The Real “American Horror Story”: Andersonville, Georgia
Throughout any war, it is common for each side to take prisoners from the opposing state. The American Civil War was no exception. Between 1863 and 1865, the American Civil was fought between the Union Army backed by the United States of America and the Confederate Army backed by the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy was a recently seceded nation that wanted sovereignty and autonomy from the United States. A collection of states that fell below the Mason-Dixon line, commonly known as “Southern States” created a new country that immediately sparked violence against the United States. The American Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history with intense battles and massive complexes built in case of prisoners of war that were taken from the battlefield and transferred beyond enemy lines. Soldiers who were captured were taken to a number of prison camps throughout the northern and southern occupancies of the United States and the Confederacy. The incentive for capturing soldiers was to gain ransom, trade captive soldiers, and source free labor. Of these camps, however, one stood out as being one the worst: Andersonville, Georgia.
Just north of the booming antebellum town Americus, Georgia lay a small, rural area known as Andersonville in Sumter County. During the war, this area was used to build the well-known prisoner of war camp, Camp Sumter. Union soldiers called this camp a range of names from “hell on earth” to just Anderson. For all intents and purposes of this paper, and the need for variety in language, the prisoner of war camp located in Andersonville, Georgia will go by the following formal names: Anderson, Andersonville, and Camp Sumter. The trials and testimonies that followed the camp led to it getting a reputation for having some of the worst war-time conditions to exist.[1] The list of atrocities ranges from starvation, lack of care to hurt soldiers, and rampant disease; all of this happened within the walls of Camp Sumter. Other than the variety of death, Anderson did not put the prisoners to work because of slavery; thus, soldiers were left to rot without a cause inside the walls of Sumter.
Unfortunately for the soldiers, there was not a real enforcement of the recently enacted Geneva Convention laws of 1864. These laws stipulated the protection of soldiers in prisoner of war camps. In fact, while the United States did not sign this convention, international intervention should have stopped the war crimes being committed. Specifically, the Confederacy violated Article 6 of the 1864 Geneva Convention which states that “…wounded or sick soldiers shall be entertained and taken care of, to whatever nation they may belong…”.[2] Many of the soldiers taken into Camp Sumter survived for days, even weeks, with broken limbs, rotting flesh from open wounds, and disease that eventually they succumbed to.[3]
Furthermore, this essay will examine the trial of Captain Henry Wirz. After the conclusion of the American Civil War, the United States held a series of trials under the command of the United States Military Tribunal. Similar to war crimes tribunal, this court held multiple officers, offenders, and high-ranking conspirators for multiple charges including treason, crimes against humanity, and unlawfulness during war. These trials were held throughout the spring and summer of 1865 and encompassed antebellum efforts, wartime actions, and post-bellum events such as the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.[4] Of these offenders was Captain Henry Wirz who was grouped together in a series of trials against the conditions of prisoner of war camps against Union soldiers. Both leaders of Andersonville and Richmond prisons were on trial for the severe conditions that lead to the deaths of over 15,000 soldiers combined.[5]
The Andersonville case is unique compared to other nefarious acts of war. Most of the commonly known war crimes tribunals such as the ITCY occurred during a time where clear institutions were put in place for the reconciliation and rebuilding of the affected civilians. Camp Sumter, however, happened in a time where countries were responsible for delegating their own time, effort, and money into the areas plagued by the consequences of a few, unjust men. After the war, the United States promised the former Confederate States a rebuilding period to increase economic and democratic prosperity. This included increased urbanization, industry, and technology to the area that was either never developed to begin with or lost during the war.[6]
While the Reconstruction Era was supposed do this, anyone with a basic understanding about the American South knows that this “reconstruction” never really happened, stunting the development of this region, affecting people even two centuries later. Andersonville was a turning point in the treatment of soldiers during wartime which helped justify the international law set forth just a year prior. While the conditions of the camp are not seen as prevalent compared to other incidences of violence against humans, Camp Sumter became the precedent for determining what is considered a humane treatment of soldiers and what is not. Because of the meticulous documentation, preservation, and the war crimes tribunal against Captain Henry Wirz, Andersonville became the foundation for modern-day policies enforced by the international community in regards of defining what the phrase “crimes against humanity” entails.
