Preliminary Investigation -

Smallpox Island

Location: The Lincoln-Sheilds Natural Area, on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. It is accessed by exiting from Highway 67 just before crossing over into Alton. The islands here have a grisly history that is relatively unknown. The following is the information from a memorial at the scene:

"The Alton Prison was originally opened in 1833 as the first Illinois state penitentiary. It remained in service until 1860 when a new facility was built in Joliet on February 9, 1862. The vacant structure, reopened as the Alton Federal Military Prison. During the next three years, at least 11,764 Confederate soldiers were held in this facility.

By all objective accounts, conditions in the prison were substandard. The mortality rate was high. Hot, humid summers and cold, damp winters undoubtedly contributed to the high death rate. Overcrowding, inadequate food and clothing, and unsanitary conditions further compounded the prisoners misery. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers but contagious diseases like smallpox and rubella were the most feared. The smallpox epidemic that began in late 1862 ultimately prompted prison officials to transfer the contagious prisoners to a temporary quarantine facility a safe distance from the civilian residents of Alton.

Once infected with this highly contagious disease prisoners were transported to a temporary hospital located on a small island formerly located immediately upstream of this monument. There, each of these men stoically succumbed to the effects of the disease. For 70 years following the war between the states the precise location of these soldier's graves was unknown. Then in 1935, a portion of the cemetery was inadvertently discovered during construction of the original locks and dam 26. Today, the remains of these southern patriots rest beneath the pool of the Melvin Price locks and dam."

Equipment Used: Canon 10D DSLR

Personal Experiences: None noted.

Results and Analysis: Nothing noted.

Images of the area:

This is all that remains of the original lock and dam structure built in 1935. The current location of the lock and dam was opened in 1994. It was while building this structure that numerous skeletons were revealed.

This view is pointing upstream. The island where the majority of the bodies were buried currently lies underwater.

This is the memorial for the soldiers still buried on the site. The previously quoted information was from this marker.