Smallpox Island
Smallpox IslandLincoln Shields Recreation Area
West Alton, Missouri 63386
Smallpox Island
During the Civil War, a temporary tented area and wooden hospital on a Missouri island named Sunflower Island comprised the first hospital for patients of smallpox from the military prison at Alton. Patients who died of smallpox were buried on the island in the vicinity of the hospital. Today, a monument marks the grave site of the 260 Confederate prisoners buried near this site. The site also marks the location of the infamous "Lincoln-Shields Duel" of 1842.