Before getting into details and accounts from within the walls of Andersonville, this essay will detail the structural integrity of the camp itself to get an idea of how such limited space could contain so much strife. Andersonville, Georgia in itself is a small area of the United States and the Confederacy recognized that. Initially, it was created as a secondary prison to Richmond’s Belle Isle which set the tone for conditions and treatment of soldiers. When the supplies ran so low that even soldiers could not sustain themselves, Confederate President Jefferson Davis recognized this issue and decided to move operations.[7]
Andersonville, Georgia was chosen for a number of reasons. The first was it was a prime location for supplies as it was the intersection between the southern gulf rail road’s coming out of Mobile, Alabama and the Atlantic coast rail road coming from Savannah, Georgia when going north towards Atlanta (Appendix I).[8] Secondly, the camp resides within the piedmont of Georgia. This area is known for having large forests resting among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
With accessibility to both supplies, water, and flat ground, Andersonville became the stomping grounds for this Confederate prison camp. The walls were built from the pines logged in the area standing at about 15 to 17 feet tall. After realizing this camp was a more permanent property rather than an intermediate solution to the Richmond issue, the camp was expanded to 261.5 acres.[9] This allowed for the shipment of 400 men to the camp each day to be imprisoned between 1864 when the camp was built to 1865 at the end of the war.
Inside the camp, Andersonville included “pigeon roosts,”[10] amenities such as a bakery & factions, a swamp that ran directly through the camp, and the infamous deadline (Appendix IV).[11] The deadline was a single line 19 feet into the camp’s wall that had guards lined up and down said line. The guards were instructed to kill anyone who step foot or hand over the line. Prisoners could also be shot on sight for attempting to talk or barter with the guards (Appendix II). Soldiers were given barely any supplies to build a number of shelters. According to the Confederacy, there were seven types of shelters: tents, teepees, lean-tos, cave-like holes, adobe-like structures, huts, and just a simple hole in the ground (Appendix V).[12] These structures were not viable as they usually were built from scraps of cloth and sticks found within the camp. The holes in the ground were the least durable but provided the most cover if an adobe-like structure was created. Because of the camp’s conditions, soldiers who dug their homes were essentially digging their own graves.
Within the walls of Camp Sumter, soldiers divided themselves into factions resulting in a rise in violence and crime among the different gangs. Many deaths can be attributed to this as groups scattered for rations and supplies to build any semblance of normal life.[13] The prison was originally built for 10,000 men, yet the Confederacy had a different mindset. Soon, the prisoner of war camp became the most occupied camp in the entire war. By June 1864, just three months after Anderson opened its doors, there were already 26,000 men sharing a space over half the size it was built for, which worsened conditions significantly. At its height, Anderson held as many as 33,000 men in one confined space. Essentially, they ate, shat, shacked, and finally died on top of each other; this worsened condition significantly.[14] In total, there were around 400,000 soldiers held captive by the both the Union and the Confederates. By the end of the American Civil War, 11% of all prisoners of war were held at Andersonville.[15] The conditions that followed the camp were set in motion by the lack of space within the camp itself, limiting resources from the beginning.
As stated previously, Andersonville was built as a replacement for the prisoner of war camp in Richmond which did not have access to as many supplies as Sumter County.[16] Similar atrocities were committed at this camp; however, Andersonville is noted as the deadliest prisoner of war camp for both the Union and Confederate camps because 29% of all prisoners held at Andersonville died. In addition, of the roughly 56,000 total recorded deaths from all prisoner of war camps during the American Civil War, 23% of these deaths were recorded at Camp Sumter.[17]
According to the on-call surgeon for the Confederate hospitals, there were a variety of causes of death including, but not limited to asphyxia, dysentery, hepatitis, scurvy, smallpox, and measles. These causes ranged in severity and complications based on the soldier’s ability to get fresh water and sufficient food. Interesting enough, starvation was not listed as an official cause of death, however, photographs from the era beg to differ (Appendix III). Prisoner Phillip Hattle was released and treated in early June 1865 but died not much later due to complications of starvation on June 26. The starvation of prisoners became increasingly known information to a point where Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a notice to the leaders of the camp. By not reporting the incidences of starvation, the Confederacy was committing a war crime as this is a disease that was obviously not being treated by the general surgeon present in Andersonville.[18]
As allowed by the prison guidelines, letters could be written and sent by prisoners. Whether or not these letters were sent is debatable, but soldiers used the paper provided by the Confederacy. Many men took this accommodation to write about their experiences at Camp Sumter. There are a number of accounts from diaries, memoirs, and letters that can attest to the conditions of Camp Sumter. The text below describes the initial reaction of Francis Hosmer, a soldier from the Union who was captured and sent to multiple prisoners of war camps throughout the Confederacy.[19] His work is the most sophisticated of all the diaries curated during this analysis. Of the camps that he stayed at after being captured in North Carolina, Hosmer stated that the worst of these conditions existed at Andersonville. Hosmer goes on to explain the conditions that he survived in a poetic manner, similar to that of a storybook.
