Reports From Andersonville

[JPK Huson 1863]

Please no one start the same argument where by ' Gee Mom, he did it to ' negates suffering endured. Civil War prisons did indeed claim lives from disease and neglect across the board, from Maine to Florida, Because some of Time's actors had something just, plain wrong with them putting them in charge of other men was a crisis in the making.

No one will ever understand Wirtz. It was not lack of food. The Southern population, citizens living near Andersonville prison tried mightily to get food through to these men. Appalled at what was before their eyes these good people were not witnessing war. They saw humans needing help and badly. Wirtz stood firm. A stream of Georgia citizens continued their attempts, never once considering it aiding an enemy- keeping neighbors alive is what the mission was. You know, for as awful as Anderonville was you must be grateful to those citizens for coming there. Union men seeing these people trying to aid must have put heart into them, something equally important as food for survival.

Union graves at Andersonville

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Burial trenches at Andersonville

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Yes, a lot to read here. One account I found is from a Southern paper.( clipped it, cannot find it! Confederate officer shocked, good guy ) You do understand more and more how chaotic it must have been. There was a situation North and South where anything critical on the war could get you arrested. Wirtz not only had complete control down in Andersonville, because complaints within the Confederacy could be construed as treason ( it was the same in the North ), he could rest assured no one would spread these rumors. That's my theory. It makes sense- a. Too much power allowed one man. 2. No critics allowed 3. Citizens and others were very upset by conditions there, Southerners, normal, church going people.

 

[PeterT]

Just too horrible really ......

 

[nitrofd]

I am not going to say that Wirtz did no wrong but when you say the the population tried mighty to get them food I find a little hard to believe.Andersonville even today is in the middle of nowhere and the town was not that big even with a railway depot.the local population I would bet had no real abundance of food to give away and any extra was probably taken by the army.today I believe the population according to a sign outside the town is only 245.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Yes. It was more than insane wasn't it? This entire topic tends to devolve into accusations where Northern prisons are cited for their inhumanity. Recognizing Andersonville as the singular work of a man who just, plain had something wrong with him and given the perfect storm of conditions wherein he was allowed to give free rein to his blunted sense of reality is important.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I am not going to say that Wirtz did no wrong but when you say the the population tried mighty to get them food I find a little hard to believe.Andersonville even today is in the middle of nowhere and the town was not that big even with a railway depot.the local population I would bet had no real abundance of food to give away and any extra was probably taken by the army.today I believe the population according to a sign outside the town is only 245.

Newspaper accounts, and Northern accounts toboot may not be reliable as sources but why would a Northern paper relating a prisoner's account at Andersonville invent that? It may have been more populated then, perhaps Andersonville's plight was better known than we understand it to have been today, maybe a lot of things. I've only recently considered the whole ' aiding the enemy ' aspect- who would wish to admit to this deed?

 

[nitrofd]

You may not know this but in the past year in the dear state of Georgia their legislature tried to pass a resolution making IIRC nov.25 Wirtz Memorial Day.it seems today that the old ways die hard.

 

[nitrofd]

The water supply at Andersonville was the first major problem and it just snowballed from there.talking to one of the Rangers at Andersonville they say that little creek flows more water today then it did back then.the prisoners did dig about 16 wells at Andersonville but they did not produce that much water.Andersoville was a bad situation that just went from bad to worse to inhuman and I really don't thick there was a way to turn it around.

 

[DR_Hanna]

You may not know this but in the past year in the dear state of Georgia their legislature tried to pass a resolution making IIRC nov.25 Wirtz Memorial Day.it seems today that the old ways die hard.

I'd love to see some documenation on that... Can't find a thing.

However the SCV put on a memorial to Wirtz in 2014

http://canadafreepress.com/article/wirz-memorial-service-andersonville-georgia

The Americus camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization will host an annual Memorial Service for Civil War Andersonville Prison Commandant Capt. Henry Wirz on Sunday Nov. 9. The musical group, "A Joyful Noise," from Leesburg, will play and sing Southern Confederate songs and Gospel Hymns from 2 to 3PM followed by a formal memorial service. The public is invited to join SCV and pay tribute to a Southern hero and martyr. The guest speaker will be Congressman Paul Broun from Athens . Dr. Broun, a native of Athens, practiced medicine in Americus many years ago. Confederate Reenactors "The Muckalee Guards" will provide Honor Guard duties during the Service.

 

[PeterT]

I'd love to see some documenation on that... Can't find a thing.

However the SCV put on a memorial to Wirtz in 2014

http://canadafreepress.com/article/wirz-memorial-service-andersonville-georgia

"... pay tribute to a Southern hero and martyr ..." ???? I am sorry but I don't get that at all. But then there are lots of things about this war that don't make a lot of sense.

 

[nitrofd]

I'd love to see some documenation on that... Can't find a thing.

However the SCV put on a memorial to Wirtz in 2014

http://canadafreepress.com/article/wirz-memorial-service-andersonville-georgia

It was in the news here in jacksonville.

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

Andersonville was the worst among many devastatingly awful prison camps on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. The horror cannot be mitigated. However, our perception is warped towards the death and suffering side because that's what most ex-prisoners wrote about - many of them in a determined effort to "get" Wirz and later to fill a demand. The public loves horror. These days, we tend to read the short excerpts our history books choose to quote - almost all on one subject.

Again, none of this minimizes the truth of the torture, disease and death that went on. However, while I'm unable to find them now, I have recently been reading other prisoner stories (while researching the steamship General Lyon). I didn't keep the links for they had no application.

