Caroline Victoria Ozias letter

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Preferred citation:

MSS 16851, Caroline Victoria Ozias letter, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
.03 Cubic Feet 1 letter folder
Creator:
Kurt A Sanftleben, LLC
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 16851, Caroline Victoria Ozias letter, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains a letter from Caroline 'Carrie' Victoria Ozias of Iowa to Sarah "Sallie" Rachel McQuiston from Ohio. Ozias gives an account of the significant military activities happening around her. She describes Confederate prisoners, and details the United States Colored Troops who were guarding them. She also writes about Camp McClellan, where nearly three hundred Dakota or Lakota members were imprisoned. She reports on the riots who are resisting the draft as well as raids and a political rally at Rock Island City

Biographical / historical:

Dakota: The word Dakota means "ally or friend" in the Dakota language, and their autonyms include Ikčé Wičhášta ("Indian people") and Dakhóta Oyáte ("Dakota people").

Camp McClellan was a former Union army camp and hospital in Iowa that was established in Davenport in August 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War. In 1863 it became a prison camp called Camp Kearney where members of the Dakota tribe were interred. The camp was decommissioned after the release of the prisoners in 1866.

The propery was directly across the Mississippi River from the Rock Island Arsenal, and held Confederate soldiers and Dakota people.The government imprisoned 277 members of the Dakota tribe. A wall was built in December 1863 along the western road through the camp so as to separate the Dakota from recruits. Conditions in the prison became unsanitary. Local citizens were hostile that the Dakotas were in their vicinity. Later President Andrew Johnson released those being held prisoner to a reservation in Santee, Nebraska. Others died there and were buried in unmarked graves. In 1986 some of the remains were given to the Dakota tribe at Morton, Minnesota for burial. In 2005, the Dakota held a memorial ceremony on the former site of Camp Kearney.

African Americans: During the Civil War, Iowa, a free state, played a significant role in the Union cause, and African Americans in Iowa actively participated in the war effort, both as soldiers and as supporters of the Union cause. While Iowa had a relatively small African American population (around 1,000 in 1860), they were vital to the state's war efforts.

Iowa's 1st Infantry Regiment (African Descent), later designated as the 60th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, was organized at Keokuk, Iowa and was a significant part of the Union effort.

Camp McClellan played a pivotal role in the fight for African American civil rights in Iowa and became a symbol of the struggle for equality. The internment of Dakota people at Camp McClellan highlighted the harsh realities of the Dakota War and the government's treatment of Native Americans.

Sources: "Camp McClellan (Iowa)" Wikipedia. Accessed 6/11/25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_McClellan_(Iowa)

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=entpr&q=african+americans+in+Iowa+during+civil+war

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=entpr&q=camp+mccellan+iowa+and+african+americans

Acquisition information:
This collection was a purchase from Kurt Sanftleben LCC, to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on24 May 2024.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard