| Camp Douglas Chicago, Illinois |
SAINT LOUIS, February 19, 1862.
C. H. ELDRIDGE, Davenport, Iowa:
All wounded are sent to Cincinnati, Mound City, Evansville and Saint Louis. No distinction is made between States or between friends and foes. It is simply a question of humanity.
H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General.
Official Records, Series II., Vol. 3, Part 1, Page 281.
The 10,000 prisoners taken at Fort Donelson presented a logistical challenge to their captors. But they also presented an opportunity for the government to gain influence in Kentucky and Tennessee by their humane treatment. Union officers would be excused for believing the war was now turning in their favor and such considerations were important if the North won and the Union was to be restored. Others, like the Radical Republicans took a dim view of such leniency.
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