The
Andersonville prison, officially known as
Camp Sumter, was the largest
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
military prisonA military prison is a prison operated by the military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime...
during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
. The site of the prison is now
Andersonville National Historic Site in
AndersonvilleAndersonville is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 331 at the 2000 census . It is in the southwest part of the state, about southwest of Macon, Georgia on the Central of Georgia railroad...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
. Most of the site actually lies in extreme southwestern
Macon CountyMacon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 14,074. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 13,542 . The county seat is Oglethorpe, Georgia. - History :...
, adjacent to the east side of Andersonville. It includes the site of the Civil War prison, the Andersonville National Cemetery, and the National Prisoner of War Museum. In all, 12,913 of the approximately 45,000
UnionThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
prisonersA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
died there because of starvation, malnutrition, diarrhea, and disease.
Conditions
The prison originally covered about of land enclosed by a high stockade. In June, 1864 it was enlarged to . The stockade was in the shape of a parallelogram by . Guard towers, called pigeon roosts, were established at intervals. There were two entrances on the west side of the stockade, known as "north entrance" and "south entrance".
A Union soldier described his entry into the prison camp:
"As we entered the place, a spectacle met
our eyes that almost froze our blood with
horror, and made our hearts fail within us.
Before us were forms that had once been active
and erect;—stalwart men, now nothing but
mere walking skeletons, covered with filth and
vermin. Many of our men, in the heat and
intensity of their feeling, exclaimed with
earnestness. "Can this be hell?" "God protect
us!" and all thought that He alone could bring
them out alive from so terrible a place. In
the center of the whole was a swamp, occupying
about three or four acres of the narrowed
limits, and a part of this marshy place had
been used by the prisoners as a sink, and
excrement covered the ground, the scent arising
from which was suffocating. The ground
allotted to our ninety was near the edge
of this plague-spot, and how we were to live
through the warm summer weather in the
midst of such fearful surroundings, was more
than we cared to think of just then."
At Andersonville, a light fence known as "The Dead Line" was erected approximately 3 feet (0.9 m) inside the stockade wall to demarcate a no-man's land keeping the prisoners away from the stockade wall, which was made of rough hewn logs about long. Anyone crossing this line was shot by sentries in the pigeon roosts.
Andersonville Prison was frequently undersupplied with food. Even when sufficient quantities were available, the supplies were of poor quality and poorly prepared. During the summer of 1864, Union prisoners suffered greatly from hunger, exposure, and disease. Within seven months, about a third of them died from
dysenteryDysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the feces. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal....
and
scurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
and were buried in mass graves, the standard practice by Confederate prison authorities at Andersonville. Dorence Atwater, a soldier in the 2nd New York Cavalry kept a record of deaths at the camp.
The water supply from Stockade Creek became polluted when too many Union prisoners were housed by the Confederate authorities within the prison walls. Part of the creek was used as a sink and the men were forced to wash themselves in the creek. According to National Park Service officials at Andersonville, the Stockade Creek remains contaminated to this day.
The guards, disease, starvation, and exposure were not all that prisoners had to deal with. A group of prisoners, calling themselves the "
Andersonville RaidersThe Andersonville Raiders were a band of rogue soldiers held prisoner at the Andersonville Prison during the American Civil War. Led by their chieftains Charles Curtis, John Sarsfield, Patrick Delaney, Teri Sullivan , William Collins, and A. Munn, these soldiers terrorized their fellow prisoners,...
," attacked their fellow inmates to steal food, jewelry, money, and clothing. They were armed mostly with clubs, and killed to get what they wanted. Another group rose up to stop the
larcenyLarceny is a form of theft. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland...
, calling themselves "Regulators." They caught nearly all of the "Raiders," who were then tried by a judge (Peter "Big Pete" McCullough) and jury selected from a group of new prisoners. This jury, upon finding the "Raiders" guilty, set punishment that included
running the gauntletRunning the gauntlet is a form of physical punishment wherein a man is compelled to run between two rows — a gauntlet — of soldiers who strike him as he passes.-Roman predecessor:...
,
being sent to the stocksStocks are devices used since medieval times for torture, public humiliation, and corporal punishment. The stocks partially immobilized its victims exposing them in public place to the scorn of the local people, who often took to insulting, kicking, spitting and in some cases urinating and...
,
ball and chain"Make This Love Right" , is a single written and produced by New Jersey house music producer Romanthony. The song was released on Azuli Records of New York in 1993. The song was something of an anomalous cultural craze in the city of Cork, Republic of Ireland, in the late 1990s where it became an...
, and, in six cases, hanging.
In the autumn of 1864, after the
capture of AtlantaThe Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces...
, all the prisoners who could be moved were sent to
Millen, GeorgiaMillen is a city in Jenkins County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,492 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Jenkins County.-Geography:Millen is located at ....
, and
Florence, South CarolinaFlorence is the largest city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. This 1997 All-America City finalist, with its historic homes and medical center towers, came together to form a cultural center for the northeastern portion of South Carolina. The city population...
. At Millen, better arrangements prevailed, and when, after General
William Tecumseh ShermanWilliam Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...
began his
march to the seaSherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted in late 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia on November 15 and...
, the prisoners were returned to Andersonville, the conditions there were somewhat improved.
During the war, 45,000 prisoners were received at Andersonville prison, and of these 12,913 died. A continuing controversy among historians is the nature of the deaths and the reasons for them, with some contending that it was deliberate Confederate war crimes toward Union prisoners and others contending that it was merely the result of disease promoted by severe overcrowding, the shortage of food in the Confederate States, the incompetence of the prison officials, and the refusal of the Confederate authorities to parole black soldiers, resulting in the imprisonment of soldiers from both sides, thus overfilling the stockade.
