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Andersonville A Story of Rebel Military Prisons
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626 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1879
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About the author
John McElroy
83 books3 followersEditor of the Toledo Blade 1874-1884 and the [Washington, D.C.] National Tribune 1884-1929.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 31, 2016
One of the best stories I’ve read about the Civil War. Mr. McElroy speaks his mind as a prisoner of Andersonville and a few other Confederate prisons he was kept at.
How many have heard over the years that the holocaust could never happen again? The treatment of Union soldiers and the lack of humanity show them will have readers seeing the seeds of what the world would witness seventy years later in Nazi Germany. No, I’m not making a comparison to the Confederacy and Nazi Germany. I’m pointing out that men of unstable mental status when put in power over others will not only abuse their power, but when called to trial will say, “We were only following orders.”
The story is not for the weak of heart. The prisoners were provided no shelter or sanitation facilities. Andersonville was a terrible place run by a tyrant, Wirz. The author paints an extremely vivid and at times horrendous picture of the everyday struggle to survive. In the beginning, he would lament over the loss of comrades but as time marched on and the losses mounted, he became less traumatized and more interested in what clothing or useful items he could obtain from his passed brethren. On the average, at least twenty men would die from disease, infection, starvation or loss of hope each day. Sound familiar?
What is even more fascinating is his descriptions of the different factions that formed in the prison. The “New Yorkers” were the most notorious. They preyed on any and every one they determined were weak or needed to be relieved of their valuables.
After reading this, one might not picture the confederate prison guards in a fair light. I know I did at times. How could men shoot defenceless prisoners for sport, simple whims or justification with no penalty? Top the squalor, lice and hopelessness of the confined and you will feel as depressed as they were. How the author survived is a true testament to self-survival.
In all fairness, I’ll be seeking out works detailing with the Union prison camps. Appears Camp Douglas had many of the same deadly problems.
Some readers might not be keen on the language of the time. This is written with the words of the late Nineteenth Century which can be a bit off. There are some grammatical and formatting issues but nothing to detract from this honest memoir.
An excellent addition for Civil War buffs.
Five stars
How many have heard over the years that the holocaust could never happen again? The treatment of Union soldiers and the lack of humanity show them will have readers seeing the seeds of what the world would witness seventy years later in Nazi Germany. No, I’m not making a comparison to the Confederacy and Nazi Germany. I’m pointing out that men of unstable mental status when put in power over others will not only abuse their power, but when called to trial will say, “We were only following orders.”
The story is not for the weak of heart. The prisoners were provided no shelter or sanitation facilities. Andersonville was a terrible place run by a tyrant, Wirz. The author paints an extremely vivid and at times horrendous picture of the everyday struggle to survive. In the beginning, he would lament over the loss of comrades but as time marched on and the losses mounted, he became less traumatized and more interested in what clothing or useful items he could obtain from his passed brethren. On the average, at least twenty men would die from disease, infection, starvation or loss of hope each day. Sound familiar?
What is even more fascinating is his descriptions of the different factions that formed in the prison. The “New Yorkers” were the most notorious. They preyed on any and every one they determined were weak or needed to be relieved of their valuables.
After reading this, one might not picture the confederate prison guards in a fair light. I know I did at times. How could men shoot defenceless prisoners for sport, simple whims or justification with no penalty? Top the squalor, lice and hopelessness of the confined and you will feel as depressed as they were. How the author survived is a true testament to self-survival.
In all fairness, I’ll be seeking out works detailing with the Union prison camps. Appears Camp Douglas had many of the same deadly problems.
Some readers might not be keen on the language of the time. This is written with the words of the late Nineteenth Century which can be a bit off. There are some grammatical and formatting issues but nothing to detract from this honest memoir.
An excellent addition for Civil War buffs.
Five stars
February 21, 2016
This is probably the most difficult book I ever read. But also one of the best. It was very well written by a man who was one of the first to arrive there. It's full of interesting stories, amazing facts one has never heard of (e.g., the Confederate prison in Florence, South Carolina was even worse). In many ways, the Southerns who ran those prisons treated the prisoners worse than the Nazis treated theirs. At the trial of Captain Wirtz, the scapegoat who was hung after the war (who richly deserved it), dozens of nearby neighbors testified that there was plenty of food available in that part of Georgia at that time. Sherman also found plenty in the rest of the state.