At last the gates of Andersonville had been closed upon us and we stood in the midst of a tangled mat of humanity, of thirty thousand men or more, apparently, all strangers to each other…-each apparently struggling against an adverse fate they were powerless to avert, and all praying that powerful entity, the United States government to come to their relief.
His words bring to life the meaning of death that Anderson portrayed to the mangled and broken souls that resided within the walls. In the above passage, Hosmer mentions the relief of the United States. It was common for commanders of each army to exchange prisoners. In the case of Andersonville, the Union refused to do exchanges but instead had plans to release all the soldiers onto the Confederacy during “Sherman’s March to the Sea.”[20] Confederate soldiers would taunt the Union prisoners by asking them where their glorious leader was in the midst of these conditions. Below is another example from the passage describing how the camp made Hosmer feel during his time in Anderson. From this section, the reader is immersed into Hosmer’s reality.
He who describes death in its usual peaceful forms, describes not Andersonville. He who dwells at length, upon the pangs of death as they are generally painted, reaches not the case. Here was an indifference to human suffering, which could exist only, in a community where human comforts were entirely eliminated, and human necessities so far curtailed, that none could spare and live (Appendix VI).
These sections are displayed in their original, transcribed form because paraphrasing would take away from beauty of describing suffering. The longer transcribed passages are depicted in Appendix VI. Hosmer along with other recently released or escaped prisoners of war used their testimony against Captain Henry Wirz in his war crimes tribunal after the war concluded. Even men within the Confederacy testified making the grand total around 136 men who testified against Wirz. Other testimonies described the day-to-day conditions as seen in the diary entries written by unknown soldiers who were allotted their one page of paper a day. A soldier wrote on May 26, 1864:
Water in the stream is very foul from so many using, and the refuse thrown in it from Rebel cook houses and camps that floats down, and drainage from offal that covers portions of the banks. Notwithstanding we practice bathing before sunrise, we always find the water foul. Men with blotches, putrid sores, gnawed by lice and worms, squalid from weakness, scurvy and wasting diseases go there to drink, wash clothing and bathe. They are obliged to step into the stream the banks being two to three feet high, slippery, nasty. Daily lice are seen floating while clothing is being washed.
This passage is one of many in this chronical of entries that describes the “passing” conditions as deemed by the Confederates. Soldiers were unable to drink from the water due to the disease ridden and dead bodies that piled up in the unmoving creek. Fecal matter and other bodily fluids ran down into the water as well causing more diseases to spread among the inmates. Men used the water as a relief for their pain, but by using this water source, others were subjugated to their pain and suffering through the transfer of diseases. The only water that prisoners could trust was the rain water. However, with the structural integrity of the shelters, collecting rainwater was the least of their worries. Runoff from diseased sections of camp, flooding, mud, and the hypothermia were just the beginning of the hard months surrounding Andersonville.[21] Furthermore, the month of June in 1864 was a rainy season as documented by inmate Robert Ransom who kept a daily diary. He wrote about the grounds of the camp and the day-to-day life including the conditions in which it lay. Soldiers that were without a structure that included a solid roof were left out in the rain for multiple days and nights in a row.
According to Ransom, maggots and lice had infested the camp to a point where men had claimed to “train the liee” [22] out of sheer boredom.[23] Soldiers had to make the most of their situation by joking about the “hundred thousand million lice and maggots” that were found on the camp grounds and creating new games amongst the dead and dying. The death toll, as written by inmate Sidney Andrews, had increased to at least 500 per week and even exceeding 100 men per day. However, the continued death of soldiers created more incentive for Confederate soldiers to continually increase the inmate numbers. As more kept dying, another couple hundred were added per day to this painful existence that seemed to have death always on-call.[24] With the passage of time came worsening conditions as supplies dwindled.
Soldiers ate first and the remaining food was split between 30,000 men. The Confederacy recorded starvation as “lack of supplies,” but according to inmate Michael Dougherty, the generals who ran the camp, including Captain Wirz, encouraged starvation. Wirz described this tactic as being the “desired effect” to thin out the population, literally and figuratively.[25] Men found at the late stages of starvation survived only a few days after their release from Camp Sumter. In fact, the post-war files from United States doctors revealed the horrific state that soldiers were left after coming from Anderson.[26]
It was a sad sight after four months in hospital to look through sickly wards still filled with yellow, rigid victims. It is fearful to think that the grim visage of disease and death was stamped upon so many by a wanton, studied system of revenge. Out of 3,000 Union prisoners, arriving the 10th of March, 1865, over 1,500 were sent to hospitals. On the 11th, another installment of 802 arrived, 540 of whom were sent to hospital. These were men taken from prison, not from hospitals. The burial of twenty and thirty a day was frequent; fifty-four were buried one day. I state these as coming within my knowledge, not as a whole.
