Prison Camps |
Andersonville Prison Camp |
Museum Entrance |
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure,
permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved.
I do not expect the house to fall. But I do expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." |
"The Negro is the key to the situation, the pivot upon which the whole rebellion
turns . . . This war, disguise it as they may, is virtually nothing more or less
than perpetual slavery against universal freedom." |
"Our present political position has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the
history of nations. It illustrates the American idea that governements rest on
the consent of the governed . . . and that it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish them at will whenever they became destructive of the ends for which
they were established." |
"If my name ever goes into history it was for this act." Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had planned for the Emancipation Proclamation long before he issued it. His strategy was to weaken the Confederacy's economy by freeing the slaves while winning the support of world opinion at the same time. Following the advice of his secretary of State, Lincoln held off announcing the Proclamation until after the Union had won a decisive victory. That victory was Antietam. Ironically, freedom was extended only to slaves living in states "in rebellion against the United States," the very states where Federal armies could not enforce the Proclamation. In particular, slaves in the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri remained in bondage. Many others, however, escaped to the North and joined the U.S. Colored Troops. |
Prisoner of War Fountain |
AMERICAN EX-PRISONERS OF WAR Founded on April 14, 1942, the Americanex-prisoners of war have existed for the purpose of helping others. The organization of former POWs (Military and Civilian), their spouses, families and civilian internees have helped those affected by their capture deal with the trauma through the friendship of those who shared a common experience. These friendships have formed lasting relationships from POW camps until late in life. The art works shown in this courtyard are given to the people of the United States of America, by all POWs in grateful appreciation for having the privilege of being an American and serving their country. NON SOLUM ARMIS |
27TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP UNITED STATES ARM AIR CORPS 1225 Airmen of the 27th bombardment group (L) left Savannah, Georgia and arrived in Manila, Phillipine Islands on 20 Nov 1941. Their dive bombers did not arrive in time to stem the Japanese attack which began on 8 Dec. 1941. When U.S. forces were ordered to evacuate Manila and its airfields these airmen went into the Bataan Peninsula and formed the 2nd provisions air corps regiment, infantry. They fought gallantly as infantrymen while holding a front line sector. Those who sruvived the bitter battle were ordered to surrender on 9 Apr 1942. They were then subjected to the horrors of the "Bataan Death March", followed by three and one half years of brutal treatment as prisoners, and to the ultimate bestiality of the "Hell Ships" from which |
so few survived. In honor and memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice and to help restore the human dignity which was so cruelly stolen from them this plaque is respectfully dedicated. May they rest in peace with God. |
IN HONOR OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Officers and Enlisted Men As Prisoners of War in OFLAG 64 and 64Z Suzbin, Poland and Schokken, Poland 6 June 1942 21 January 1945 SENIOR AMERICAN OFFICERS Col. Thomas D. Drake Col. Paul R. Goode Lt. Col. Doyle A. Yardley Col. Hurley E. Fuller Liberations at Moosburg, Germany and Odessa, Russia |
Top photo: The Stalag |
VERMONT TO THE VERMONTERS WHO PERISHED AT ANDERSONVILLE You are the sires of generations which are and which never will be Oh Beloved of widows and spinsters Oh, unbearable loss of mothers and sisters and brother and fathers and orphans Yours is the vacant chair, the lonely bed the rusted tool, the shallow grave Your laughter fallen silent Your footfalls mere echoes of memories Your eyes once bright dimmed, sunken, closed You in the fullness of manhood enfeebled, broken, dust This unholy ground you hallowed with your prayers, your tears, your blood Your earthly remains cradled in this sanguineous soil testify to the fulfillment of your duty Your spirits which long ago mingled with those of the celetial hosts are felt among us here in the quiet of this sacred place and though the earth enfolds your bodies and the heavens your spirits your honored memories shall reside within the hearts of your heirs forever ERECTED IN THE YEAR 1998 BY THE CHAMPLAIN RIFLES AND VFW POST 6471 MANCHESTER VERMONT |
In honor and memory of the U.S. Army Air Force and U.S. Navy airmen who lost their
lives while prisoners of war at Hiroshima, Japan, the day of the bomb -- August
6, 1945 |
S/Sgt. Charles O. Baumgartner -- USAAF 2nd/Lt. Durden Looper --- USAAF 2nd/Lt. James M. Ryan -- USAAF Sgt. Hugh H. Atkinson -- USAAF Cpl. John A. Long, Jr. -- USAAF S/Sgt. Buford J. Ellison -- USAAF S/Sgt. Ralph J. Neal -- USAAF Lt. JG, Raymond G. Porter -- USN A/3C. Normand Roland Brissette -- USN |
"The bravery, suffering, and devotion to duty . . . earned them a preeminent place
in the hearts of all Americans. Their heroism is a beacon to follow forever."
President Ronald Reagan -- June 27, 1985 |
In the center blue circle: The Battling Bastards of Bataan No mama No papa No uncle Sam In the water surrounding the land: Top Left: Subic Bay Middle Right: Manila Bay Bottom left: South China Sea Under Bataan: Mariveles |
". . . The Bataan garrison was destroyed due to its dreadful handicaps, but no army
in history more thoroughly accomplished its mission . . . " General of the Army Douglas MacArthur |
You are about to enter Andersonville, one of the largest Confederate prisoner-of-war
camps. Of the 45,000 Union soldiers confined here, nearly 13,000 died. Beyond the walking tour of the stockade area, a visit to Andersonville involves an inner journey -- to imagine prisoners' existence here and to discover the meaning of the place from the fragments that remain. Throughout the site there are clues to the high rate of mortality. "Then came the captives, weary, worn and hungry from prolonged travel cooped up like beats in freight cars. Down from the depot they marched amid the jeers and taunts of a gaping crowd. The gate opened. The stockade swallowed them." |
The little stone square in the middle denotes where the staff found holes .... be
they wells or the starts of tunnels, they dot the entire area. |
IN
COMMEMORATION
OF THE UNTIRING DEVOTION OF * CLARA * BARTON * She organized and administered efficient measures for the relief of our soldiers in the field and aided in the great work of preserving the names of more than twelve thousand of the brave men who died here. ERECTED BY THE WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS AUXILLARY TO THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 1915 |
LIZABETH A. TURNER Past National President Womans Relief Corps Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic Life Chairman Andersonville Prison Board died at Andersonville April 27, 1907 Erected by the Womans Relief Corps. to memorialize her work in hallowing these grounds. |
TOP RIGHT: Emblem of the Father Whelan Assembly, Knights of Columbus Chapter, Albany, Georgia |
Father Peter Whelan, an Irish-born Catholic priest from Savannah, arrived at Andersonville
on June 16, 1864, to minister to the sick and dying. While other priests
visited for brief periods, Whelan remained for nearly four months during the
hottest season and the time of highest mortality. At the end of his stay; Whelan borrowed money to purchase ten thousand pounds of wheat flour. Baked into bread and distributed at the prison hospital, this food became known as "Whelan's bread." It lasted several months and probably saved many lives. The prisoners never forgot Father Whelan. When the survivors returned home and wrote their memoirs, they often mentioned Whelan's name and works. "By coming here he exposed himself to great danger of infection . . . His services were sought by all, for, in his kind and sympathizing looks, his meek but earnest appearance, the despairing prisoners read that all humanity had not forsaken mankind. " Pvt. Henry M. Davidson 1st Ohio Light Artillery |
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED IN COMMEMORATION of the patriotic work of the Woman's
Relief Corps auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic in preservation and
improvement of this historic site, comprising 87 acres of which 72.5 acres were
acquired in 1898 by deed of gift from the Grand Army of the Republic of Georgia, and 14.5 acres were acquired by the Woman's Relief Corps by purchase to complete the tract. The Woman's Relief Corps was incorporated under the laws of Ohio, for charitable and patriotic purposes on February 3, 1904, by the following named women, Sarah D. Winans, Jennie S. Wright, Kate B. Sherwood, Cora Day Young, Mary C. Wentzel, Mary M. North, Sarah E. Phillips, Lizabeth A. Turner, Clara Barton and Allaseba M. Bliss. During the convention held in September, 1908, the Woman's Relief Corps, having improved and cared for these grounds at its own expense, formally tendered the land to the United States Government as a gift, free of all indebtedness, and in pursuance of the Act of Congress, approved March 2, 1910. The Secretary of War was authorized and directed to accept the land so tendered with all improvements thereon. Board of Trustees 1908-1910 Sarah D. Winans, Chairman Abbie A. Adams Allaseba M. Bliss Sarah E. Fuller Carrie R. Read Committee on Transfer 1909-1910 Kate E. Jones, Chairman Kate B. Sherwood Mary L. Gilman Mary M. North |
LEFT SIDE: 1809 -- 1865 Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that, that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. A. Lincoln Presented to the Government of The United States by the National Woman's Relief Corps. Auxiliary to The Grand Army of the Republic |
