Andersonville Prison: The History of the Civil War’s Most Notorious Prison Camp

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures*Includes accounts of the prison written by surviving prisoners*Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading*Includes a table of contents“Wuld that I was an artist & had the material to paint this camp & all its horors or the tounge of some eloquent Statesman and had the privleage of expresing my mind to our hon. rulers at Washington, I should gloery to describe this hell on earth where it takes 7 of its ocupiants to make a shadow.” - Sgt. David Kennedy “There is so much filth about the camp that it is terrible trying to live here." - Michigan cavalryman John RansomNotorious, a hell on earth, a cesspool, a death camp, and infamous have all been used by prisoners and critics to describe Andersonville Prison, constructed to house Union prisoners of war in 1864, and all descriptions apply. Located in Andersonville, Georgia and known colloquially as Camp Sumter, Andersonville only served as a prison camp for 14 months, but during that time 45,000 Union soldiers suffered there, and nearly 13,000 died. Victims found at the end of the war who had been held at Camp Sumter resembled victims of Auschwitz, starving and left to die with no regard for human life.Rumors about the horrors of Andersonville were making the rounds by the summer of 1864, and they were bad enough that during the Atlanta campaign, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman gave orders for a cavalry raid attempting to liberate the prisoners there. The Union cavalry were repulsed by Southern militia and cavalry at that point, and even after Sherman took Atlanta, the retreating Confederates moved under the assumption that the Union would target Andersonville yet again. Before the end of the war, the Confederates were moving prisoners from Andersonville to Camp Lawton, but by then, Andersonville was already synonymous with horror. Unable to supply its own armies, the Confederates had inadequately supplied the prison and its thousands of Union prisoners, leaving over 25% of the prisoners to die of starvation and disease. All told, Andersonville accounted for 40% of the deaths of all Union prisoners in the South, and the causes of death included malnutrition, disease, poor sanitation, overcrowding, and exposure to inclement weather. In fact, Andersonville infuriated the North so much that Henry Wirz, the man in charge of Andersonville, was the only Confederate executed after the war. Before the war, Wirz was a Swiss doctor who had practiced medicine in Kentucky, but while some Southern scholars continue to believe he was simply a victim of circumstance, plenty of evidence suggests his actions were far more insidious and deadly. As the debate over Wirz’s fate suggests, one lingering argument in the analysis of Andersonville is whether the abuse and starvation of prisoners was a tragic circumstance of wartime conditions and poverty in the South or if the mistreatment was purposeful and intended. Most scholarship supports the latter point of view, and for the most part, the major dissenting views come from Southern writers and historians who espouse the “Lost Cause.” There were articles of war and specific rules on how to treat prisoners on both sides, but by any measurement, humane treatment was all but nonexistent at Andersonville. Andersonville The History of the Civil War’s Most Notorious Prison Camp chronicles the history of the Civil War’s most infamous prison. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Andersonville like never before, in no time at all.

Genres: Civil War

71 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2015

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Denise K. Maples · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pitiful Stain On Hisrory

There was nothing in this short book that I liked. Unfortunately, most of it is probably true! My limited knowledge of Civil War prisons leads me to believe that, while Wirz was likely one of the most responsible, he was not the only one that should have borne responsibility.
Also, more Confederates died in Yankee camps (like Elmira and Douglas) than the opposite.

[Kirby Maples]

A pitiful stain on history. There was nothing in this short book that I liked. Unfortunately, most of it is probably true! My limited knowledge of Civil War prisons leads me to believe that, while Wirz was likely one of the most responsible, he was not the only one that should have borne responsibility.
Also, more Confederates died in yankee camps (like Elmira and Douglas) than in the South even though the North had the resources to feed their prisoners...

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books provides a serviceable foundation for understanding the Andersonville Civil War prison. The excerpts and images are well-chosen, relevant, and interesting. The overall formatting of the book is poor - some sections are repeated and a few grammar errors pop up. However, the book is short and cheap, so it’s in line with my expectations. In the end, a handy little intro to the site.

[Phillip Gonzales · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very basic overview to learning about Andersonville prison.

[Gregory Tait · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book repeats the exact same paragraph in two different chapters. However, good intro to Andersonville prison....will read more books on this subject based on this short read. I did listen to this as an audio book.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book as I wanted to learn more about Andersonville Prison after visiting the Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia. I don't think this book gave me much more information than I already knew after visiting the site, other than some of the prisoner comments. There are some areas that could be edited, as some duplicate paragraphs, and the word Calvary instead of cavalry. If you haven't been to the Historic Site, this is a good start for information.