The Rush of Refugees through the Potter's Field

The Rush of Refugees through the Potter's Field

The Rush of Refugees through the Potter's Field toward Lincoln Park, 1871 (Harper's Weekly, from a sketch by Theodore R. Davis) The Refugees

Driven out of their homes, many North Division residents sought safety in Lincoln Park, at the south end of which (by the current site of the Chicago Historical Society) was a cemetery that had been in operation since 1847. The area ceased to be used as a burial ground by 1865, and the bodies were moved to Graceland, Rosehill, and Oakwood cemeteries as the new park developed. The refugees camped among the dead, between the fiery city and the chilly lake, made the whole situation seem all the more haunting. "One of the saddest among the many scenes that met the eye after the conflagration had done its work," one fire history reflected, "was that in the old cemetery -- the flames had even made havoc among the dead, burning down the wooden monuments, and shattering stone vaults to fragments, leaving exposed many scores of the remnants of mortality that had smoldered for years in oblivion." The Harper's Weekly identification of the scene above as the Potter's Field is unlikely, given the substantial grave markers.


	*The Rush of Refugees through the Potter's Field toward Lincoln Park, 1871 (Harper's Weekly, from a sketch by Theodore R. Davis)*	The Refugees
	Driven out of their homes, many North Division residents sought safety in Lincoln Park, at the south end of which (by the current site of the Chicago Historical Society) was a cemetery that had been in operation since 1847. The area ceased to be used as a burial ground by 1865, and the bodies were moved to Graceland, Rosehill, and Oakwood cemeteries as the new park developed. The refugees camped among the dead, between the fiery city and the chilly lake, made the whole situation seem all the more haunting. "One of the saddest among the many scenes that met the eye after the conflagration had done its work," one fire history reflected, "was that in the old cemetery -- the flames had even made havoc among the dead, burning down the wooden monuments, and shattering stone vaults to fragments, leaving exposed many scores of the remnants of mortality that had smoldered for years in oblivion." The Harper's Weekly identification of the scene above as the Potter's Field is unlikely, given the substantial grave markers.