Today we explored our little town of Alton, Illinois. We found the confederate cemetary and the civil war cemetary. The civil war cemetary also has the Lovejoy Monument. Elijah Lovejoy was the newspaper/minister who lost three presses due to his anti-slavery editorials. Then the mob took his life to quiet him.
Our little town is also the site of the Lincoln Douglas debate. We have a monument to the Gentle Giant, the tallest man on record.
The picture on this post is all that's left of the Alton confederate prison site. The prison was a death camp for confederate soldiers, losing eight to ten inmates a day to unsanitary conditions. It's on the hill overlooking the river. The prison was closed July 7, 1865 and the prisoners transferred to Jolliet. Over the next twenty years, the prison was torn down and the stones used to build many of the houses and churches from that time. Many are thought to be haunted.
Could it be the ghosts of confederate soldiers trapped in the quarry stones?
I took lots of pictures so we'll see if a fuzzy spot shows up in any of the shots.
1 comment:
Exploring your town's history sounds like a fun time!!!
Something I love to do (history wise) is to explore old homes. I love to see the way a home was furnished/people lived in the 1800's. I could wander around those rooms for hours (even with the red ropes).
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