Camp Chase

Camp Chase was a military staging and training camp established in Columbus, Ohio in May 1861 after the start of the American Civil War. It also included a section for use as a prison camp during the American Civil War.The camp was closed and dismantled after the war, and the site has been redeveloped for residential and commercial use, except for the Confederate cemetery containing 2,260 graves. The Camp Chase Cemetery is located in what is now the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The Camp Chase Site, including the cemetery, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.HistoryCamp Chase was a Civil War camp established in May 1861, on land leased by the U.S. Government. It replaced the much smaller Camp Jackson. The main entrance was on the National Road west of Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Boundaries of the camp were present-day Broad Street (north), Hague Avenue (east), Sullivant Avenue (south), and near Westgate Avenue (west). Named for former Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase, who was Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, it was a training camp for Ohio volunteer army soldiers, a parole camp, a muster outpost, and later a prisoner-of-war camp. The nearby Camp Thomas served as a similar base for the Regular Army. As many as 150,000 Union soldiers and 25,000 Confederate prisoners passed through its gates from 1861–1865. By February 1865, over 9,400 men were held at the prison. More than 2,200 Confederates are buried in the Camp Chase Cemetery.