary until 1867, having as partners in the lease, after 1864, Messrs. J. J. and W. H. Mitchell and Z. B. Job, of Al¬ ton, and others.

The records of the penitentiary show that the following persons served as wardens while the institution was located at Alton : J. C. Bruner from August, 1833, to July 28, 1837; Ben. S. Enlow, from 1837 to 1840; Isaac Greathouse, from 1840 to 1842; N. Buckmas¬ ter, from 1842 to 1846; Samuel A. Buckmaster, from 1846 to July, i860.

At the time the Alton penitentiary was abandoned by the state the buildings and grounds were extensive. A high stone wall surrounded the enclosure, which was bounded by Fourth street on the north, William street on the east, Second, or Short, on the south and Mill street on the west.

But though abandoned by the state the grim old walls were destined to be soon again ten¬ anted, not by prisoners sentenced for crime, but by prisoners of war and of state who had revolted against the government. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil war it became a military prison and many thousands were in¬ carcerated there during the continuance of the conflict, the inmates constantly changing ow¬ ing to exchanges and new accessions.

Tustice J. P. Thornton, of Alton, has had access to the records of the military prison and in January, 1910, published several serial articles in the Alton Daily Times giving the history of the institution during the war. From these valuable papers the writer gleans the following facts presented in a condensed form.

Earlv in the war Alton was made a military post, owing to its location on the border. It was under the jurisdiction of the federal commander at St. Louis. The first garrison stationed at Altbn consisted of three or four companies of the Thirteenth United States regulars, Gen. Sherman's regiment. The bat¬ talion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Sydney Burbank.

Gen. H. W. Halleck, in command of the department at St. Louis, applied to Governor Yates for permission to use the old peniten¬ tiary as a military prison and an order was issued February i, 1862, giving such permis¬ sion. The buildings were promptly fitted up for the purpose designed and the Thirteenth regiment placed in charge. On a quiet Sab¬ bath afternoon, February 9, 1862, the first consignment of prisoners arrived from the south, brought up the river by steamer. They were landed between files of the Thirteenth and marched from the landing to the prison, passing through the gate in the south wall. It was a motley crowd. Not all were soldiers; they included spies, bridge burners, train wreckers and southern sympathizers of vari¬ ous grades. Received at that time, or a little later, was a prisoner named Col. Ebenezer Magoffin, a brother of the governor of Ken¬ tucky. He was under sentence of death for the murder of a Union soldier at his home in Missouri. In July several prisoners escaped by tunneling under the west wall, among them, was this Colonel Magoffin. In the following November a fire broke out in a wooden build¬ ing in the northwest corner of the grounds. The flames were finally subdued by the Alton volunteer fire department, but during the ex¬ citement several prisoners escaped.

Early in September the Thirteenth sailed away to join Grant's army, which was pre¬ paring to move on Vicksburg. Among them were several Alton boys who had enlisted in their ranks. Some of them never returned. Moses Pierce of Godfrey, was killed at Vicks¬ burg; Dan. Broderick died in a southern hos¬ pital and Henry Poettgen was shortly sent home sick and died in the arms of his wid¬ owed mother.

The Thirteenth was succeeded by the Sev¬ enty-seventh Ohio as a garrison. Colonel Jesse Hildebrand was in command. He was a brave and disciplined soldier and commanded a brigade at Shiloh, but his own regiment be¬ haved badly in that battle; it was routed and driven back to the river. It was sent to Alton, probably to recover its nerve. The regiment afterwards did good service, but its stay in Alton was not altogether pleasant. It some¬ times happened that a group of school boys, meeting a soldier alone, would shout "there goes a Shiloh racer!" The soldier would make a dash for his tormentors, the air would turn blue with adjectives, and the boys would scatter to renew their criticism at a distance. Colonel Hildebrand remained in command un¬ til March, 1863, when he was relieved and died soon after at his home in Ohio.

Major Thomas Hendrickson, of the Third United States Infantry, succeeded Colonel Hildebrand in command. He was later re¬ lieved by Colonel G. W. Kincaid, of the Thirty-seventh Iowa Volunteers, called "the greybeard regiment." It did guard duty until fanuary, 1864. Colonel Kincaid was suc¬ ceeded in January, by Colonel Weer of the Tenth Kansas. This was a fine regiment and was held in high esteem.

As the war progressed fresh prisoners were constantly arriving and the prison sometimes contained as high as 2,000 inmates from all parts of the south. There were many ex¬ changed and many others were released on taking the oath of allegiance. Plots to escape were constantly being made by the prisoners, which generally proved futile owing to the vigilance of the guards on the walls or to the sentries pacing their dull rounds on the out¬ side of the enclosure. But on the 9th of July, 1864, a determined attempt to escape was made by a squad of 46 prisoners employed without the walls in a stone quarry. At a given signal they made a desperate attack upon the guards, acting so suddenly that they seized some of the muskets before the weap¬ ons could be brought into use. But the guards rallied, killed seven and wounded five. They recaptured all but two of the fugitives.

One June day a fierce gale sprang up from the southwest and swept over the prison. It tore off the flag from the staff and dropped it in the prison yard which was filled with prisoners. They seized the flag, tore it into bits and trampled the remnants into the mud, while cheers for Jeff. Davis and the Southern Confederacy filled the air. But their demon¬ stration was short-lived as, in a few moments, a new flag was flying from the staff above their heads.