We often hear that a relatively low percentage of the 35,000 men imprisoned there died, but that's because many were there only a short time. Of the 63 members of the author's brigade who entered Andersonville as it was opened, only 13 survived. Major causes of death were scurvy (easily avoided with inexpensive food sources of vitamin C) and exposure. Most men had to sleep on the ground, even in winter in freezing weather, while the camp was in a literal wilderness area surrounded by forest which they were not allowed to use to build huts or build reasonable fires for cooking their daily ration of less than one pint of poorly ground corn meal.
The general in charge, John H. Winder, bragged, "I am killing off more Yankees than twenty regiments in Lee's army." On July 27, 1964, in his order No. 13, he ordered that if Federal troops came within 7 miles of Andersonville, the guards where to "open upon the Stockage with grapeshot [using the numerous cannons that were trained on the prisoners] without reference to the situation beyond these lines of defense." Just like in the case of Nazi Germany, the leaders of the South knew very well what was going on.
We often hear that a relatively low percentage of the 35,000 men imprisoned there died, but that's because many were there only a short time. Of the 63 members of the author's brigade who entered Andersonville as it was opened, only 13 survived. Major causes of death were scurvy (easily avoided with inexpensive food sources of vitamin C) and exposure. Most men had to sleep on the ground, even in winter in freezing weather, while the camp was in a literal wilderness area surrounded by forest which they were not allowed to use to build huts or build reasonable fires for cooking their daily ration of less than one pint of poorly ground corn meal.
The general in charge, John H. Winder, bragged, "I am killing off more Yankees than twenty regiments in Lee's army." On July 27, 1964, in his order No. 13, he ordered that if Federal troops came within 7 miles of Andersonville, the guards where to "open upon the Stockage with grapeshot [using the numerous cannons that were trained on the prisoners] without reference to the situation beyond these lines of defense." Just like in the case of Nazi Germany, the leaders of the South knew very well what was going on.
November 10, 2012
Some of this book is very powerful, but I found my attention straying by the end. It did get me thinking, however, on how screwed up the Civil War must have left a generation of Americans, given its horrors.
A passage of black humor that struck me:
"I had been in prison but a little while when a voice called out from a hole in the ground, as I was passing: 'S-a-y, Sergeant! Won't you please take these shears and cut my toes off?'
"'What?' said I, in amazement, stopping in front of the dug-out.
"'Just take these shears, won't you, and cut my toes off!' answered the inmate, an Indiana infantryman -- holding up a pair of dull shears in his hand and elevating a foot for me to look at.
"I examined the later carefully. All the flesh of the toes, except little pads at the ends, had rotted off, leaving the bones as clean as if scraped. The little tendons still remained and held the bones to their places, but this seemed to hurt the rest of the foot and annoy the man.
"'You'd better let one of the Rebel doctors see this,' I said, after finishing my survey, 'before you conclude to have them off. Maybe they can be saved.'
"'No; damned if I'm going to have any of them Rebel butchers fooling around me. I'd die first and then I wouldn't,' was the reply. 'You can do it better than they can. It's just a little snip. Just try it.'
"'I don't like to,' I replied. 'I might lame you for life and make you lots of trouble.'
"'O, bother! what business is that of yours? They're my toes, and I want 'em off. They hurt me so I can't sleep. Come, now, take the shears and cut 'em off.'
"I yielded, and taking the shears, snipped one tendon after another, close to the feet, and in a few seconds had the whole ten toes lying in a heap at the bottom of the dug-out. I picked them up and handed them to their owner, who gazed at them complacently, and remarked: 'Well, I'm darned glad they're off. I won't be bothered with corns anymore, I flatter myself.'"
A passage of black humor that struck me:
"I had been in prison but a little while when a voice called out from a hole in the ground, as I was passing: 'S-a-y, Sergeant! Won't you please take these shears and cut my toes off?'
"'What?' said I, in amazement, stopping in front of the dug-out.
"'Just take these shears, won't you, and cut my toes off!' answered the inmate, an Indiana infantryman -- holding up a pair of dull shears in his hand and elevating a foot for me to look at.