RIGHT SIDE: MEMORIAL DAY ORDER GENERAL ORDER NO. 11 HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC WASHINGTON D.C., MAY 3 1868 I. The 30th day of May 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion and those bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet, churchyard in the land, in this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect, as circumstances may permit. We are organized comrades as our regulations tell us for the purpose, among other things of preserving and strengthening those kind fraternal feelings which have bound together the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines who united to suppress the late rebellion. What can aid more to assure this result than by the rising tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains and their deaths a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms we should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant fates invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided Republic. If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains to us. Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of the springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor. Let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the nation's gratitude - the Soldiers and Sailor's widow and orphan. II. It is the purpose of the Commander in Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades, he earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this order and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith. III. Department Commanders will use every effort to make this order effective by command of. John A. Logan Commander in Chief. N. T. Shipman, Adjutant General Presented to the Government of the United States by the National Woman's Relief Corps. Auxiliary to The Grand Army of the Republic |
Known Dead 767 Resolves 1900 Charter 77 Approved May 28, W. Murray Crane Commission: Charles C. Davis Thaddeus H. Newcomb Francis C. Curtis Levi C. McKnight Everett S. Horton |
"Our new camp was on two steep hillsides, at the base of which was a great quagmire.
This was ditched through the center with a narrow, shallow stream, which was
very sluggish on account of the small supply of water and the slight descent
of the ground." Charles F. Fredrick, 14th Iowa Infantry, February 1864. Confederate A. J. Riddle took this photograph of the latrines in August 1864. Though living space was at a premium, five to six acres near the creek remained vacant. |
The ground at this end of the prison is pocked with deep holes -- either tunnels
or wells Overcrowding disguised the digging. Beneath the sea of tattered shelters,
prisoners could work undetected with mess plates, spoons and canteen halves. It is tempting to call every excavation an escape tunnel, but many may have been wells. With the camp stream lethally polluted, the search for fresh water was as urgent as the need to escape. "Just as it was coming light in the east we heard dogs after us. In a few moments the hounds came up with us and began smelling of us. Pretty soon five mounted rebels arrived on the scene of action. They laughed to think we expected to get away." |
At the corner of the prison, the state of Wisconsin erected a monument near the site
where many Wisconsin prisoners had camped. Prisoners tended to form groups
by state or regiment, to sustain morale. Look for other monuments on the prison site and in the national cemetery. Where so little historical evidence remains, symbols of commemoration have become an important part of Andersonville's physical and emotional landscape. |
Photo: Veterans pose at the Connecticut Monument in the national cemetery |
Front: This Monument Erected by the State of Wisconsin in grateful remembrance TO HER SONS who suffered and died in Andersonville Prison March 1864-April 1865 |
Back: Known Dead 378 To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. |
In Memoriam Erected by the state of Michigan to her Soldiers and Sailors who were imprisoned on these grounds. 1861 1865 |
-- Erected --
by the Commonwealth in memory of her sons who died in Andersonville 1864-1865 Massahusetts |
Massachusetts |
Ohio |
To her 1,055 sons who died here in Camp Sumpter from March 1864 to April 1865 this
monument is dedicated. |
Death before Dishonor |
This memorial erected in 1934 by the National Woman's Relief Corps. Auxillary of
the Grand Army of the Republic as a tribute to the heroism of the sons of the following
states who are buried in Andersonville National Cemetery. |
Deleware Kansas Kentucky Maryland Missouri New Hampshire Vermont West Virginia |
Number of Dead 19 4 417 178 104 144 244 256 |
In memory of her Union soldiers and loyal sons who died in Confederate prisons during
the war of 1861 - 1865. "We who live may for ourselves forget but not for those who died here" 1284 died |
Being taken captive is as old as the history of war. The assumption that POWs have
