Alton Prison and North Alton National Cemetery
Housing some South Carolina Civil War Soldiers
Information extracted from http://www.altonweb.com/history/civilwar/confed/index.html
Burial info obtained from the US Dept. of Veteran Affairs.

Name	Rank	Captured	Death Date/Cause	North Alton Confederate Cemetery, 600 Pearl Street Alton, Il.
Beek, William C	PVT, 19th South Carolina	06/02/62 Booneville, Missouri	07/31/62	Beek, William C, d. 07/31/1862, Plot: 1 0 1, bur. 01/01/1867
Keen, Abner N	PVT, Tuckers South Carolina	10/28/62 Washington Co., Arkansas	03/04/63 Variola	Keen, Abner N, d. 03/04/1863, Plot: 1 0 1, bur. 01/01/1867
Palmer, Edward C (P?)	PVT, C10th South Carolina Inf.	01/18/64 Calhoun, Georgia	01/02/65 Pneumonia	Palmer, Edward P, d. 01/02/1865, Plot: 1 0 1, bur. 01/01/1867
Wallen, A W	PVT, Heltons South Carolina Battalion	04/23/65 Boingsburg, Miss?	06/01/65 Rheumatis	?

Alton prison, located on the Mississippi just north of St.Louis, was the smallest prison in Illinois.  Alton opened in 1833 as the first Illinois State Penitentiary, was closed in 1860, and reopened February 9, 1862 as a Military Prison for Confederate soldiers. Four different classes of prisoners were housed at Alton; Confederate soldiers made up most of the population. Citizens, including several women, were imprisoned here for treasonable actions, making anti-Union statements, aiding an escaped Confederate, etc. Others, classified as bushwhackers or guerillas, were imprisoned for acts against the government such as bridge burning and railroad vandalism. Prison conditions were poor. Hot, humid summers and cold Midwestern winters killed many of the prisoners who were already weakened by poor nourishment and inadequate clothing. The prison was overcrowded much of the time and sanitary facilities were inadequate. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers but contagious diseases such as smallpox and rubella were the most feared. When smallpox infected many of the prisoners in the winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, a quarantine hospital was located on an island across the Mississippi River from the prison. Up to 300 prisoners and soldiers died and are buried on the island, now under water. A cemetery in North Alton that belonged to the State of Illinois was used for most that died. A monument there lists 1,534 names of Confederate soldiers that are known to have died. The prison closed July 7, 1865 when the last prisoners were released or sent to St. Louis.