"I examined the later carefully. All the flesh of the toes, except little pads at the ends, had rotted off, leaving the bones as clean as if scraped. The little tendons still remained and held the bones to their places, but this seemed to hurt the rest of the foot and annoy the man.
"'You'd better let one of the Rebel doctors see this,' I said, after finishing my survey, 'before you conclude to have them off. Maybe they can be saved.'
"'No; damned if I'm going to have any of them Rebel butchers fooling around me. I'd die first and then I wouldn't,' was the reply. 'You can do it better than they can. It's just a little snip. Just try it.'
"'I don't like to,' I replied. 'I might lame you for life and make you lots of trouble.'
"'O, bother! what business is that of yours? They're my toes, and I want 'em off. They hurt me so I can't sleep. Come, now, take the shears and cut 'em off.'
"I yielded, and taking the shears, snipped one tendon after another, close to the feet, and in a few seconds had the whole ten toes lying in a heap at the bottom of the dug-out. I picked them up and handed them to their owner, who gazed at them complacently, and remarked: 'Well, I'm darned glad they're off. I won't be bothered with corns anymore, I flatter myself.'"
March 12, 2023
This is a first-person account of life in Confederate prisoner-of-war camps. It was written in 1879 and originally published in serial form in the newspaper. The author was a journalist after the war. In addition to the author's experiences, there are also a couple of short official reports and occasional stories of others who related their tales to the author either in the camps or as letters to the newspapers that published the account.
I have read about so much human misery, man's inhumanity to man, that I wonder why I keep at it. I've read about the Nazi concentration camps (death camps), Nazi POW camps, the ordeals of British and American POWs held by the Japanese in WWII, and about Soviet camps throughout their 75+ year history.
This tale rivals all those depictions of cruelty. Andersonville (and the other camps the author suffered) was a simple stockade containing sixteen or so acres with no shelter for the inhabitants, no sanitary considerations, watered only by a stream already polluted by the guards. Death thrived there.
Written as it was 150 years ago or so, the text at times is a bit jarring. Our vocabulary today is considerably reduced today and modern readers will be unfamiliar with many terms or find words used in unfamiliar ways. On the other hand, we have (mostly) moderated our descriptions of the people we meet (i.e. racial epithets).
I have read about so much human misery, man's inhumanity to man, that I wonder why I keep at it. I've read about the Nazi concentration camps (death camps), Nazi POW camps, the ordeals of British and American POWs held by the Japanese in WWII, and about Soviet camps throughout their 75+ year history.
This tale rivals all those depictions of cruelty. Andersonville (and the other camps the author suffered) was a simple stockade containing sixteen or so acres with no shelter for the inhabitants, no sanitary considerations, watered only by a stream already polluted by the guards. Death thrived there.
Written as it was 150 years ago or so, the text at times is a bit jarring. Our vocabulary today is considerably reduced today and modern readers will be unfamiliar with many terms or find words used in unfamiliar ways. On the other hand, we have (mostly) moderated our descriptions of the people we meet (i.e. racial epithets).
August 24, 2023
This book is a memoir written by John McElroy, a Union soldier who was captured by the Confederacy in January 1864 and spent the rest of the war in the Confederate prisoner of war camp known as Andersonville in Georgia, as well as a few other prisons, especially towards the end of the war when the Union was invading Georgia. He describes the inhumane conditions - no real shelter, bug-infested food, filthy water - along with the culture of the prison. While there was some humanity and fellow-feeling among the prisoners, and attempts to organize a type of society, there were also gangs and feuds among the prisoners, and many acts of theft and violence. It grew to be such a problem that at one point the Confederate guards allowed the prisoners to conduct a trial and hang several prisoners who were found guilty of capital crimes. There are also many stories of escape attempts, through such means as tunnels and bribery, but there is mostly hopelessness and horror and death. McElroy clearly has a low opinion of southerners and it is not hard to see why. This is a really interesting part of the Civil War story that I wasn’t very familiar with before reading this book, and it is a vivid and thorough account of a truly awful aspect of that conflict.