any rights at all, however, is a recent innovation. In ancient times, prisoners of war were often sold into slavery, or worse, put to death. Beginning around 2000 B.C., valued warriors were ransomed for large sums. Over time, barter systems developed in which soldiers of equal rank were exchanged. In eighteenth century Europe and colonial America, prisoner exchange and parole -- freeing captives based on their sworn oath not to return to battle -- were standard practice. In addition, states accepted full responsibility for the treatment of prisoners, unlike earlier times when individual captors determined a prisoner's fate. During the twentieth century, the treatment of prisoners became a subject of international law. At the Hague Convention of 1907, most western states agreed that "prisoners must be treated with humanity" and that they must receive the same food and clothing as the troops of the detaining power. While a vast improvement over the practices of previous centuries, the Hague Convention, nevertheless, proved inadequate during the First World War. In 1929, forth-three countries signed an expanded set of regulations. The 1929 Geneva Convention set more stringent standards for adequate food and shelter, the exchange of the sick and wounded, and payment for work required by the enemy. Confronted with the mistreatment of prisoners during Wold War II, the world community convened in 1949 to modify the Geneva Convention in an on-going effort to protect the rights of POWs. |
Earthwork Defenses Half the cannon faced outward to defend against Union cavalry raids -- spinoffs from Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. The other half were loaded with canister and trained on the prison grounds. When the prison was operating, deep ditches fronted the earthworks. Palisades closed the rear of these V-shaped gun emplacements. "We have here largely over 24,000 prisoners of war and 1,205 very raw troups -- with the measles prevailing, badly armed and worse disciplined -- to guard them. With the present force, a raid on the post would almost of necessity be successful." Prison Commander |
Andersonville's First Phase Based on archeological data this stockade is an accurate reconstruction of the prison's North Gate. |
These carefully hewn, closely fitted logs reflect the deliberate design of the prison's
initial sixteen and one-half acres. At the far northeast corner, haphazardly
spaced tree trunks reveal the hasty construction of the camps ten-acre addition.
The Confederates' original plan broke down under a wave of overcrowding. The contrasting stockade walls suggest that things had begun to go terribly wrong by the summer of 1864. When the prison site was selected, dense pine and oak forest covered these slopes. Slaves felled the straightest pines, topped them to a uniform length, and hewed them with broadaxes. The logs were set in a ditch 5 feet deep (as shown in the archeologist's photo below) and stood 47 feet above the ground. "Each pole of the palisades matched so well as to give no glimpse of the outer world across the space of the dead-line." Augustus Hamlin, Medical Inspector. |
This is one of the remaining corner posts of fieldstones that was part of the stockade. |
World of Lost Spirits Directly ahead stretched "Market Street." the only defined path through the jumble of shelters. Food wagons stopped there, prisoners had bartering sites, and prison merchants set up stalls in a pathetic parody of a commercial street. When the inner gates swung open, new prisoners had their first vision of life inside. The noise, the stench, the crowd of emaciated men desperate for news, must have been overwhelming. |
New arrivals were known as "fresh fish." Anything of value -- money, buttons, clothing
-- might be conned or stolen from them. Even worse was the sight of other
prisoners; in those skeletal forms and lifeless eyes, a new prisoner would foresee
his own fate. "Once inside . . . men exclaimed: "Is this hell?' Verily, the great mass of gaunt, unnatural-looking beings, soot-begrimed, and clad in flithy tatters, that we saw stalking about inside this pen looked, indeed as if they might belong to a world of lost spirits." W.B. Smith, 14th Illinois Infantry, October 9, 1864 Issuing rations to 33,000 prisoners, August 1864 |
Providence Spring During a heavy rainstorm on August 14, 1864, a spring suddenly gushed from this hillside. The prisoners were desperate for fresh water, and over time the event became legendary. Several men claimed to have seen lightening strike this spot just before the spring burst forth. This damp slope, with its many natural seeps, would appear to be a likely site for a spring, Workmen may have inadvertently buried the spring's outlet |
while digging the stockade trench. Whether an act of nature or divine providence,
the effect of the stream was an answer to thousands of prayers. |
