Inside Camp Morton

Physicians at Camp Morton were often overwhelmed with the number of sick prisoners. Two public buildings were converted into hospitals to ease crowded conditions. Between 1862 and 1865 over 1,600 Confederate solders died while imprisoned there.Camp Morton contained approximateely 36 acres of land. Today that land is borderd by Nineteenth Street, Talbott Avenue, Twenty-second Street, and Central Avenue. The fence around the prison was made of 2 inch thick oak planks. A ditch ran through the property to accomodate the overflow from Fall Creek during spring rains. It was called the "State Ditch." The prisoners called it the "Potomac." (Information from Camp Morton 1861-1865: Indianapolis Prison Camp, by Hattie Lou Winslow and Joseph R. H. Moore, Indiana Historical Society, 1995. IHS Call Number: E616.M8 W56 1995.