December 24, 2025
I was going to the family reunion and I had meant for some time to pick up a book about Andersonville. I had a relative that ended up in Andersonville during the Civil War and died after being moved to another concentration camp. He would have been a cousin that tried to join the militia in Wisconsin a the age of 16, but when his father went and brought him home he later got on his horse and rode all the way to Massachusetts and joined the militia there.
Anyway, I was looking to read a different book, but saw this audible and put it on. It was unbelievably remarkable. McElroy was a prisoner in Andersonville and wrote a lengthy accounting of his experience there. It was so lively and really captures the human struggle. On one end it is just a guy telling his story, but in sort of a plainly spoken way that it hits home over a century and a half later.
This is an excellent read, not limited to, but especially for the American history buffs out there. Cheers!
Anyway, I was looking to read a different book, but saw this audible and put it on. It was unbelievably remarkable. McElroy was a prisoner in Andersonville and wrote a lengthy accounting of his experience there. It was so lively and really captures the human struggle. On one end it is just a guy telling his story, but in sort of a plainly spoken way that it hits home over a century and a half later.
This is an excellent read, not limited to, but especially for the American history buffs out there. Cheers!
July 4, 2023
My notes: The prisoners themselves grew weary of the “The New Yorker’s” shenanigans and ended up hanging several of them inside the prison. There were 45,000 men imprisoned there over a period of about a year … 13,000 of them died ... mostly of dysentery, gangrene, scurvy, malnutrition/starvation and exposure. He also frequently laments having to wring his clothes (such as they were) out of lice all the time. This is like a diary written like a chronological novel. He discusses plenty of other outrageous conditions too numerous to mention here.
July 12, 2018
Shocking
I was compelled to find this book after watching the Ken Burns Documentary on the civil war and the Hell on Wheels series on Netflix. Both of these shows mentioned Andersonville. This book tells a story much like many stories of the Holocaust and other periods in our history where one group of human beings murdered others.
I was compelled to find this book after watching the Ken Burns Documentary on the civil war and the Hell on Wheels series on Netflix. Both of these shows mentioned Andersonville. This book tells a story much like many stories of the Holocaust and other periods in our history where one group of human beings murdered others.
September 2, 2020
A most important reading experience!
Exquisitely written ,hard to read without feeling the full range of emotions, but mostly pity for the unfortunate captives and anger at their captors . One can only ask, how long will it take humanity to learn and take to heart these horrible lessons and stop torturing and murdering each other.
Exquisitely written ,hard to read without feeling the full range of emotions, but mostly pity for the unfortunate captives and anger at their captors . One can only ask, how long will it take humanity to learn and take to heart these horrible lessons and stop torturing and murdering each other.
October 16, 2021
The real deal
Misery, degradation and wanton cruelty is the lot for Union prisoners at Andersonville. In the north was fort Douglas and only marginally better. Both sides failed to properly care for prisoners. This book is a first person account and deserves a top rank in civil war memoirs.
Misery, degradation and wanton cruelty is the lot for Union prisoners at Andersonville. In the north was fort Douglas and only marginally better. Both sides failed to properly care for prisoners. This book is a first person account and deserves a top rank in civil war memoirs.
April 6, 2022
Amazing Account
Written by a prisoner, and reading like a novel, this history of Andersonville specifically and the life of Union prisoners generally bring the horrors and abuses of war off the battlefield and into the rear. An amazing account and interesting read of a condition where nearly one out of every three prisoners died from abuse, murder, starvation and disease.
Written by a prisoner, and reading like a novel, this history of Andersonville specifically and the life of Union prisoners generally bring the horrors and abuses of war off the battlefield and into the rear. An amazing account and interesting read of a condition where nearly one out of every three prisoners died from abuse, murder, starvation and disease.
November 7, 2024
Incredible ! The trials and tribulations of those captured while in service to the Union. Heartbreaking story that after 260 years, will rip your insides out. Man’s inhumanity to man to the tenth degree.
February 27, 2018
Terrific book for hist
Terrific book door history buffs. Very personal in his style of writing. Somewhat repetitive but maybe for a reason. I would rate this book a four and a half.
Terrific book door history buffs. Very personal in his style of writing. Somewhat repetitive but maybe for a reason. I would rate this book a four and a half.
