A Map with a Story to Tell

Residing quietly on a shelf in the Wakeman Archives in the Military Corner is a map of the Civil War prison on Johnson’s Island in Sandusky Bay. The map was put there years ago just to show the layout of the prison. A recent inquiry about this map made me, as an archivist at Wakeman, realize that this map has a story behind it’s existence -perhaps several. Since I put the map there, I will try to tell the story.

The map was created by Joseph Kern of Romney, VA who was a Confederate prisoner there from June 14, 1863 until October 30 1863 when the prison became an officer only camp. The map is widely known as the best map of the Johnson’s Island prison in existence and has been widely copied and published. My copy came about because Joseph Mason Kern was my Great Grandmother, Mercy Jane Kern Dye’s youngest brother, therefore my Great, Great Uncle. Joseph kept an almost daily diary of all his Civil War experiences including his map or drawings of the prison and vivid descriptions of prison life. His diary, drawings and papers are held at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Southern Historical Collection University Archives and were obtained by inter-library loan. The diary itself is another story. For those who are curious, John R. and Mercy Jane Dye moved to live with his father in Hancock Co., Ohio before the war. The Kern family were all strongly Confederate but the Dye clan, who lived only 30 or 40 miles from Romney in northern Virginia were, all strongly Union and helped create the new state of West Virginia. Obviously this was a torn family, but the marriage survived and John R. never had to join the war and fight his in-laws.

So what has all this to do with our local history? Many of our local men served at Johnson’s Island, building the prison and fortifications both on the island and in Sandusky, and guarding prisoners. Most of these men served in the 128th O.V.I which was formed in December of 1863 from four existing companies from 1862 known as “The Hoffman Battalion.” The 128th was expanded by six more companies in January 1864 when the command grew increasingly nervous about southern attempts to free the prisoners by invasion from Canada. These men endured the biting cold winter doing heavy construction work on new fortifications while still doing guard duty. Some of our local men we have on record serving with the 128th OVI are: Jacob Disher and Royal C. Jones buried in Rupp Cemetery at the corner of Weckerly and Cemetery Road. Henry R. Winslow buried in Winslow Cemetery on Winslow Road near Weckerly Road. William Bird buried in East Swanton Cemetery on Scott Road #107. James B. Aumend, George W. Williams, Pius L. Shepler, Jacob C. Myers, John Foster, Conrad Miller, John W. Bradley, John M. Jones, William K. Knight, Francis M. Heath, William K. Burnett and John A. Mayer buried in Whitehouse Cemetery on Cemetery Road between Weckerly and Route 64. There are probably more. That makes our near-by landmark the Confederate Cemetery and the few remains of the prison on Johnsons Island an important part of our local participation in the Civil War. If you have never visited Johnson’s Island you should, especially after Memorial Day.

If you have never visited the Wakeman Archives and viewed our Civil War collections please consider this article an open invitation. We are open every Wednesday from 10 A.M. until 2 P.M. and the last Saturday of April, May, June, July and August from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. We are located in the upstairs of the Wakeman Hall.