Andersonville Prison

     The Confederate military prison was a hell hole. Located in the center of Georgia, close to modern day Macon and Sumter, Andersonville held more than 45,000 captive Union soldiers throughout the Civil War. This prison, also known as Camp Sumter, was surrounded on all sides by pine logs 15 to 17 feet tall. Andersonville was created in 1864, because the original prison in Richmond could not fit all the Union captives. Andersonville was built inland so it was safe from Union raids (captives couldn't escape easily) and there was a freshwater pond nearby. The prison was designed to hold 10,000 soldiers, however it held 30,000. Prisoners suffered from endless diseases, swarms of insects, and filth, all due to the contaminated water supply. The pond where the captives got their water started out fresh, although it soon became filled with sewage, trash, and endless pollutants. The poor conditions of the prison did not make sense to critics. This was because the South had enough resources and space to enlarge the prison, however they didn't. Even though the Confederates running Andersonville were cruel to the Unionists, the prisoners did little to improve the miserable conditions: guards took away firewood, the water was unsanitary because of the prisoners' waste dumped into it, robbery made life dangerous, and vicious gangs were formed. Henry Wirz, the prison commander, was resented by many Confederates because of his bad leadership. Southerners thought he was not cruel enough to the prisoners. Henry Wirz ended up getting hanged for war crimes. This is ironic because he was the only person to be executed for Civil War crimes even though he was not the cruelest. The prison population declined in August 1864 because of Sherman's march. Captives were sent to other camps so they could not be liberated by Union soldiers accompanying Sherman. When the infantry (professional military personnel) left, the a ragtag militia of Georgians and Floridians keep control with a dead line. A dead line was a line, where prisoners would be shot by a soldier if they tried to cross it. There was almost no chance of escape for a typical prisoner. Unless you were taken outside, it was unlikely to escape. In the prison, prisoners constructed "shebangs" to act as shelter. Shebangs were shacks made out of various items such as cloth, mud, bricks, tree limbs, and brush. Some prisoners would show compassion for each other by sharing their shebangs, and caring for the sick. When someone was removing the clothes of the dead they would be surprised to find a female. This is because females were not allowed to enlist in the army, meaning the woman would have had disguised herself as a man. Prisoners tried to meet basic cleanliness needs by using sand as soap. A captive, John Ransom opened a barber shop and a laundromat. For the 14 months of Andersonville's operation 13,000 captives died. Even though the prison was 26.5 acres it was crowded, overrun with disease, and full of horrific individuals no human being should ever see. Today the camp is a cemetery and today as students, teachers, and historians reflect back on the Civil War, we should remember to honor those soldiers that died, but to also remember the Union soldiers who had to suffer through the horrors of the Andersonville prison.

Mortality Rate: 13:45 (dead:living)

Sources:

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/warfare/andersonville.html

http://www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/special.htm

http://www.nps.gov/ande/photosmultimedia/images/I13-2615_1.jpg

http://jason-cochran.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/AndersonvillePrisoner.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Andersonville_Prison.jpg/400px-Andersonville_Prison.jpg