Military Monday ~ Building a Civil War Sewer

My second great grandfather, Samuel Sewall Greeley (1824 - 1916) was of the right age to have served in some capacity in the U.S. Civil War. The only Civil War record I have found for him is from Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1861-1865, an online database at Ancestry.com.

From Series II, Vol. 4. Correspondence, orders, reports, and returns relating to prisoners of war, pp. 278-279

Camp Douglas, in Chicago, Illinois, was a large Union prisoner of war camp, with approximately 7,800 prisoners in July 1862. (See page 278 above.)

From Wikipedia:

"It became a prisoner-of-war camp in early 1862. Later in 1862 the Union Army again used Camp Douglas as a training camp. In the fall of 1862, the Union Army used the facility as a detention camp for paroled Union Army prisoners pending their formal exchange for Confederate prisoners. Camp Douglas became a permanent prisoner-of-war camp from January 1863 to the end of the war in May 1865. In the summer and fall of 1865, the camp served as a mustering out point for Union Army volunteer regiments. The camp was dismantled and the movable property was sold off late in the year. In the aftermath of the war, Camp Douglas eventually came to be noted for its poor conditions and death rate of between seventeen and twenty-three per cent."

Transcribed from above, Colonel Joseph H. Tucker, writes to Colonel William Hoffman on July 24, 1862:

"I forward an estimate made by S. S. Greeley for introduction of sewer, for sinks connected therewith and for the supply of water for the camp. This estimate I am informed was handed to you by Mr. Greeley while you were here. I do not send the estimate as approved by me; I merely lay it before you."

From Series II, Vol. 4. Correspondence, orders, reports, and returns relating to prisoners of war, pp. 280-281

These pages include the detail of the estimate to build the sewer for Camp Douglas. The total cost is estimated to be $8,257.18, including labor.  "The work will probably occupy nearly six weeks after it is actually begun." and is signed Samuel S. Greeley, Civil Engineer.

I have not been able to find confirmation that the Union Army hired S. S. Greeley to build the sewer, but there are references to the need for water and "an ample system of drainage."

From Series II, Vol. 4. Correspondence, orders, reports, and returns relating to prisoners of war, p. 353

Military Monday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.