After The War

After The War. From Prison to Parking Lot. , The Alton Military Prison closed July 7, 1865 when the last prisoners were released or sent to St. Louis The buildings were torn down over the next twenty year until only a small remnant of the cell back remained Stone from the prison buildings is found in walls and other structures all over the Alton area The land was developed into a park and playground named after the Joel Chandler Harris character "Uncle Remus". The remnant of the cell block was moved to its present location in 1970 when the lot was paved for Con Agra Company parking. , A Prisoner Returns , Confederate veteran returns to the site of prison where he was held during the Civil War was paved for Con Agra Company parking. , S. A. Harrison, 93 recalls day of 1864 here. , Seventy years after his discharge from the Alton military prison where he spent eight months as a prisoner of the Union forces just before the close of the Civil War, S. A. Harrison, 93 year-old Confederate Veteran from Dent County, Missouri , Sunday revisited for the first time the scene of his wartime captivity. , "I didn't find much of the old prison left", the elderly veteran told a Telegraft reporter today. "Everything is changed, Bur I rather expected it would be." , Harrison's visit to the old prison site came in course of a visit at the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. C. A. Coppedge in East Alton, where he has two great-grand childern. With his daughter, Mrs. R. S. Null and his grandson, S.C. Null and family of Rolla Mo., he came by automobile, and made a pleasant call this afternoon at the office of the Telegraft just before the party started back to Rolla. , In Vigorous Health , Despite his age, Mr. Harrison enjoys vigorous health and a keen recollection of his days in the prison here. He reads without glasses and his hearing is excellent. When a reporter expressed amazement at his evident vigor at age 93, the old veteran replied with just a degree of honest pride " Why I did a bit of plowing last summer, sowed some wheat, and cut some corn." And just a little later on in the conversation he let it be known that he can still draw a steady bead on a squirrel and enjoyed a bit of hunting last fall. "There were said to be 6000 prisoners here when I was sent to Alton October of 1864, "Harrison related in a short recital of his prison experience. I had been cut off near Rolla and had surrendered. Of course the prison was terribly crowed. Bunks had been up in tiers seven seven, maybe nine tiers high in the prison building. Three or more men slept in each tier, and I can remember that the first night I climbed up to the seventh tier to sleep , Smallpox Prevalent , "Smallpox was still prevalent and that first night I slept between two men, one of whom broke out with smallpox the next days but some how I did not catch it. At one time I worked worked in the prison hospital as a nurse. Sisters of Charity were helping care for the sick, but the death rate under crowded conditions was high. One night I remember helping carry out 20 who had succumbed. , "Because of the epidemic conditions, the moving of many coffins gave a chance at times for escapes. There was one occasion I know of when I help carry out some prisoners who had concealed them self in coffins, but failed of success, They beat off the lids and jumped from the cart on which the coffins were being transported to the graveyard, but the guards caught them and brought them back". , Harrison also recalled that the assassination of President Lincoln occurred during his prison stay. "I don't remember just how the news got into the prison, he said "but I do remember that cannon boomed from the bluff top to the west most of the day". , As to the treatment of the prisoners, Harrison declared that it was probably as good as could be expected, "The guards were kind, and treated us well" he said "but the main trouble was the food, we just didn't get enough. The crowding too, was a hardship. I got a bit of exercise now and then by being sent out to work digging away material from under the bluffs. But there wasn't much freedom in this for the prisoners let outside the walls wore a ball and chain lest they break for freedom. , Walked 45 Miles Home , "Of Alton itself in prison days, I remember little. I got no chance to see the town, other than the levee. When I was release on June 5, 1865, I was given transportation to Rolla, then the remains of the Frisco road. From that point I had to walk 45 miles to get back home and you can guess I was pretty weak when I tell you the walk took four days. , "I got home to find all the family possessions swept away and that I was penniless , Born April 10, 1841 in Texas County, Missouri, Harrison, on August 6, 1862 when 21, enlisted in the Eight Missouri Volunteers, On his return home he married the girl to whom he had been engaged when he enlisted. He resumed farming with fair success and gradually recovered from the losses the war had cost him. , On leaving the Telegraft office, he expressed pleasure at his long deferred visit to the prison site, and hopes he may come again at an early date