The Confederacy also kept a number of records about the camp including the causes of death as stated earlier and a list of rules. Within the walls of Andersonville, there were twelve rules that soldiers were to follow. These included statements such as “No rations will be issued to any division unless all the men are present at roll call” and “…divisions have a right to punish any man who is detected stealing. The punishment shall be shaving of one half the head and a number of lashes not exceeding fifty…” (Appendix VIII).[27]
Because of the daily diaries, letters, and memoirs from soldiers within the camp, the United States was able to create a case of conspiracy to intentionally hinder Union soldiers against the men in charge of the prisoner of war camps. These records serve as the historical documentation for what would soon lay out the foundation for war crimes tribunals. Many of the inmates who were kept at Andersonville and kept recorded diaries were brought to testify against Wirz in the military tribunal held after the Civil War. Ultimately, the horrors that these soldiers lay witness to became some of the first documented and internationally recognized acts against humanity. In fact, the military tribunal that occurred convicted multiple high-ranking officers with unlawful acts of war against people. The trial of Captain Henry Wirz confirmed this through what was one of the most paradoxical yet important trials in the history of international tribunal affairs.
Between the spring and summer of 1865, the United States Military Tribunal held a series of trials to address events during the American Civil War. The most relevant trial for this essay is the Andersonville trials that ended in the execution of Captain Henry Wirz. As stated previously, this trial was, in a way, paradoxical. This is because Wirz was both on the prosecution and the defense.[28] It is confusing to how this even happened, but many soldiers were testifying that their actions were because of a higher-ranking soldier. Thus, the higher-ranked soldier is responsible for the actions of the lower-ranked soldier instead. Wirz’s logic to testifying for both the prosecution and the defense was that if he argued against his superiors and joined the chain of command that they were “just following orders” Wirz would be exonerated. Unfortunately for him, just the opposite happened. Wirz’s testimony further proved his guilt because while he was given the order from another official, the testimony of the prisoners confirmed that it was clear he was not only in a position of power but could have easily provided for these soldiers. Wirz carried out inspections ordered by Confederate President Jefferson Davis throughout the operation of the camp. It was reported and transcribed that Andersonville was a “frightful mortality that must certainly follow the crowded and filthy condition of the prison.”[29]
Furthermore, the starvation issue could have been easily fixed by adding in vegetables that were obtainable through a local farm controlled by the Confederacy. Another commander who worked alongside Wirz responded with the crude line “the present arrangement is good enough…it is having the desired effect, and if let alone will soon thin out the prisoners so there will be plenty of room.”[30] Moreover, the prosecution successfully charged Wirz because “the evidence presented at the trial ‘satisfied the Court beyond a doubt that while this prison was being made ready, if not before, a conspiracy was entered into by certain persons, high in authority in the Confederate service, to destroy the lives of our men, or at least subject them to such hardships as would render them unfit for further military service.’”[31] This meaning, the prosecution’s basis for their evidence was based in the broader conspiracy theory that the Confederacy created this camp for the sole purpose of hurting and terrorizing soldiers so that if and when an exchange was made, they could not be put back on the front lines. Andersonville was not a labor camp; it was not a concentration camp in the traditional sense. Anderson, according to the prosecution, was a place where humans lay waste and those who remained alive were physically decaying piece by piece; it was a place where the soldiers were the living dead, a shell of their former selves.