"A spring of purest crystal water shot up into the air in a column and, falling in
a fanlike spray, went babbling down the grade into the noxious brook. Looking
across the dead-line, we beheld with wondering eyes and grateful hearts the fountain
spring."" John I. Maile, 18th Michigan Infantry, August 15, 1865. Former prisoners met at Providence Spring on Decoration Day 1897. The spring was still vivid in their memories. |
Providence Spring was not actually at the Pavilion site but on this slope within
the deadline. At first, prisoners reached the spring by tying cups to tent poles,
but guards later allowed them to trough the water into camp. |
This pavilion was erected by the Woman's Relief Corps. Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. in grateful memory of the men who suffered and died in the Confederate prison at Andersonville Georgia, from February 1864 to April 1865 The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven God heard, and with his thunder cleft the earth and poured his sweetest waters gushing here ERECTED 1901 |
With Charity to all and malice toward none |
Stockade Branch This stream, a branch of Sweetwater Creek, was the prison's water supply. Today's neatly dredged channel is misleading. When the prison was built, the stockade posts slowed the current, turning the stream banks into acres of stagnant swamp. The prisoners' latrines stood downstream. Overcrowding soon fouled the water, and the sluggish current failed to wash sewage out of the prison. The stream's bacteria quickly became lethal. |
The painting is from the opposite side of the camp looking upstream toward the sources
of Stockade Branch. To Confederate officials, this source of fresh water made Andersonville an ideal site for a prison. Just upstream, however, the bakehouse and guards' camp polluted the creek before it even entered the stockade. "This little creek was our only water supply, and when we would go after water we would often sink to our hips in the mire, and men would often have to be dragged out by their comrades." Charles C. Frederick, 14th Iowa Infantry. February 26, 1864 |
Water unfit for human consumption please DO NOT DRINK |
The North Gate The stockade hand only two entrances in its 3/4-mile perimeter. This path leads to an accurate reconstruction of the North Gate and returns past Providence Spring. The trail follows in the footsteps of newly arriving prisons. Captured Union soldiers marched from the village railroad station, past this spot, and uphill to the North Gate, the main prison entrance. "Five hundred weary men moved along slowly through the double lines of guards. Thro massive wooden gates, with heavy iron hinges and bolts, swung open as we stood there, and we passed through into the space beyond. We were in Andersonville." Pvt. John M. McElroy, 16th Illinois Cavalry |
notice the white posts around the camp, they show the boundaries of the prison. |
The Comandant's Perspective From these heights near headquarters, Capt. Henry A. Wirz could observe everything within the prison walls. Envison the white post perimeter as the stockade; 30,000 human beings within that area; the din of all those voices, the groans from |
the hsopital, the shouts of the guards, the smell of unwashed clothes and bodies.
The Wirz execution, November 10, 1865. The prison commandant, Capt. Henry A. Wirz, was responsible for maintaining order and discipline, imposing punishment, and providing rations. In search of a scapegoat after the war, the federal government tried Wirz for "murder, violation of the laws of war," and sentenced him to death. Some ten miles south of Andersonville, residents of Americus complained of the smell. By the summer of 1864 the stockade became so overcrowded that all those individual prisoners may have appeared as a single, shuffling organism. Today's landscape of quiet grass softens for us the images of Andersonville. Wirz, the prison commandant, did not have that luxury. |
These view photos were taken on the "MOUND" where the Commandant's quarters were.
|
3-inch Ordinance Rifle Model 1861 These guns could defend agains a calvary attack. Loaded and aimed at the prison yard. Confederate cannon also discouraged mass escape. Gun data: Gun tube: Wrought iron, 817 lbs. Projectile: Shell and case shot Range: 1/2 mile with case shot |
Star Fort Before erosion rounded the walls, these earthworks were angled to give defenders overlapping fields of fire. Star Fort was part of a system of defense. Look for other earthworks and entrenchments around the prison tour road. Within this stronghold stood the offices of the post commander and the prison commandant. Fort and headquarters were symbols of power, but the fully enclosed earthworks also reflect the authorities' besieged |
state of mind. Hampered by supply shortages and a constant influx of new prisoners.
