Camp Morton was a Union prisoner-of-war camp located in Indianapolis, Indiana during the American Civil War. It was named for Indiana governor Oliver Morton, who was the governor of Indiana during the War. It lasted from 1861-1865. Originally intended to simply be a training ground, after the Battle of Shiloh the former home of the Indiana State Fair became one of more important prisoner of war camps. Not a trace of the camp remains, but Confeder...
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Camp Morton was a Union prisoner-of-war camp located in Indianapolis, Indiana during the American Civil War. It was named for Indiana governor Oliver Morton, who was the governor of Indiana during the War. It lasted from 1861-1865. Originally intended to simply be a training ground, after the Battle of Shiloh the former home of the Indiana State Fair became one of more important prisoner of war camps. Not a trace of the camp remains, but Confederates who died while prisoners are buried nearby in Indianapolis' Crown Hill Cemetery.
After the removal of United States forces occupying Fort Sumter, Morton volunteered to President Abraham Lincoln 10,000 Indiana troops to invade the South. Morton looked for a place to train these new recruits. He chose the ground of the then-new Indiana State Fairgrounds, naming the facility Camp Morton, after himself. It had previously been Henderson's Grove, after Samuel Henderson, the first mayor of Indianapolis. It was a 36-acre (150,000 m) tract north...
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