Other than committing heinous acts outlined by the United States, Wirz was also guilty of breaking multiple international codes that were delegated in 1864. The Geneva Convention of 1864 was one of the first war crimes conventions created to set out policies and guidelines for the international community. Wirz successfully broke Article 6 of the convention that details the misuse and treatment of injured soldiers. According to these policymakers, states were obligated to help and protect injured soldiers, no matter the side, and medical personnel treating those individuals were deemed neutral.[32] Two separate accounts go directly towards the condemnable actions of Captain Wirz. The first details that soldiers who were already broken, beaten, and disease-ridden were further “tortured” after an attempted escape. It was common for Wirz to torture prisoners, especially those who tried to free themselves of Anderson by whipping them.[33] Moreover, a severely wounded soldier named Albert Bogle was not attended to even though he had severe injuries to the leg. Ultimately, two Confederate surgeons took him to a box car and shot him whilst claiming they were acting “under military orders.”[34] Ultimately, Wirz was officially charged with conspiracy to destroy people’s lives in violation to the laws of war and the murder in violation of the laws of war. This charge was known amongst the lawyers and enemies of Wirz as crimes against the people.[35]
The concept of “acting under military orders” was a line of testimony legal precedent had not set forth until the Andersonville Trials. In fact, Wirz was the first war criminal to use this phrasing in a court of law where the ruling was against him.[36] The simple, yet provoking phrase “I was simply following orders” would ring through the halls of international criminal tribunals hundreds of years later. Throughout the twentieth century, soldiers claimed they were not responsible for war crimes or genocides because they were “just following orders.” Throughout both World War I and World War II, soldiers, especially those of lower rank, who were on trial begged the courts to set them free because they were not of sound mind, they had no free will, and at the end of the day “they had to do it.” Specifically, the IMT rejected this defense at Nuremburg. Prosecutors used the soldier’s own argument against them and continuously ruled that following orders does not outweigh the atrocities committed.
Because of the precedent set back in that hot summer court room in the August of 1865, hundreds of soldiers involved in various war crimes were convicted under the guise that their guilt and the simple words “I was just following orders” allowed the prosecution to meet their burden of proof. Wirz’s famed phrase became the legal foundation for the “crimes against humanity.” This term was first introduced during the 1865 United States Military Tribunal and coined throughout the genocides that plagued the 20th century. Following orders was no longer an acceptable defense against the “crimes of humanity” committed by soldiers.[37] It was evident from the trials that soldiers, like heads of government, were limited to what orders were excused and what orders were a direct violation of the rules of war or common law of humanity. People are directly accountable for the consequences of their actions, especially those that involve the inhumane treatment and killing of other people.
Furthermore, Anderson became the baseline for the human condition. In a sense, before the concentration camps created by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime, Camp Sumter’s conditions were some of the first publicized and recorded materials about the conditions of prisoner of war camps.[38] The international community had awareness of the trials and tribulations these soldiers faced in the short period of time the camp existed because of the articles circulating from the United States.[39] Along with international news, many foreign nations participated in the American Civil War fighting for each side. The British and Russians heavily supported the Union while Austria, France, and Mexico supported the Confederacy. Because of the avid support and knowledge these states had on the American Civil War, the international community was well aware of the conditions in Andersonville, but there was no intervention on the grounds of unlawful acts of war against as stated in the 1864 Geneva Convention that these states participated in.[40]
Camp Sumter is the precedent for every other war crime tribunal that exists. It was the first and only war crimes tribunal to execute someone in the United States. When the United States sent in delegates to Nuremburg, Tokyo, and every single tribunal they have laid witness to, their first and foremost argument made is the concept that soldiers are not excused from committing crimes against humanity under the guise that they were “just following orders.”[41] The conviction of Wirz was a domino effect for international law. For example, while the United States may have not directly cited Anderson in their legal case against the former Yugoslavians in 1994, it had already been established in previous cases such as the Nazis in Nuremburg and the Japanese in Tokyo. Thus, the trial of Henry Wirz was the foundation for international law and set a legal standard for soldiers who committed crimes against humanity.
Another daunting aspect of this case study is the lack of information regarding the Union prisoner of war camps as well. While Andersonville has been given its infamous reputation, other Union camps had similar camps but did not record as high of death counts. Anderson was the deadliest prison camp, but the Union was never held accountable for also refusing care to injured soldiers and have epidemics within the camps. These are the same conditions that Camp Sumter was heinously attacked for.[42] Likewise, Anderson was one of the only prisoners of war camps that was highly preserved thanks to the efforts of Clara Burton. Other sites are merely marked by plaques and crumbling structures that were not preserved until the 20th century. It can be inferred from this that the United States was trying to cover up their own war crimes by pushing a single narrative. This is not to say that Anderson was better or on par with Union prisoner of war camps. This claim is being used to assert that the Union had no better intentions than Confederate soldiers and their camps told similar tales about disease, starvation, and violence.
