A Ticket to Texas: Colonel Rutishauser's Travails at Camp Ford

Captured in the aftermath of the City Belle disaster in May 1864, Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Rutishauser of the 58th Illinois described the elation of his Confederate captors in the aftermath of their successes against General Nathaniel Banks' army.

    "They took us to their camp, which was more like a bandit camp, such as I had seen in Italy in previous years, than a military camp," he relayed. "Here I was immediately surrounded by several Rebel officers, all of whom expressed their joy at their victory, which they had just achieved over Banks's mistakes. They mocked this general, called him their commissary, and claimed to have cut off and surrounded the Union army in Alexandria and could now starve them out."

And so began the colonel's lengthy imprisonment; eventually he would be delivered to Camp Ford, Texas, and remained there for nearly six months. Lieutenant Colonel Rutishauser’s account first saw publication in the November 16, 1864, edition of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung published in Chicago. Special thanks to friend of the blog Randy Gilbert who discovered and translated this letter from its original German (in fraktur type no less!) and to Vicki Betts who assisted with the translation.

This depiction of Camp Ford, Texas was drawn by James McLain of the 120th Ohio, a fellow prisoner captured during the City Belle Disaster. (Courtesy of Randy Gilbert) 


The brave Lt. Col. Rutishauser of the 58th Illinois Regiment, who was taken prisoner by the Rebels on the Red River last May, and was recently exchanged, has shared with us the following interesting account of his experiences in the South.

To the editors of the Illinois State newspaper,

Please allow me to give you a brief account of my capture and my fellow prisoners' experiences in Texas.

On February 7, I was released from McPherson Hospital in Vicksburg with a leave of absence. After recovering somewhat from my illness, I went to Cairo, where I reported for duty on April 11 to General [Mason] Brayman, commander of the Cairo District, and received orders to wait for my regiment, which had been reassigned with the 16th Army Corps and was not easily accessible to me, as it was in Louisiana.

On the 25th, I reported to General [Stephen] Hurlbut, the corps commander, and received orders and transportation from him, but no opportunity to join the regiment. Three days later, an important dispatch arrived from Washington for General [Nathaniel] Banks and Commodore [David D.] Porter, and I was entrusted with its delivery. I therefore left Cairo on April 29, and upon arriving in Memphis, by order of General [Cadwallader C.] Washburn, was given the gunboat Monank (Monarch?) at my disposal. On May 3, I advanced with it to about 30 miles below Alexandria, when the commander informed me that he could go no further due to the low water. I therefore considered it best to embark aboard the transport ship City Belle, which was following us and had the 120th Ohio Regiment on board, in order to deliver my dispatches to the scene.

Colonel Marcus Speigel
120th O.V.I.

However, I had barely been on the ship for 10 minutes when we were suddenly subjected to heavy fire from artillery and small arms. The second cannonball destroyed the pilothouse and killed the pilot, and the fourth destroyed the steam boiler, rendering the ship unsteerable. Many soldiers jumped into the river to swim to save themselves. The three colonels on board, [Marcus] Spiegel of the 120th Ohio Regiment, [John J.] Mudd of the 2nd Illinois Cavalry Regiment, and [Chauncy J.] Bassett of the 96th U.S. Colored Troops were killed, along with many other soldiers.

The ship itself was swept ashore by the current on the opposite side of the enemy, whereupon I quickly crawled ashore and fluttered to the hill under the fierce fire, but without being injured. The boat was sunk into the shore.

After I was out of the area of the fire, I destroyed my military orders as a dispatch carrier and handed the dispatch itself to a private from the 120th Ohio Regiment, whom I took along as a companion, intending to carry it on foot to Alexandria. During the night, we followed the river for about 20 miles, but our hopes of reaching Alexandria were soon dashed when, unfortunately, we encountered a pile of cotton bales, behind which about 25 Rebels were hidden. They immediately captured us, set fire to the cotton, and marched back the same way we came.

