Andersonville Prison Camp and Cemetery - Civil War

Andersonville Civil War Prison camp is located in Southwestern Georgia. It is comparatively small, about 30 acres, and held over 40,000 Union prisoners. It was only in operation for 14 months, but in that time about 15,000 men died of starvation, disease, abuse and murder. The conditions were wretched, deplorable and filthy. The weather was cold, rainy and dreary on my visit, which further lent itself to the horror of the camp.

A recreation of the entrance way

A sample of what it may have looked like. The railing is known as the "Deadline" and is about ten feet from the stockade. Should a soldier cross over the deadline, he is shot and killed. Condederate soldiers would sometimes throw food and bread into the deadline area to entice the Union soldiers to cross over thereby shooting them.

The stockade posts, outline the perimeter of the campsite also using the white posts to reflect the deadline and stockade line. Individual states and regiments have place monuments within the perimeter.

Follow the white posts down to the right and you will see another corner of the recreated stockade.

The monument placed by the Michigan regiments

Actual pictures of the camp and a survivor

Dorence Atwater had the task of recording the daily deaths. He kept secret copies of his ledger books and after the camp was closed, returned to the site with Clara Barton to begin the task of unearthing each soldier for reburial and identification within the National Cemetery. However, some of the soldiers are still unknown.

Monument at the entrance of the National Cemetery

Soldiers were placed in long trenches, closely packed, side by side.

The Raiders were a group of Union men within the prison camp who terrorized, bullied, assaulted and even killed over prisoners. Other Union prisoners formed a group called the Regulators to stop these Raiders. The Raiders were tried and convicted by the other camp members and sentenced to hanging. The Confederate soldiers provided the wood and rope to make the platforms and the seven Raiders were hung for their injustices. They are buried in a separate area of the National Cemetery.