However, Andersonville happened to have the right mix of conditions making it the deadliest of all of these camps; thus, the prison made the spotlight for the military tribunal that occurred. When looking at the top five deadliest northern prisoner of war camps, the total death count is only 11,361 prisoners. This is still does not amount to the total number of deaths that Anderson alone experienced which was 12,920 prisoner deaths. Andersonville also held the most soldiers at one time. The most soldiers held at the northerner prison Camp Douglas was 30,000 soldiers spread out between the years 1861 and 1865. Camp Sumter held 45,000 throughout the one-year operation and over 33,000 soldiers at one time during their peak capacity (Appendix VII).[43] So, while the Union was committing unreported atrocities, the case of Andersonville was so far beyond the conditions at other camps because of how horrific and extreme the deaths became. Additionally, the Confederate soldiers had no use for soldiers in terms of labor. The nation had slaves, so soldiers were left to waste within the walls with no sense of purpose or use.
Diary entries from southern depict the tension between northerners and southerners after the war. Because there was not effort to mark Confederate graves, the bodies of soldiers lay out in the open or the dead were left in mass graves just as Andersonville had disposed of their dead. Censorship of the publication about Union camps was even suppressed by the government. According to one account, the “editor [of the Augusta Times] [was] imprisoned merely for publishing the obituary of a Southern soldier, in which it was stated that he died of disease ‘contracted in the icy prisons of the North.’”[44] The lack of addressing the Union’s own crimes while hanging the leader of another camp created this rift between a nation who needed to focus on recovery. Moreover, by not addressing that the United States committed war crimes delegitimizes the claims and convictions they made during the trial. In the attempt to cover up the wrong-doings of the Union prisons, the United States undermined their own argument by being hypocritical.
To conclude, the small town of Andersonville, Georgia has been marked as not only one of the most atrocious conditions for prison of war complexes but is the legal foundation for the future international community and trials that took place throughout the 20th century. Because of the simple words of a broken, malicious man, war criminals, the trials of World War I, World War II, and beyond were able to prosecute men based on the simple fact that military orders are not an excuse for committing crimes against humanity.
The conditions of Anderson are laid out in the diaries, letters, and testimonies of soldiers within the camp, locals who were forced to reckon with the camp’s conditions, and southerners just passing through. Additionally, the trial of Captain Henry Wirz allowed for prisoners to tell their story for the international community to lay out guidelines for future conventions and policies regarding the treatment of human life in war-time prisons. It is evident that while the Union had attempted to cover-up their own tracks and crimes committed, the memory of those camps has set the standard for the future conditions of soldiers in war and the United States’ threshold on what is considered an inhuman environment.
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Appendix
II. Andersonville Prison Plan Map
III. Photographs of Starving Prisoners of War
IV. Pigeon Roosts
VI. Passages from Francis Hosmer’s Memoir
VII. Comparison of Occupancy and Deaths of Northern and Southern Prisoner of War Camps
VIII. Rules of Camp Sumter
IX. A simple meme about the Union-driven narrative and their evasion of a war crimes tribunal
Appendix I – Confederate Rail Roads
Andersonville, Georgia is marked by the yellow star added to the original map.
Appendix II – Andersonville Prisoner Plan Map
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gvhs01.vhs00179/?r=-0.707,0.063,2.413,1.108,0
https://www.history.com/news/andersonville-150-years-ago
Appendix III – Photographs of Starving Prisoners of War
Phillip Hattle, 51st Pennsylvania Infantry
Appendix IV – Pigeon Roosts
Appendix V – Prisoner Shelters
“The Homes of Andersonville” library of congress
Historical recreation of Andersonville Prison Shelters (NPS – Prison Shelters).
Appendix VI – Passages from Francis Hosmer’s Memoir
Page 36-40
He who describes death in its usual peaceful forms, describes not Andersonville. He who dwells at length, upon the pangs of death as they are generally painted, reaches not the case. Not that the suffering was more intense, it was not; I think quite the reverse; but it differed in kind. Science has recently discovered that grief is a disease, that preys upon the vitals, which, if long continued, withers and dries the fountain. Here, was despair, -and the heart stopped. That was a motley crowd, that was gathered there. There were men from nearly every nation in the world, from every state in the Union, and I suppose from nearly every town in many of the northern states. To one just entering, it looked as though they had been dropped down there from some place above, until they had filled the entire habitable space, some with a few belongings, perhaps a piece of a tent or a blanket, -either of which, would be at once arranged as a shelter, -with no paths, or attempts at any, -and no way to leave one's immediate camping place except by winding about the camping place of others, wherever one wished to go, -with the ground strewn with the excrement of those too feeble to move, and the dead often lying in the paths, and obstructing what few avenues there were. Here was an odor that must have offended the gods, for it certainly smelled to heaven. Here was disorder run riot. The filth which always accompanies disorder, was here aggravated by its own magnitude, and this was enhanced by the despondency of those sensitive souls who were powerless to escape, or prevent it. Here were all conditions, from comparative health, down through the different stages of disease, to the stark forms which lay in the pathway, perchance where they feil, only to remain there until the next morning's surgeon's call at nine o'clock. Here was an indifference to human suffering, which could exist only, in a community where human comforts were entirely eliminated, and human necessities so far curtailed, that none could spare and live. Strange, and valuable, are the lessons to be learned upon the verge and brink of human existance. Here was crime, as cold blooded as any in the world, and here was worship that sprang spontaneously from the human heart, and found expression in all languages. Standing upon the sunset plain of life, and gazing back through the vista of the years, I still wonder what strange thing of evil brooded over that prison. The weird imagination of Dante, could picture no hell to compare with the brutal instincts of mankind, as they peer from a living grave, out into a living world. The sunlight of heaven there, seemed to glow with pestilential heat, and the moon with malignant blindness, -even the love that regulates the stars, seemed to float above the forest, -nor reached the earth. Man's neglect of man, made heaven seem cold.