They took us to their camp, which was more like a bandit camp, such as I had seen in Italy in previous years, than a military camp. Here I was immediately surrounded by several Rebel officers, all of whom expressed their joy at their victory, which they had just achieved over Banks's mistakes. They mocked this general, called him their commissary, and claimed to have cut off and surrounded the Union army in Alexandria and could now starve them out. On the same day, I was taken to Chennyville, but first I was joined by the prisoners of the 120th Ohio Regiment. After marching for seven days through pine forests, bypassing Alexandria, we arrived in Nacatorche (Natchitoches) on May 10th, were transported by river to Shreveport, and from there, about 110 miles away, on foot to Camp Ford near Taylor (sic), Texas. I myself had to be left behind in the so-called hospital in Marshall due to illness.

Detailed view of Camp Ford, Texas. Lt. Col. Rutishauser said that the name "camp" was a misnomer "for it was a six-acre cattle yard enclosed by tall, thick posts placed close together. The prisoners are driven into this enclosure like a herd of cattle and there they are left to make their own beds on the ground as best they can." (Courtesy of Randy Gilbert)

After three weeks, and before I had recovered, I, too, had to march to Tyler, accompanied by a captured staff officer from General Banks, despite my protests and citing my poor health. Arriving at the camp, I found the captured officer prisoners of the 120th Ohio Regiment in a hut that they had built themselves out of wood and that offered protection from the burning sun's rays, but not from storms and rain.

I am incorrectly using the name "camp" here to describe the place where we were imprisoned, although it does not deserve it, for it was a six-acre cattle yard enclosed by tall, thick posts placed close together. The prisoners are driven into this enclosure like a herd of cattle, and there they are left to make their own beds on the ground as best they can. The camp commander showed so much humanity that he allowed the prisoners, under guard, to fetch bushes and shrubs from the nearby forest so that they could obtain some protection from the heat of the sun. This humanity, however, was very cheap, and in his other treatment of the prisoners, he was so inhumane that he had some of them shot dead from outside the enclosure without the slightest cause. He is also the author of the order that authorizes any Rebel soldier or citizen to shoot at will any Union prisoner attempting to escape.

Before I speak further about this enclosure, I must return to our marches. For two days we had nothing to eat except a small so-called biscuit, a tuber kneaded together from water and flour. Later, we were given corn flour in very small quantities and quality. However, since we had no cooking utensils, each of us provided himself with a board on which the flour was mixed with water in the evening and roasted over the fire without salt. Finally, pork and beef were also delivered, which we stuck on sharpened twigs and roasted over the fire. At night, we slept without shelter, most of us without blankets, on the bare ground. I myself was fortunate enough to keep my watch, which I bartered with a Rebel soldier after a few days for a used blanket that had been taken from under a horse's saddle. My money was stolen by a Rebel guard on the very first night, as I fell asleep after a weary march. The thief, who returned the empty wallet to me, received no reprimand from his commanding officer, Captain Hendriks, 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment, when I complained to him.

The Ohioans fared no better; the night before we arrived at camp, they were combed and searched by the Rebel guards, and under threat of being shot if they resisted being plundered. At Camp Ford, the men are provided with cornmeal and beef, which is distributed equally. This, apart from a little salt, is the only food available, and it is therefore no wonder that the hospital is full and the sick roam the camp by the hundreds. The prisoners cannot procure vegetables, for even if they have money, access to these provisions is blocked. I myself was once granted the privilege of receiving an order allowing me to bring two watermelons into camp for my own use. 

However, a few prisoners of Irish descent, who enjoyed the favor of Colonel Border, were once granted the privilege of trading in foodstuffs subject to a tax of 25 percent of the value. This tax, it was said, was intended to benefit the hospital. The Rebel Dr. [Thomas W.] Meagher of Tyler, who was in charge of the operation, never received any of it, so it can only be assumed that the colonel used the money for his own purposes.  My comrades in the field will do well to remember the names of Colonel J.P. Border and his adjutant, B.W. McEachem, both of whom treated the prisoners in the most outrageous manner, so that if they ever get hold of them, they can pay them in kind.

The hospital at Camp Ford as drawn by James McLain of the 120th Ohio

From time to time, some wheat flour also arrived at the camp. It cost 50 cents in greenbacks per pound. Sugar cost $1.75 per pound, pork $1.00, butter $1.75 per pound, a gallon of molasses $6.50 per pound, a quart of milk $1.00, and onions $1.00 per dozen. For several days, Col. [George] Sweet [15th Texas Cavalry] has been the post commander. He asked me to take over the supervision of the camp and gave me the necessary orders. I devoted my attention to cleaning the camp in a military manner, which mainly improved the health of the people. I visited the sick, tried to cheer them up, and gave them my advice as best I could. This is about all that can be done for them. We have no proper doctors there; The few gentlemen who consider themselves such, but who understand nothing of medicine, contribute not a little to the increase in the number of burial mounds. Medicines are also in short supply.

