Andersonville

Andersonville Prison

Andersonville Prison Camp

Andersonville prison was a place where the soldiers of the Union army feared to go. Andersonville prison was the largest Confederate prison during the Civil War.

The horror stories that the soldiers told were enough to make every soldier think twice about surrendering to the rebels. The total prisoner population was estimated at around 33,000 and the "lucky" ones that were liberated after the end of the war totaled roughly 5,000. The death toll was around 13,000. These soldiers died from exposure, starvation and disease.

At the prison, a light fence known as "The Dead Line" was erected three feet from the stockade wall. The wall was made of logs that were 16' long. Any prisoner who dared cross that line was shot on sight. The Confederate sharp shooters mounted in the "pigeon towers" made sure that any attempt at escape would be meet with a musket ball in the back. "Hell" indeed.

One of the lasting relics of the prison that still can be seen today, other than the buildings and rubble on the grounds, is the water supply creek. The creek was the only source of water for the entire prison and was so contaminated it still is deemed unusable by the National Park Service.

The bad water was not the only terror endured by the Union prisoners in this terrible camp; there were the "Raiders" who killed their fellow jail mates for food and supplies. The "Raiders" were Union soldiers that resorted to criminal intent in order to secure food and other sundries. Armed with clubs, the men would attack their fellow comrades and sometimes would resort to murder for food.

A vigilante group was formed to ward off the "Raiders". The "Regulators" were a group of Union prisoners who would catch the thieving killers in the act and bring them to a make shift judge in the prison. The punishments ranged from running the gauntlet to death by hanging. Prison life was extremely hard in the Civil War where barbarism is the norm rather than the oddity.

After the war, Commandant Henry Wirz, the commander of the prison camp, was court-martialed on charges of conspiracy and murder. The trial was presided over by Confederate leaders and the outcome was sealed when President Lincoln was assassinated. Wirz was the first and last Confederate commander to be put to death by hanging after the Civil War.

The prison was closed three months after the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox, ending one of the most brutal periods in the time of American history. Public opinion of the south was shaped by the atrocities of the prison situation, as the north attempted to sort out the affects on the population.

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