Appendix VII – Comparison of Occupancy and Deaths at Northern and Southern Prisoner of War Camps
Link to Chart (this format will not let me post photos)
Appendix VIII – Rules of Camp Sumter
Rules and Regulations of the Prison
There will be two daily Roll Calls at the Prison, one at eight o'clock a.m. and one at four o'clock p.m.
The prisoners are divided into detachments of one hundred men each, five detachments constitutes a Division.
Each division must occupy the ground assigned them for encampment, no huts or tents must be erected outside of the camping grounds.
Each detachment must elect a sergeant; the five sergeants of the division will appoint one of their number to draw rations for the whole division.
The sergeants are responsible for the cleanliness of their encampment. They will each day make a detail from among their men for policing the camp throughout; any man refusing to do police duty will be punished by the sergts by balling him the rest of the day.
No rations will be issued to any division unless all the men are present at roll call. The sergeants in charge of the detachment must report every absentee. lfhe fails to do so and it turns out that the missing man has escaped, he will be put in close confinement until the missing man is recaptured.
The sergeant of a detachment will report all those sick in his detachment and will carry them after roll call at eight o'clock a.m. in the morning, to the receiving hospital. After examination by the surgeon in charge he will leave those who are admitted and carry the others back. He will at the same time take charge of those belonging to his division who may be discharged from the hospital.
The prisoners have the privilege to write twice a week. No letter must be over one page in length and must contain nothing but private matters.
Any prisoner has a right to ask for an interview with the commanding officer of the prison by applying to the sergeant of the gate between the hours of ten and eleven a.m.
The sergeants of detachments and divisions must report to the commandant of the prison any short-coming of rations.
No prisoner must cross the dead line, nor speak to any sentinel on post nor attempt to buy or sell anything to a sentinel. The sentinel having orders to fire on anyone crossing the dead line or attempting to speak to or trade with them.
It is the duty of the detachment sergeants to carry any men who should die in quarters immediately to the receiving. hospital. Giving the hospital clerk the name, rank, company, regiment, and state of division.
To prevent stealing in camp the prisoners have a right to elect a chief of police who will select as many men as he may deem necessary to assist him. He and the sergeants of the divisions have a right to punish any man who is detected stealing. The punishment shall be shaving of one half the head and a number of lashes not exceeding fifty.
[1] Robert Davis, "Hell Hath A New Name", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/hell-hath-new-name.
[2] "The Avalon Project : Laws Of War : Amelioration Of The Condition Of The Wounded On The Field Of Battle (Red Cross Convention); August 22, 1864", Avalon Yale Law, 2021, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/geneva04.asp.
[3] Francis Hosmer, "A Glimpse Of Andersonville And Other Writings", Alexander Street Archives, 1896, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4329969.
[4] Louis Fisher, "Military Tribunals: Historical Patterns And Lessons", Fas.Org, 2004, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32458.pdf.
[5] "An Introduction To Civil War Prisons", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/cwprisons.htm.
[6] "Reconstruction", US History, 2008, https://www.ushistory.org/us/35.asp.
[7] "Andersonville Prison", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/andersonville-prison.
[8] Dwight Hughs, "Railroads – Mcclellan’S Steam Strategy: Trains And Ships In The Civil War", Emerging Civil War, 2018, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2018/10/30/railroads-mcclellans-steam-strategy-trains-and-ships-in-the-civil-war/.
[9] "Andersonville Prison", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/andersonville-prison.