During the course of my duties, I monitored the supply of rations and discovered a deficit of 8,287 corn meal rations for 3,070 men in 17 days. Considering the quality of this food, it is easy to see that the prisoners must have suffered greatly from such deception. I lodged a complaint against this injustice and thereby somewhat improved our situation, but I could not prevent us from later being given unmilled corn when the mill broke down. Fortunately, we had some good craftsmen among us, whom I immediately employed to repair the mill to protect us from starvation.

Col. Sweet allowed some of his men to go into the woods with the prisoners to gather brush for the camp and huts, but after a few days, this privilege was revoked, as it was considered too inconvenient for the guards to constantly run into the woods. Indeed, it required the service of two men for two hours a day to enable the poor prisoners to seek shelter from the burning sun and the rain, and to grant this is too generous. Such conduct exposes the men's lies when they excuse themselves for not being able to treat our prisoners better and pretend to give them what they have.

I was almost overwhelmed by my duty, in which I could not be of any significant use to my fellow sufferers, and therefore submitted my resignation, which was granted. It is a sad sight to see about 3,000 men, mostly without blankets, in ragged clothing, and fed as described above, crammed in as we were. Therefore, no words can describe the joy I and 600 of my fellow prisoners felt when we left the camp on October 1st to be exchanged. On the way to Shreveport, we met a wagon train containing clothing and blankets for 1,200 men, which our government, accompanied by two Union officers, sent through the Rebel lines to our prisoners. These items will warm not only many a body this winter, but also many a heart at Camp Ford.

With the 600 lucky ones, I traveled on foot, but at a light pace, to Shreveport. Here, part of the crew was sent by boat and another part by land to Alexandria. It took us no less than 21 days to reach the mouth of the Red River, where we were exchanged. I need not describe the feelings aroused in the people by the sight of the Star-Spangled Banner. The poor souls, almost all of whom were half-naked and barefoot, were reclothed in New Orleans and thoroughly enjoyed Uncle Sam's hearty rations, so that they would soon be able to devote their services to the country again.

I. Rutishauser, Lieut. Colonel, 58th Illinois Regiment

Isaac Rutishauser (Rutishowser/Rutsehaucer) was born 18 July 1810 in Amriswil, Switzerland, emigrated to the US in the late 1850's and was naturalized on October 17, 1859. The 1860 census shows him as a saloon keeper residing in Somonauk, Illinois, a village in northcentral Illinois west of Chicago. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 58th Illinois on January 25, 1862, and saw action at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Iuka, and Mississippi. “For a long time, he was well and favorably known among our German population,” the Chicago Tribune noted. “He was a brave and fearless soldier and at the battle of Shiloh he was wounded, taken prisoner, and held six months before he was exchanged.”

The 58th Illinois saw service in the Red River campaign when Lt. Col. Rutishauser was trying to join them; this led to his capture May 3, 1864. Following his release from Camp Ford on October 1, 1864, he was discharged January 27, 1865. “In 1865, he was appointed an Internal Revenue Inspector and was legislated out of office in 1869,” the Tribune stated. “In 1873, he was appointed a Gauger which position he filled until 1876 when the whiskey troubles culminated. For 4 months past he had been employed in the post office and had resigned his place, the resignation to have taken place from the 1st of November.” He collapsed of apoplexy and died October 23, 1878, in Chicago in the Grand Pacific cigar store of his son-in-law Louis Schaffner and is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

To learn more about the loss of the City Belle which led to Lt. Col. Rutishauser’s capture, click here to read Captain James Taylor’s account in “Disaster at Snaggy Point with the 120th Ohio.”

Sources:

Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Rutishauser, 58th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Illinois Statts-Zeitung (Chicago, Illinois), November 16, 1864, pg. 1

“Isaac Rutishauser,” Chicago Tribune (Illinois), October 24, 1878, pg. 8

“Sudden Death of a Well-Known Citizen, Chicago Inter Ocean (Illinois), October 24, 1878, pg. 8

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