The next commander of the prison was General James T. Copeland, who relieved Colonel Weer April 25, 1864. The General remained in charge until January, 1865, when he was succeeded by Colonel John H. Kuhn, of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illi¬ nois, who held command until the war closed. The gallant Colonel met an accidental death a few months after the close of the war. The lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth was J. N. Morgan, who had seen four years of active service in the field. Af¬ ter the war he entered the regular army and was lately retired with the rank of colonel, making his home in Alton.

Many incidents of interest, some tragic some pathetic, are connected with the history of the penitentiary and later with the military prison. A remarkable one, and one unprece¬ dented in prison annals, is related in chapter XVI of this work.

During the war several female prisoners were inmates of the prison at different times. One of the earliest was a Mrs. Clara Judd, of Nashville, Tennessee. She spent several months there and was finally released on pa¬ role and sent to relatives in Minnesota. Ac¬ cording to the records two women died in the prison during the war. They were Barbara Ann Donavan, of Tennessee, who died Sep¬ tember 29, 1863, and a Mrs. W. T. Reynolds, who died March 19, 1865.

The first death in the prison hospital was that of T. J. Stevens of Knox county, Mis¬ souri, who died February 16, 1862, of pneu¬ monia. The last man to die was J. A. Reisinger, just after the war closed. The records of deaths were carefully kept by the prison authorities and the names of the deceased are now engraved on bronze on the monument erected in their memory by the government in the military cemetery.

Dr. I. E. Hardy was the first prison sur¬ geon. He was succeeded by Dr. Hez. Wil¬ liams, assisted by an army surgeon, Dr. Worrall. An Alton physician of outspoken secession sentiments was at one time confined in the prison for disloyalty. He felt the con¬ finement keenly and begged the commander for something to do. He was placed at work in the prison hospital and did good service.

Although the prisoners were well sheltered, well cared for, and had plenty of good ra¬ tions and competent medical attendance, the mortality among them was heavy. Many of them, when received, were diseased and worn out by the exposures of the service, and were beyond help. But in the year 1863 an epi¬ demic of small-pox broke out in the prison which doubled the average death roll. The patients were isolated as rapidly as possible and taken to a hospital established on an island in the river opposite the prison, called "the Tow Head." Many died there and were bur¬ ied in what are now unknown graves. Num¬ bers of the guards also died of the frightful disease.

The old penitentiary burying grounds, in which some thirty convicts were interred, were turned over to the government by the state, and there the deceased prisoners found sep¬ ulchre. The grounds comprised two acres within the limits of North Alton. The un¬ dertakers, who severally had the contract for providing coffins and burying the dead, were James Althoff, H. W. Hart and John Hoff¬ man.

A story was afloat in those days of two prisoners who apparently died, were taken to the cemetery, and, by a preconceived arrange¬ ment, were released from their coffins by the sexton and made their escape. It is probably a fictitious incident.

Several years after the war the government contracted with Captain Tallon of St. Louis to erect head-boards over the Confederate graves. This was done under the superin¬ tendence of Captain P. J. Melling of North Alton. Subsequently the fence around the enclosure rotted away; the head-boards fell down and were scattered; cattle roamed over the place and it was entirely neglected. Now all is changed, as will be related in our chap¬ ter on monuments, and the names of all who rest there are engraved on the memorial here¬ tofore mentioned. One marble tombstone ap¬ pears there, erected by friends when peace was restored. The inscription thereon reads : "Moses A. Collins; died a Prisoner of War, Dec. 24, 1864; aged 32 years, 8 mos. 16 days."

Some years after the war the old peniten¬ tiary was sold to private parties, but not be¬ fore an effort had been made to establish there the Southern Illinois Penitentiary newly au¬ thorized by the legislature. The attempt failed owing mainly to the opposition of the industrial interests of the city which feared, or thought they did, the competition of convict labor. That they were mistaken in their op¬ position was shown by the subsequent history of Joliet which has become a great manufac¬

After this failure the walls of the peniten¬ tiary enclosure were torn down and sold for building purposes or converted into lime, and the buildings were razed for their material. Only a portion of one wall, that of a cell tier, remains, a grim reminder of a sad and buried past. Many old soldiers of the south who were prisoners there have since visited this scene of their confinement where, day after day, they longed for release or exchange. The steeple of the Baptist church, on which was located the town clock, was plainly vis¬ ible from the prison grounds, and the writer has heard these returned prisoners relate how the homesick soldiers watched the hands go round on that clock, day after day and month after month, counting the hours and minutes that lay between them and liberty.

Of late years the old prison grounds have been leased from the owners by the city and converted into a public park and playground for children. It is called "Uncle Remus Park," in honor of the southern author, Joel Chand¬ ler Harris, the friend of childhood. Here the children play their games in merry glee on the spot where so many homesick feet have trod; on the ground which has witnessed so much of sorrow and lamentation. On sum¬ mer evenings band concerts are held there. The band, in closing its programme, always plays the "Star Spangled Banner," and the crowds stand up and, with bared heads, salute the flag. The band follows with "Dixie," in mem¬ ory of the brave who suffered there, and the men cheer the rollicking strain. Then fol¬ lows "Home, Sweet Home," dear to all, north and south, and the crowd disperse.