[10] Pigeon Roosts were small watchtower-like structures for one person to look over the camp’s enclosure.
[11] "Plan For Andersonville Prison", Library Of Congress, 2021, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gvhs01.vhs00179/?r=-0.707,0.063,2.413,1.108,0.
[12] "Prison Shelters", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/prisoner-shelter.htm.
[13] Francis Hosmer, "A Glimpse Of Andersonville And Other Writings", Alexander Street Archives, 1896, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4329969.
[14] Robert Davis, "Hell Hath A New Name", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/hell-hath-new-name.
[15] "An Introduction To Civil War Prisons", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/cwprisons.htm.
[16] "Andersonville Prison", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/andersonville-prison.
[17] "An Introduction To Civil War Prisons", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/cwprisons.htm.
[18] "Gallery Item Display", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=1341849&id=25067E0A-1DD8-B71C-07F8742FCBEDDDC7&gid=25001AB0-1DD8-B71C-079A07B44D6707A4.
[19] Francis Hosmer, "A Glimpse Of Andersonville And Other Writings", Alexander Street Archives, 1896, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4329969.
[20] Kate Cumming, "Memoir Of Kate Cumming", Alexander Database, 1895, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4359039#page/158/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4359040.
[21] Worrell, John "Chronicles From The Diary Of A War Prisoner In Andersonville", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4273235#page/42/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4273267.
[22] The term “liee” was used into the diary to describe the plural of lice
[23] Robert Ransom, "Andersonville Diary: Escape And Dead", Alexander Database, 1881, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4299311#page/60/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4299475.
[24] "Andersonville, November 13, 1865", Alexander Database, 1865, Robert Ransom, "Andersonville Diary: Escape And Dead", Alexander Database, 1881, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4299311#page/60/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4299475.
[25] Michael Dougherty, "Prison Diary Of Michael Dougherty", Alexander Database, 1864, Worrell, John "Chronicles From The Diary Of A War Prisoner In Andersonville", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4273235#page/42/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4273267.
[26] Worrell, John "Chronicles From The Diary Of A War Prisoner In Andersonville", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4273235#page/42/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4273267.
[27] "Rules And Regulations Of The Prison Camp", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/prisonrules1865.htm.
[28] "The Trial Of Henry Wirz", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/thewirztrial.htm.
[29] Michael Dougherty, "Prison Diary Of Michael Dougherty", Alexander Database, 1864, Worrell, John "Chronicles From The Diary Of A War Prisoner In Andersonville", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4273235#page/42/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4273267.
[30] Michael Dougherty, "Prison Diary Of Michael Dougherty", Alexander Database, 1864, Worrell, John "Chronicles From The Diary Of A War Prisoner In Andersonville", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4273235#page/42/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4273267.
[31] "Imprisonment And Captivity: Civil War Prisons", Classroomelectric.Org, 2021, http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/gruesz/history.htm.
[32] "War Crimes", United Nations Office On Genocide Prevention And The Responsibility To Protect, 2021, https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/war-crimes.shtml.
[33] Robert Ransom, "Andersonville Diary: Escape And Dead", Alexander Database, 1881, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4299311#page/60/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4299475.
[34] Francis Hosmer, "A Glimpse Of Andersonville And Other Writings", Alexander Street Archives, 1896, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4329969.
[35] Jon Rice, "The Lasting Military And Legal Impact", Wirz Trial Home Page, 2021, http://law2.umkc.edu/Faculty/projects/FTrials/Wirz/impact3.htm.
[36] Ibid., Rice
[37] Jon Rice, "The Lasting Military And Legal Impact", Wirz Trial Home Page, 2021, http://law2.umkc.edu/Faculty/projects/FTrials/Wirz/impact3.htm.
[38] Francis Hosmer, "A Glimpse Of Andersonville And Other Writings", Alexander Street Archives, 1896, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4329969.
[39] "Andersonville: Prisoner Of War Camp", Anderonsville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/articles/andersonville-prisoner-of-war-camp-teaching-with-historic-places.htm.
[40] "Milestones: 1861–1865 - Office Of The Historian", Office Of The Historian, 2021, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/foreword.
[41] American Historical Association. “Genocide, Democide, and the Holocaust”
[42] "Andersonville Prison", American Battlefield Trust, 2021, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/andersonville-prison.
[43] "An Introduction To Civil War Prisons", Andersonville, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/cwprisons.htm.
[44] Eliza Andrews, "The War-Time Journal Of A Georgia Girl", Alexander Database, 1904, https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C4276984#page/367/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C4320675.