Add to ORKGUp to 5,000 Confederates were held in the camp at one time. The ditch, which prisoners called the Potomac, flooded in rainy seasons, while in hot weather it disappeared except for a few stagnant pools. They were supposed to wash their clothes in it.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....