Life in Andersonville included a lot more than the death and dying. The prisoners conducted an amazing amount of trade amongst themselves as well as with outsiders. They could get small amounts of food and these entered the prison trade and barter system. What on earth was there to trade? Tools made from bone; buttons; bits of metal shaped into useful things - a cup, a "plate". Clothing (!).

It appears that the guards never did manage to rob incomers of everything - they took a lot but not all. There were "shops" set up, including gambling areas. The prisoners actually formed a community that worked, within the severe limits of a prison hell.

Anyway... a more well-rounded story of Andersonville encompasses the overwhelming cruelty and the amazing resilience of man.

 

[DaveBrt]

Yes, a lot to read here. One account I found is from a Southern paper.( clipped it, cannot find it! Confederate officer shocked, good guy ) You do understand more and more how chaotic it must have been. There was a situation North and South where anything critical on the war could get you arrested. Wirtz not only had complete control down in Andersonville, because complaints within the Confederacy could be construed as treason ( it was the same in the North ), he could rest assured no one would spread these rumors. That's my theory. It makes sense- a. Too much power allowed one man. 2. No critics allowed 3. Citizens and others were very upset by conditions there, Southerners, normal, church going people.

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Edited by Chellers, moderator.
Please review the following:

1. This was WAR
2. Your first goal in war is to KILL the enemy
3. Your next goal is to WIN the war
*****
??. At some point, you take care of the prisoners you have captured. This is only a requirement of civilized nations; before "civilized" war, prisoners were executed on the battlefield.

If you have limited resources, they must be applied to the list of objectives above in descending order. Prisoners are WAY down the list. And the South was definitely hurting for resources in 1864.

Just for fun, please tell us where additional POW camps should have been built, what troops were available to build and guard them and where the food was to come from to sustain the prisoners. The Confederate government went through such planning and found no place or resources to devote to additional POW camps. Maybe you can show us where they were wrong.

Grant, Sherman and several lesser commanders were making life extremely difficult for the South in the summer of 1864. Diverting resources to problems below #1-3 above was almost impossible.

 

[DR_Hanna]

Cruelty begets cruelty. Why were these prisoners not exchanged? It would have been their only real hope - same as the Confederate prisoners that would have been exchanged along with them. Why were they all left to rot?

 

[nitrofd]

Cruelty begets cruelty. Why were these prisoners not exchanged? It would have been their only real hope - same as the Confederate prisoners that would have been exchanged along with them. Why were they all left to rot?

The exchange process had stopped by then because Grant said exchanging them was foolish , it only gave them men to fight the union again.

 

[nitrofd]

After you fainting spell is over, please review the following:

1. This was WAR
2. Your first goal in war is to KILL the enemy
3. Your next goal is to WIN the war
*****
??. At some point, you take care of the prisoners you have captured. This is only a requirement of civilized nations; before "civilized" war, prisoners were executed on the battlefield.

If you have limited resources, they must be applied to the list of objectives above in descending order. Prisoners are WAY down the list. And the South was definitely hurting for resources in 1864.

Just for fun, please tell us where additional POW camps should have been built, what troops were available to build and guard them and where the food was to come from to sustain the prisoners. The Confederate government went through such planning and found no place or resources to devote to additional POW camps. Maybe you can show us where they were wrong.

Grant, Sherman and several lesser commanders were making life extremely difficult for the South in the summer of 1864. Diverting resources to problems below #1-3 above was almost impossible.

Andersonville was constructed by slaves so no troops were deployed for that.asfor guards most of the ones at Andersonville were teens and some grey hairs. (To old to fight or disabled).

 

[jackt62]

The exchange process had stopped by then because Grant said exchanging them was foolish , it only gave them men to fight the union again.

I believe that the exchange/parole system came to a screeching halt sometime in 1863 once the federal government began enlisting black soldiers in the USCT on a large scale basis. In response, the Confederate government's policy was to deny captured USCT soldiers, status as prisoners-of-war, and asserted that such captives would be treated as slaves to be repatriated to their former owners.

 

[Sbc]

I am not going to say that Wirtz did no wrong but when you say the the population tried mighty to get them food I find a little hard to believe.Andersonville even today is in the middle of nowhere and the town was not that big even with a railway depot.the local population I would bet had no real abundance of food to give away and any extra was probably taken by the army.today I believe the population according to a sign outside the town is only 245.

Have to agree--visited twice and it is still out in bfe

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

After you fainting spell is over, please review the following:

1. This was WAR
2. Your first goal in war is to KILL the enemy
3. Your next goal is to WIN the war
*****
??. At some point, you take care of the prisoners you have captured. This is only a requirement of civilized nations; before "civilized" war, prisoners were executed on the battlefield.

If you have limited resources, they must be applied to the list of objectives above in descending order. Prisoners are WAY down the list. And the South was definitely hurting for resources in 1864.

Just for fun, please tell us where additional POW camps should have been built, what troops were available to build and guard them and where the food was to come from to sustain the prisoners. The Confederate government went through such planning and found no place or resources to devote to additional POW camps. Maybe you can show us where they were wrong.

Grant, Sherman and several lesser commanders were making life extremely difficult for the South in the summer of 1864. Diverting resources to problems below #1-3 above was almost impossible.

Why is this my responsibility? My answer is no, and it would not be fun regardless. There is no ' fun ' attached to this proposed ' what if ' you propose. I am not responsible regardless, not being the person responsible for Andersonville or for writing or publishing any of these articles.

If you have a problem with anything in this thread please contact a moderator. If you have a problem with someone creating falsehoods about Andersonville prison, please contact the editors of these newspapers.