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Re: Andersonville

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: September 20, 2003

"Death and suffering at Andersonville

Conditions were grim at Georgia prison camp Death and suffering at Andersonville

THE NAME Andersonville Prison evokes a wide range of emotions. People have different perceptions of the prison. Alan Marsh, a historian at Andersonville National Historical Site, spoke this month to the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table to clear up some of the misconceptions as part of the group's study of Civil War prisons and prison experiences.

Officially known as Camp Sumter, Andersonville be-came a prison in February 1864 on 16 acres in west-central Georgia. It was later enlarged to 26 acres.

The land was partly a sandy hill and partially a valley with a muddy stream running through the middle of the camp surrounded by a 14-foot-high stockade.

Andersonville was created to take pressure off the overcrowded conditions at Richmond's Belle Isle Prison. The large number of prisoners in Richmond was creating a shortage of food and supplies in the Confederate capital and the detached soldiers on guard duty were needed on the battle lines.

Andersonville, Ga., was selected because of its isolated location well behind the Confederate lines in an agricultural area that had a railroad station.

At first there were only about 500 Union prisoners, but in May Gen. Grant began a series of major battles in central Virginia while Gen. William T. Sherman advanced on Atlanta. To lessen the number of Confederates he was fighting, Grant ended the prisoner exchange program. Instead of a short incarceration, captured soldiers now remained in prison until the war ended; the prisoner signed an oath of allegiance not to take up arms (which most would not do) or he died.

By July, the number of prisoners had swelled to 32,000 enlisted men; officers were sent to a prison near Macon, Ga. During its 14 months of use, 45,000 men served time in Andersonville.

Problems abounded in the sweltering Georgia heat and humidity. Inadequate shelter, bad sanitation, and lack of food and medicine made living conditions miserable. Some of the men built tents to shade themselves from the hot summer sun. Others lived in the open. The creek became polluted resulting in severe stomach ailments.

As food and supplies ran short, the guards and civilians in the outlying communities had first priority. Almost 13,000 prisoners died. The death rate was high, but all the prison camps suffered from the same problems and Andersonville's death rate was similar to that of Elmira, N.Y.

Gangs of ruffians called "raiders" terrorized their fellow prisoners. Intimidation, robbing and killing became common. To end the violence, six gang leaders were hanged. They were buried separately from the other dead in the cemetery adjacent to the prison. Nowadays, on Memorial Day American flags are placed on each grave--except those of the six disgraced gang leaders.

A dead line paralleled the interior of the stockade wall. At first, prisoners were simply told to get back if they ventured across the line. But in the summer of 1864, Capt. Henry Wirz cracked down as rumors increased of an attempted mass escape. Anyone crossing the line was shot. Sometimes cold-hearted guards lured naive prisoners across the line with offers of food, only to shoot them dead.

In late July 1864, Union cavalry leader George Stoneman launched a raid to tear up railroad tracks west and south of Atlanta and free the men held at Andersonville. Some of Stoneman's troopers reached Andersonville, but as prisoners rather than freedom riders.

In the spring of 1865, most of the prisoners were sent elsewhere, mostly to Milledgeville, Ga., and Florence, S.C.

With the war over, two things of importance happened. Capt. Henry Wirz, the prison commandant, was arrested and charged with "impairing the health and destroying the lives of prisoners." Following what many consider an unfair trial, Wirz was sentenced to death and hanged in the yard of the Old Capitol Prison in Washington.

Without doubt, conditions at Andersonville were horrible and Wirz was a rough, profane man, but his supporters argue that he did the best he could. Marsh argued, and many historians agree, that Wirz became the scapegoat and victim of postwar hysteria.

The second important thing to happen was the attempt to identify the dead. Lawrence Atwater, a prisoner at Andersonville, kept a record of the dead. His records were taken by the Federal government. When the government denied him access to the records so he could publish them, he took back his records. He was charged with theft and sentenced to harsh labor.

Clara Barton came to Atwater's rescue. With her strong political connections, she freed Atwater and collaborated with him in finding out what happened to the unaccounted-for prisoners. Remarkably, they were able to identify all but 400 of the 13,000 dead.

Andersonville remains a controversial topic. Alan Marsh's excellent presentation cleared away many of the misconceptions and shed light on such controversies as Andersonville's high death rate and the trial of Capt. Wirz.

Today, Andersonville National Historic Site consists of the prison site, the cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum that commemorates American prisoners from all wars.

MAC WYCKOFF of Spotsylvania County is a historian and vice president of the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table.

© 2003, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. of Fredericksburg, Va."