Confedrates here were responsible for operating a prison camp under conditions
they could hardly control. Four of the Start Fort's guns were trained outward to repel Union cavalary raids. The other five cannon were aimed toward the north slope of the prison camp. |
The Sinks This downstream end of Stockade Branch was the site of the camp "sinks" or latrines. According to the Confederates' original plan, prisoners would get drinking water upstream and use latrines downstream, where the current would flush sewage out of the camp. Inadvertently, the prison was designed for death. Stockade posts slowed the drainage, and during dry spells the creek became more swamp than flowing stream. Dysentery swept the camp. |
This is the sinks now! The sign says "caution snakes" |
After 140 years, you can still smell the sinks. |
The Prison Hospital Third Hospital Site This empty field was the site of Andersonville's third and last hospital.There were two previous hospital within nine months. It did not take prisoners long to realize that few patients returned. Knowing that medicines were in short supply, even the sickest men resisted going to the hospital. They preferred to die among friends and regimental comrades. |
The third hospital was a cluster of open, barracks-like sheds with a surrounding
stockade. Historical maps pinpoint the hospital site. "The hospital is a tough place to be in . . . In some cases before a man is fairly dead, he is stripped of everything, coat, pants, shirt, finger rings (if he has any). These the nurses trade to the guards." John L. Ransom, 9th Michigan Cavalry. April 15, 1864 Prison conditions were so unsanitary that the slightest scratch could provide entry for deadly microbes. Doctors experimented with local herbs and folk remedies in a desperate attempt to combat rampant infections. |
Prisoner Shelters Prisoners at Andersonville had to provide their own shelters. With sticks and pieces of clothing, the prisoners improvised leaky tents and lean-tos. Many prisoners had no shelter at all. Protection from rain, drew, and broiling sun became a matter of life or death. Exposure aggravated the many illnesses and infections and contributed to the soaring mortality rate. |
"To reach the springs we had to pick our way through a wilderness of low mud huts
and tattered tents. The huts were made out of clay balls, and the tents of old
army blankets, fragments of old clothing, oilcloths, etc." W. R. Smith, 11th Illinois Infantry, October 11, 1864 The August 1864 photograph of this hillside shows a rough sea of improvised shelters, which the prisoners called "shebangs." Overcrowding created a prison within a prison: the men were confined by other living bodies as well as by stockade walls. |
Pigeon-Roosts Sentry boxes of "pigeon-roosts" were mounted every 100 feet along the top of the stockade. The guards there had orders to shoot any prisoner who crossed the deadline. Otherwise they had little control over conditions inside. ore seasoned troops were sent |
Perched above the camp, guards themselves became prisoners of tedium and anxiety
-- always fearful of prisoner uprising or Union cavalry attack. After a while the
noise, the stench, and the view across acres of ragged men and shelters must
have numbed the senses. The guards also suffered from many of the same health problems as the prisoners resulting in a high death rate in that group as well. The guards -- mostlly old men and young boys from the Georgia Reserve Corps -- were reluctant witnesses to the misery at Andersonville. More seasoned troops were sent to stop Sherman's drive toward Atlanta. "Each of the guards faced the vast mass of prisoners and was ordered to closely watch the dead line before and below him half way to his comrade on his right and left. " John L. Maile. Michigan Infantry, May 22, 1964 Local townspeople sometimes came to gawk at the prisons. |
The Expanded Stockade The unhewn logs with daylight between them betray the Confederates' haste to expand the north end of camp. in contrast, the reconstruction at the North Gate section shows the carefully planned design of the stockade's initial 16 acres, when officials planned for only 6,000 prisoners. The outer row of white posts maks the perimeter of the stockade, inner posts mark the deadline. The area between was no man's land. |
If prisoners crossed the deadline, guards in the sentry boxes had orders to shoot
them. This stockade is an accurate reconstruction Archeologists excavated stumps here that showed the size and spacing of stockade logs. They were able to map the location of each stockade post from the change in soil color produced by rotting wood. The photograph shows the inner and middle stockade in 1867. "July 1 was moving day for thousands of prisoners who had been cramped for sufficient room and there was a perfect stampede for the new position." James M. Page, 6th Michigan Cavalry, July 1, 1864. |
The Stocks |
