American Historical Ephemera & Photography Online

Lot comprised of 2 forks, 7 1/2 in. long; a pewter plate, 8 3/8 in. dia.; and a "One Cent" token, stamped "N. Eaton" on the reverse side, 1 1/8 in. dia. (wear consistent with age and use). The items are accompanied by a modern typed tag, which reads, "Cast into a stockade at Camp Ford Prison in Tyler, Texas, an Ohio soldier kept and brought home the eating utensils and pewter plate he had carried throughout the war and his imprisonment." HDS lists two Ohio soldiers by the name of "N. Eaton," but neither of the soldiers are listed as POWs. 

Camp Ford, near Tyler, TX, was the largest Confederate-run prison located west of the Mississippi River. Established in the spring of 1862 as a training camp for new Confederate recruits, the camp was named after Col. John Salmon Ford, a Texas Ranger and the Superintendent of Conscripts for the State of Texas. The first Union POWs arrived at the camp in August 1863, and the prisoner population peaked by July of 1864. The population was reduced by exchanges in July and October 1864, and again in February 1865, with the last prisoners exchanged on 22 May 1865.