A young Union prisoner named
Dorence AtwaterDorence Atwater was a Union Army soldier, merchant, entrepreneur, and United States Consul to Tahiti. He was born and raised in Terryville, Connecticut, the third child of Henry Atwater and Catherine Fenn Atwater. He was well-educated, and at 16 he joined the Union Army to fight in the American...
had been chosen to record the names and numbers of the dead at Andersonville for the use of the Confederacy and the Federal Government after the war ended. He believed the federal government would never see the list, and was right in this assumption, as it turned out. He sat next to Henry Wirz, who was in charge of the prison pen, and secretly kept his own list among the other papers. When Atwater was released, he put the list in his bag and took it through the lines without being caught. It was published by the
New York Times when Horace Greeley, the owner, learned that the federal government had refused and given Atwater much grief. It was Dorence Atwater’s opinion that Andersonville was indeed trying to make soldiers unfit to fight.
Aftermath
After the war,
Henry WirzHeinrich Hartmann Wirz better known as Henry Wirz was a Confederate officer tried and executed in the aftermath of the American Civil War for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of Camp Sumter, the Confederate prisoner of war camp in Andersonville, Georgia.-Medical career and...
, commandant at Camp Sumter, was
court-martialA court-martial is a military court. These military courts can determine punishments for members of the military subject to military law who are found guilty or may dismiss the charges based on the evidence and the case presented. Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in...
ed on charges of conspiracy and murder. The trial was presided over by Union General
Lew WallaceLewis "Lew" Wallace was a lawyer, governor, Union general in the American Civil War, American statesman, and author, best remembered for his historical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.-Early life and career:...
and featured chief JAG (Judge Advocate General)'s prosecutor Norton Parker Chipman. A number of former prisoners testified on conditions at Andersonville, many accusing Wirz of specific acts of cruelty. Some of these accounts have subsequently been determined by historians to have been exaggerated or false. The court also considered official correspondence from captured Confederate records, perhaps the most damaging of which was a letter to the Confederate Surgeon General by Dr. James Jones, who in 1864 was sent by Richmond to investigate conditions at Camp Sumter. Wirz presented evidence that he pleaded to Confederate authorities to try to get more food and tried to improve the conditions for the prisoners inside.
Unfortunately for Wirz, President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
had recently been assassinated, so the political environment was not sympathetic. Wirz was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death. On November 10, 1865 he was
hangedHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. It hurts a lot. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would...
. Wirz was the only Confederate official to be tried and convicted of war crimes resulting from the Civil War. The revelation of the sufferings of the prisoners was one of the factors that shaped public opinion in the North regarding the South after the close of the Civil War.
In 1891 the
Grand Army of the RepublicThe Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who had served in the American Civil War. The GAR was among the first organized interest groups in American politics. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War .-History:The GAR...
, Department of Georgia bought the site of Andersonville Prison from membership and subscriptions. The site was purchased by the federal government in 1910.
National Prisoner of War Museum
The National Prisoner of War Museum opened in 1998 as a memorial to all American
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. Exhibits use art, photographs, displays and video presentations to focus on the capture, living conditions, hardships, and experiences of American prisoners of war in all periods. The museum also serves as the park's visitor center.
Andersonville National Cemetery
The cemetery is the final resting place for the Union prisoners who perished while being held at Camp Sumter as POW. The prisoners' burial ground at Camp Sumter has been made a national cemetery. It contains 13,714 graves, of which 921 are marked "unknown."
The cemetery is currently active as an honored burial place for present-day veterans and their dependents.
Historic Prison Site
Visitors can walk the 26.5 acre site of Camp Sumter, which has been outlined with double rows of white posts. Two sections of the stockade wall have been reconstructed, the north gate and the northeast corner.
See also
- Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
- Camp Douglas (Chicago)
Camp Douglas was a Union training camp and later prisoner-of-war camp in Chicago, Illinois, USA, during the American Civil War.-Overview:In 1861, a tract of land at 31st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago was provided by the estate of Stephen A. Douglas for a Union Army training post on the...
- Camp Morton
Camp Morton was a prisoner-of-war camp located in Indianapolis, Indiana during the American Civil War. It was named for Indiana governor Oliver Morton, who was the governor of Indiana during the War. It lasted from 1861-1865...
- Dix-Hill Cartel:
The Dix-Hill Cartel was an agreement concluded on July 22, 1862 between the Confederate and Union governments to handle the general exchange of prisoners of war. The negotiators were Union Major General John A. Dix and Confederate Major General D. H. Hill...
The agreement reached in July 1862 to regulate prisoner of war exchanges.
- Elmira Prison
Elmira Prison was a prisoner-of-war camp constructed by the Union Army in Elmira, New York, during the American Civil War to house captive Confederate soldiers....
- Johnson's Island
Johnson's Island is a 300-acre island in Sandusky Bay, located on the coast of Lake Erie, 3 miles from the city of Sandusky, Ohio. It was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers captured during the American Civil War. Johnson's Island was the only Union prison exclusively for...
- Libby Prison
Libby Prison was a Confederate Prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the harsh conditions under which prisoners from the Union Army were kept.- Overview :...
- Camp Chase
Camp Chase was a military staging, training and prison camp in Columbus, Ohio, during the American Civil War. All that remains of the camp today is a Confederate cemetery containing 2,260 graves. The cemetery is located in what is now the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio.- History :Camp Chase...
External links