Andersonville National Cemetery This cemetery began as a burial place for the 12,920 Union soldiers who died in the nearby prison camp. The orderly rows and peaceful setting contrast with the misery and disease within that stockade. When Andersonville National Cemetery was established on July 26, 1865, it became open to veterans of all later wars and remains an active cemetery. The headstones appear similar, but there are many unique features. Look for the Raiders' graves, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, and the different symbols above individuals' names. On modern headstones, the Veterans Administration has approved 20 emblems and religious symbols. "The introduction of disease into the camp, the pollution of the water supply, inadequate medical care, lack of shelter, short and defective rations and overcrowding all these contributed to the terrifying mortality rate which in August reached 100 a day" Walter E. Smith, 16th Connecticut Infantry Nurse Clara Barton raised the first flag at Andersonville National Cemetery on August 17, 1865, Barton had come to Andersonville with former prisoner Dorence Atwater and a crew of 34 to identify and mark the graves. |
Cemetery Entrance |
Turn you to the stronghold ye prisoners of hope Zacharia 9:12 |
The Raiders' Graves The names on these headstones may not be accurate. Several of the Raiders were deserters who re-enlisted under aliases. These six graves were deliberately set apart; these six prisonser were buried with dishonor. Only enlisted soldiers were imprisoned at Andersonville. With no Union officers to maintain order, life in the pen became anarchy. |
A gang known as the raiders roamed the prison yard, bullying, robbing, and even
murdering other prisoners. Eventually; with the blessing of Commandant Wirz, the
prisoners formed a police squad called the Regulators, arrested the Raiders,
and tried and hanged the six ringleaders. "Raiders took $170.00 from Dowd, he was badly cut up, but finally got away and reached the gate and reported to Capt. Wirz, who came with him and demanded that the robbers should be given up under penalty of no rations for one week." Before their execution the six Raider leaders were court-martialed by their peers. Confederates provided lumber for the gallows, which was erected near the prison's South Gate. The remaining raiders were forced to run a gauntlet |
Massive Monuments In 1911 the state of New York erected this granite monument to honor its troops who died in Andersonville prison. Large monuments were a fashion of the time, built on a scale that would symbolize the prisoners' enormous sacrifice. There are twelve monuments in this cemetery and eleven at the nearby prison site. Each has a unique design. Because so little remains of the historic prison, the monuments form a prominent part of the Andersonville landscape. |
"Theirs was not the glory of death on the firing line. Penned in by the dead line,
wasted by disease, far from home and loved ones, they were mercifully mustered
out, leaving as a heritage to the nation a memory of a devotion as limitless
as eternity itself"" Address by Gov. A. T. Bliss at the dedication of the Michigan Monument, Andersonville, May 30, 1904 Dedication of the New York monument on April 30, 1914. The Women's Relief Corps acquired the prison site in 1896, erected the pavilion at Providence Spring, and encouraged states to build memorials. |
The Unknown Soldier The Union dead in this section did not die in Andersonville prison. Buried in haste on battlefields in central and southwest Georgia, many of these soldiers were never identified. There was no system of military "dog tags" during the Civil War. A memorial at the north end of the drive honors all the unkowns in this cemetery. Of the 12,920 who died at Andersonvile only 160 have graves marked "unknown U.S. Soldier" |
"those who expect to reap the blessings of Freedom must, like en undergo the fatigue
of supporting it. . ." Thomas (Francis or Paris) 1777 By 1868 more than 800 remains from surrounding couties were disinterred from common graves and brought to Andersonville -- the nearest national cemetery -- for reburial in pine caskets. The historic photograph shows a similar reinternment in Virginia after the battle of Fredericksburg. |
American Former Prisoners of War Stalag XVII-B Erected by and in honor of all Americans held prisoners of war in a German prison camp known as Stalag XVII-B in Krems, Austria 1943-1945 and in memory of all Americans held as POWS in European Theatre in WW II |
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Indiana |
Maine |
As of right now, I don't have a list of who is buried in the National Cemetery at
Andersonville. But Dee found a link to the National Parks lookup database for
prisoners of Andersonville. I think you will find it very usefull. http://www.montezuma-ga.org/chamber/plookup.htm |
There is no way two pictures can represent the amount of graves and death at
Andersonville. In some places the headstones are less than an inch apart, men
died by the dozens each day, and on some days over 100 were buried at a time.
You can still smell the death. History forgotten is destined to be repeated. May they rest in peace. May we never forget. |