The Story of Johnson’s Island - Part 2 - Lorrie Halblaub

After the first owner of Johnson’s Island, Epaphras Bull died in 1812, the 300-acre island was still known as Bull’s Island until the Bull family sold it to Leonard Beatty Johnson in 1852 who changed the name of the island to Johnson’s Island. 

Johnson was born in 1808 in Ballicanew, Ireland and emigrated to the United States. He married Permelia Rust Nettleton in 1845 and they had six children who were all born in Sandusky.  Most of the census records show that the family lived in Sandusky except for 1870 when they resided in Danbury Township. Johnson died in 1898 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. For most of his life, Johnson was listed as a farmer.

It is most likely that he purchased the island to farm it, possibly to grow grapes, but in 1861, Johnson got an offer that he could not refuse.  The Civil War was raging and the U.S. Government was looking for a place to put Confederate prisoners of war. Johnson’s Island was only accessible by ship but was close enough to Danbury Township and Sandusky to transport building materials to construct the camp and then easily supply it. The island had plenty of trees for lumber and fuel.  It was also protected from the elements by being in Sandusky Bay and was not as close to Canada as the other Lake Erie Islands which would make prisoner escape attempts more difficult.

In 1861 Lt. Colonel William Hoffman of the Union army selected the site but another source said it chosen by then Secretary of State, Simon Cameron.

Johnson leased 16.5 acres to the government  for $500 a year and then construction of the camp began. The government built more than 40 buildings surrounded by a 15- or 16-foot-high fence. There were  two-story barracks for the prisoners, housing for the guards from the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment,  Hoffman Battalion,  a powder magazine for storage of ammunition and explosives, two large mess halls, stables, barns for livestock, a limekiln, latrines, a sutler’s stand, three wells, a hospital and pest house, which was where prisoners with contagious diseases were kept separate from the general population, and a cemetery.

The first prisoners arrived on April 10, 1862. Access to the island was now severely restricted, but the Coffin Family who lived on the peninsula across the water from prison camp not only had contact with the camp, but many interesting stories to tell.  More on that next month.