There is a story associated with this tune: A Confederate soldier from western Virginia named Sol Carpenter was captured by the Yankees and sent to Camp Chase as a prisoner of war. One morning the officer in charge of the camp announced he would hold a fiddle contest. The best fiddler in the camp. would be paroled as the prize
There were several really good fiddlers in camp, so Sol decided to play the tune now called Camp Chase to try and win his freedom. He played first. He said he put parts in the tune that he didn't think were in it, but he wanted to get out so bad, he put them in anyway.
After the rest of the fiddlers had played their tunes, the officer in charge told Sol to play his again. When he finished, the officer said, "Sol, you're free."
Before being released, Sol had to swear allegiance to the United States. Legend has it he took the oath and then headed south and rejoined the Confederate army.
Built on the western outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, and named for Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Camp Chase served as a training ground for Union volunteers through spring 1862. My great grandfather, Alexander Gilchrist was mustered into the 61st Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Camp Chase in April 1862. He was 16 years old.
During that time it also housed a small number of political and military prisoners from Kentucky and western Virginia. However, with the start of the Western campaigns in 1862, Camp Chase began receiving a large influx of captured Confederates.
Conditions deteriorated rapidly. The original facilities designed for 4,000 men held close to 10,000 prisoners by 1865. Shoddy barracks, poor sanitation and a smallpox outbreak caused many deaths.
Hetzler's Fakebook
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