January 13, 2014
This is about the time I feel like a real shit for assigning stars to someone's work, particularly when it is a memoir of something so incomprehensibly horrible and tragic. But, yeah, fuck it, four stars, sure.
McElroy was an incredibly good writer, he is wonderful at turning a phrase and save for a few sloppy and a bit too flowery metaphors and the like he was great. As another reviewer has said, my attention started to wane a bit towards the end when he was going from camp to camp. After reading chapters about the daily hardships in Andersonville in which I was riveted, by the time he started to write about leaving Andersonville I had checked out mentally a little bit and my attention started to stray.
There isn't a lot I can say about the book. It's simply a very thorough account of life in Andersonville. It is incredibly readable for such a memoir, and once I got into the groove of his wordy type of cadence, the pages flew by. McElroy is even funny on several occasions, which I hadn't expected going into it.
OH, yeah! He did censor the curse words which was funny. An example (pg. 305 - CH. 57):
"The surly reply would be: 'Yes, you ----- black ----. What the ----- business is that of yours?'"
The horizontal lines are solid not segmented in the book, and all the same length, so no clues are given as to what the words are. But, it almost made a kind of madlibs game for me.
McElroy was an incredibly good writer, he is wonderful at turning a phrase and save for a few sloppy and a bit too flowery metaphors and the like he was great. As another reviewer has said, my attention started to wane a bit towards the end when he was going from camp to camp. After reading chapters about the daily hardships in Andersonville in which I was riveted, by the time he started to write about leaving Andersonville I had checked out mentally a little bit and my attention started to stray.
There isn't a lot I can say about the book. It's simply a very thorough account of life in Andersonville. It is incredibly readable for such a memoir, and once I got into the groove of his wordy type of cadence, the pages flew by. McElroy is even funny on several occasions, which I hadn't expected going into it.
OH, yeah! He did censor the curse words which was funny. An example (pg. 305 - CH. 57):
"The surly reply would be: 'Yes, you ----- black ----. What the ----- business is that of yours?'"
The horizontal lines are solid not segmented in the book, and all the same length, so no clues are given as to what the words are. But, it almost made a kind of madlibs game for me.
September 25, 2015
This book was on my to-read list because I'm interested in learning more about Georgia history. I thought it was going to be a rather dry recitation of historical facts about the infamous Confederate prison. I was so very wrong.
I was blown away by the story behind the history and the history in the story. Mr. McElroy and his colleagues suffered greatly and he painstakingly documented the suffering so that it wouldn't be forgotten or forgiven. Only one man was found guilty and hanged for the criminal acts perpetuated in Confederate prisons. Over 25,000 soldiers died in the span of 15 months.
The Project Gutenberg version of the book is 99% flawless.
I was blown away by the story behind the history and the history in the story. Mr. McElroy and his colleagues suffered greatly and he painstakingly documented the suffering so that it wouldn't be forgotten or forgiven. Only one man was found guilty and hanged for the criminal acts perpetuated in Confederate prisons. Over 25,000 soldiers died in the span of 15 months.
The Project Gutenberg version of the book is 99% flawless.
December 12, 2011
A remarkable if depressing account of man's inhumanity to man. It is amazing that the author survived the ordeal. The author brings a contemporary perspective to the war that is missing from today's historical recounts. For example, he refers to the war as the "Slave Owners Rebellion". Truly the Confederate POW camps of the Civil War were the precursors to the atrocities of WWII. The author has a vast vocabulary and will have you reaching for a dictionary more than once. Very well written and worth a read for Civil War buffs.
April 20, 2014
MY TWO GREAT GRANDFATHERS WERE THERE!
From what my great grandmother Elizabeth Carlile South told me it is all very accurate in the retelling. Forty years ago I stood on the soil of Andersonvillle and contemplated the suffering my great grandfather's had experienced so long ago. They both died before I was born in 1923. Byron South was granted a lifetime pension of $2.00 per month for being in that prison. Great grandma received it for her lifetime. It must have been considered a lot of money in 1865.
From what my great grandmother Elizabeth Carlile South told me it is all very accurate in the retelling. Forty years ago I stood on the soil of Andersonvillle and contemplated the suffering my great grandfather's had experienced so long ago. They both died before I was born in 1923. Byron South was granted a lifetime pension of $2.00 per month for being in that prison. Great grandma received it for her lifetime. It must have been considered a lot of money in 1865.
