The camp, named for Illinois senator Stephen Douglas, opened in 1861 as a training facility for Union soldiers. It occupied about eighty acres of Douglas’ land in what is now Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. It was converted into a prison camp in 1862 to detain Confederate soldiers captured by General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Fort Donelson. At its largest, the camp held 12,000 prisoners, 6,000 more than it was designed to house, and about 30,000 prisoners passed through Camp Douglas during the course of the war. Typhoid, tuberculosis, smallpox, and other diseases, fed by poor conditions in the camp, ravaged the population. About 4,500 prisoners died.

Camp Douglas closed when the Civil War ended in 1865.

The Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Douglas were buried at Chicago's City Cemetery. Their remains were moved to a mass grave in Oak Woods Cemetery when the city turned City Cemetery into Lincoln Park a few years later. The monument that stands at the Confederate burial mound in Oak Woods Cemetery today was dedicated in 1895. The granite base and bronze plaques with the names of the dead were added in 1911.

The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation has undertaken several archaeological investigations in the area where Camp Douglas once stood. As of 2016, archaeologists had made several promising discoveries, including locating part of the headquarters building. The foundation plans to continue excavations and hopes that their efforts will bring more attention to this important but oft-forgotten historic site.

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