The True Story of Andersonville Prison By James Madison Page

[8thvacav]

This is a good read and very different than what is force fed us.
Martin

Editorial Reviews

Book Description
During the Civil War, James Madison Page was a prisoner in different places in the South. Seven months of that time was spent at Andersonville. While there he became well acquainted with Major Wirz, or Captain Wirz, as he then ranked.
Page takes the stand that Captain Wirz was unjustly held responsible for the hardship and mortality of Andersonville. It was his belief that the Federal authorities must share the blame for these things with the Confederate, since they well knew the inability of the Confederates to meet the reasonable wants of their prisoners of war, as they lacked a supply for their own needs, and since the Federal authorities failed to exercise a humane policy in the exchange of those captured in battle.

The writer, "with malice toward none and charity for all", denies conscious prejudice, and makes the sincere endeavor to put himself in the other fellow's place and make such a statement of the matter in hand as will satisfy all lovers of truth and justice.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...83155&v=glance

[elektratig]

I gather that controversy exists as to the culpability of Captain Wirtz, and that there were Union prisons in which conditions were nearly as bad as at Andersonville. But I must say that the idea that the Union should "share the blame" for conditions at Andersonville strikes me as wrong and indeed offensive. Would we say that the Allies should "share the blame" for conditions in German POW camps during WWII because part of the Allied war effort was to destroy Axis infrastructure? I wouldn't.

[8thvacav]

elektratig, I'm sorry you find this offensive. But I must say that the idea that the Union should "share the blame" for conditions at Andersonville strikes me as wrong and indeed offensive. Facts are facts. If the north had kept up the exchange the prisons wouldn't have been over crowded. Still the south would have a hard time feeding them. Buy the book and read it.
Martin

[elektratig]

The phrase "bear the blame" contains a moral element. Was it morally wrong for the Union to try to shorten the war by depriving the Confederates of manpower?

[johan_steele]

Shermans men had no problem finding food in their march through Georgia... yet the CS was uable to feed the men at Andersonville.

THe exchanges were stopped because there was no doubt the CS was not holding up tyheir end of the bargain. aka putting troops back into the field before they were exchanged. Grant knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt when he met men who he had captured at Vicksburg at Missionary Ridge. Add the refusal of the CS to treat captured Black troops as POWs and you have an understanding as to why the exchanges were stoppped. It was the right choice.

[8thvacav]

elektratig And General,
I bet if you ask that question to the prisoners they would say it was wrong. For one thing they had no wagons to hall the food if they could get it. Sherman cut a 50 mile strip through Ga. to feed his men and he left nothing for the people to eat. Are you saying that the Confederates should have done that to there own people. You keep saying the south had plenty. Show me some facts on that in 1864 when the prisons were going strong.
Martin

[johan_steele]

The exchanges were stopped because there was no doubt that the CS was not holding up their end of the bargain. aka putting troops back into the field before they were exchanged. Grant knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt when he met men who he had captured at Vicksburg at Missionary Ridge. Add the refusal of the CS to treat captured Black troops as POWs and you have an understanding as to why the exchanges were stopped. It was the right choice. I stand by that.

Are you meaning to tell me that there were no wagons to be had in Georgia to go get some corn or meal from farmers? (prior to Shermans march to the Sea and even the fall of Atlanta) Are you saying that the prisoners were allowed to plant gardens outside the walls of Andersonville? That they were allowed to gather some pine trees from outside the stockade and make decent shelter?

Was Wirz a criminal? Or was he just incompetant? I look at him as criminally negligent. Apparently, he and his guards ate quite well. Could the CS have done more? Absolutely, though in fairness they lacked the logistical know how to keep Savannah fed... why should Andersonville have been any different.

Sherman fed 60,000 men for the entire march across North Georgia. 25,000 freed slaves fed themselves and between 5000-10,000 CS deserters had little trouble eating. Wheeler fed his men in the same way. Yet Wirz couldn't or wouldn't make any viable attempts at feeding the men in his charge.

While Union POW Camps were a far cry from a picnic; CS guests were provided shelter, fresh water (or at least as good as that of the guards) the same rations as the guards (there are some notable exceptions) firewood or coal and at times clothing, winter blankets etc. While I agree that the Union POW Camps could have and should have been run more effectively and humanely the Union bears no blame for the conditions at Andersonville or any of the other Prisons where Union troops were held. Dishonest and dishonorable men who ran the CS parole boards tainted the Exchange system to the point that it was suspended. 25,000 men were captured at Vicksburg, how many Union soldiers were exchanged for them? There is part of the answer for overcrowding. The CS could have easily lightened their load a bit by honoring the exchange system. They didn't. The CS could have eased their burden by treating captured USCT men as human beings instead of killing them outright or placing them into slavery. Grant did his job in defending them.

[8thvacav]

There is no way you will get me to believe that Unionest stuff you are putting out. I've read to much that is just the opposite. Buy the book and read it. He was there. He lived in those times. We haven't, so I can't call him a liar. Can you?
Martin

[johan_steele]

I have read it... It isn't a bad book. But it is from the perspective of a prisoner who was quite bitter about being left in hell for too ****ed long. I won't call him a liar, his viewpoint was from his eyes as he saw it. He didn't see the big picture and I doubt he knew of the Exchange problems created by the CS that got the exchange program shut down.

Pray tell; what exactly is Unionist stuff I'm putting out? What am I spouting that is untrue?

[hoosier]

If the Federals were aware that the Confederacy was unable to supply the needs of its own citizens, let alone enemy prisoners, it seems to me that the Confederate high command would have known the same.

If it is fair to put part of the blame for Southern prison camp conditions on the Federals, it should be equally fair to put part of the blame on the Confederate government.

Jefferson Davis, Mississippian that he was, should have known that the Confederacy was doomed when Vicksburg fell. Although prolonging the war gave us 21st-century Civil War buffs a lot more to talk about, a great many people - civilians, prisoners, soldiers in the field, and Henry Wirz - would have been a lot better off if Davis had yielded to the inevitable in 1863, instead of continuing for another two years to pursue a war effort that no longer had any realistic chance of succeeding.