March 16, 2011
Four volume work on the iniquity of the Confederate prison system and life in several of the prison camps. That so many died because of inhumane treatment is often passed over by histories of the Civil War and all we hear about are the famous battles where, even the slaughter of Shiloh and Gettysberg etc., are as little to the fatalities at Andersonville.
Nevertheless McElroy demonstrates the strength of the human spirit and it is a very readable work.
Nevertheless McElroy demonstrates the strength of the human spirit and it is a very readable work.
January 18, 2015
I read this in high school and again as an adult. Both reads left me feeling like I no longer wanted to be part of the human race. What we can do to others? Appalling doesn't begin to describe the horrific conditions at Andersonville. And it wasn't unique to the South; atrocities are routinely committed by all sides, and both Andersonville and Camp Douglass are prime examples of the pure evil residing in humans.
I can't think of a more shocking book.
I can't think of a more shocking book.
March 27, 2011
A good account of life in Civil War prison. The author, in the interest of completeness, add quite a bit of extraneous information that I found difficult to get through, but still very interesting first person account of Andersonville and other Georgia area prisoner of war prisons run by the Confederates.
January 5, 2013
Excellent book for anyone that wants a first hand account of a soldier during the Civil War. The actual experience of fighting, then the capture and trying to survive while those around you are starving, dying from scurvy, exposure, etc. He survived more than just Andersonville and his story is a must for anyone wanting to realize the experience.
June 13, 2015
Painful history
The author spent about fifteen months in Andersonville prison and this is his story. At times, it's very difficult to read of the suffering that the prisoners endured, at other times, it's just a slow read. That being said, it is amazing and good that he survived to give this disturbing account of life in prison during the civil war.
The author spent about fifteen months in Andersonville prison and this is his story. At times, it's very difficult to read of the suffering that the prisoners endured, at other times, it's just a slow read. That being said, it is amazing and good that he survived to give this disturbing account of life in prison during the civil war.
January 3, 2016
Incredible report!
I had no idea something like this took place in the US. I read this book after seeing a program on TV sponsored by ancestor.com. A person traced their geneology to someone that was a prisoner in this camp and escaped. I have no idea how this man, who wrote this account, survived so long and endured so much. This book should be read by everyone.
I had no idea something like this took place in the US. I read this book after seeing a program on TV sponsored by ancestor.com. A person traced their geneology to someone that was a prisoner in this camp and escaped. I have no idea how this man, who wrote this account, survived so long and endured so much. This book should be read by everyone.
March 19, 2016
This is a book that is difficult to read because it spares no detail in explaining the horrific conditions in the Confederate POW camps. The soldiers endured condition comparable to Nazi concentration camps. Just outside the stockade was a forest full of tree, and yet the prisoners had no wood to build fires or shelter. They were given very little to eat and no medical treatment.
July 30, 2012
This was an excellent first hand account of the horrors of Andersonville and other Confederate prisons during the American Civil War. I highly recommend this book, but be aware that it is not for the squeamish, as the horrors, death and suffering are described in great detail and exactness.
March 9, 2014
If this is the only Civil War POW camp book a person reads, they will be under the impression that POW camps were exclusively a Confederate evil. But it wasn't.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ne...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ne...
September 2, 2013
Capped this book off with a visit to Andersonville. Very moving to think of this book in the context of other POW stories. Was a splendidly detailed memoir of a chapter of American history that has been forgotten.
March 22, 2016
A soldiers story
Told through the eyes of a man who lived to tell this horrific story of his life in the infamous Anderson Prison. Hard to read the horrors of what men endured hard not to read their testimony of service to a country torn apart.
Told through the eyes of a man who lived to tell this horrific story of his life in the infamous Anderson Prison. Hard to read the horrors of what men endured hard not to read their testimony of service to a country torn apart.
April 26, 2008
The is a historical account of a prisoner at the notorious prison. It is a tough read but worth it.
April 19, 2010
Excellent descriptions of the horrors of being a prisoner at the notorious Andersonville prison during the War Between the States.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews