BACKTRACKING
Andersonville
by Terry Hogan
Some time back, I wrote
an article for this column concerning the notorious Andersonville prisoner of
war camp that the Confederacy ran in 1864-1865 near Andersonville, Georgia.
Andersonville is located in southwestern Georgia. The site was chosen as it was
an area in the South that was not in immediate threat of attack by Union
troops. Over 13,000 Union
troops died while imprisoned there in despicable conditions. But as there usually is in all
significant events, there is more than one view of the events. This became clear when my wife and I
recently visited the Andersonville prison site.
The Andersonville civil
war prison long ago rotted away.
It was made of local pine trees cut down by slaves and shaped into rough
lumber of 20 foot lengths. Five
feet of the timber was below ground and the remaining 15 feet became one
vertical log in the stockade fence. There are many facts that nobody seems to
dispute. Many more prisoners were
placed in Andersonville than it was designed to handle. It was designed to hold
10,000 prisoners in a 16.5 acre site. By August 1864, it held over 32,000 Union
enlisted prisoners. The death rate
was greater than 100 per day. Over the 14 months of operation, 13,000 Union
prisoners died at Andersonville.
Sgt. David Kennedy of the 9th Ohio Cavalry wrote in his diary on July 9,
1864: "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 main 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." (spelling as in
original).
The small stream that
ran through the stockade was too small, flowed too slowly, and rapidly became
unfit for drinking, although it was the sole source of drinking water.
It is also generally
agreed that medical supplies, food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment
was inadequate at Andersonville.
Union soldiers wasted away.
When finally released near the end of the war, the available photos showed
emaciated soldiers that rival the starvation seen in Jewish concentration camps
at the end of WWII. Few would
dispute this.
However, there clearly
are two views about why the conditions existed at Andersonville. The Union
generally took the position that the Andersonville conditions were the results
of deliberate inhumane treatment of the POWs. The Union also believed that the Confederate commander, Captain
Wirz, was a sadist and deliberately withheld required materials from the
imprisoned northern soldiers.
The local Southern view,
not surprisingly differs in regard to the cause of the inhuman conditions, and
to the culpability of Captain Wirz. The South correctly notes that it was
General Grant who stopped the POW exchange program between the two armies.
Grant concluded that the South had limited troop reserves (compared to the
North), and returning troops to the South would only prolong the war and the
killing on both sides. As such, the South, which was also very limited in food,
medical supplies and clothing, was suddenly faced with prisoners whom it was
ill-equipped to provide for. The South did not have the money, tents, medical
supplies, doctors, food, or clothing sufficient for its own soldiers, and the
POW needs were considered less important.
In regard to Wirz, the
North captured him and placed him on trial in Washington, D.C. as a war
criminal. He was promptly
convicted and hung. It has been argued that the sensationalism of
Andersonville, as treated by the Northern press, had to be appeased by the
conviction and hanging of Wirz.
The small town of
Andersonville, located very near the National Park Service's Andersonville
prison site, treat Wirz as a responsible and honorable man who did the best he
could with what was made available to him. A stone monument sits in the center of the town. It honors General Wirz and is inscribed
with a brief summary of why he was a man wrongfully condemned to death by the
North at the end of the Civil War:
ÒIn Memory of Captain
Henry Wirz, CSA, Born Zurich Switzerland 1822, Sentenced to Death and Executed
at Washington, D.C. Nov. 10, 1865. To rescue his name from the stigma attached
to it by embittered prejudice. This shaft is erected by the Georgia Division,
United Daughters of the Confederacy.Ó
Perhaps the North's view
is correct. Perhaps the South's
view is correct. Perhaps reality is somewhere in between. Truth, as it has been said, is often
the first casualty of war. But one
can not escape the tragic loss of life at Andersonville when looking across
13,000 white military markers of those Union soldiers who died at
Andersonville.
Nearly all the dead
Union troops are identified on the markers. This was due to the secret record keeping of Dorence
Atwater, a Union prisoner.
He was detailed to keep a record of the dead for the Confederacy. But he also made a personal copy which
he made available to the Union once he was released from Andersonville. At the end of the war, Atwater, Clara
Barton (founder of the American Red Cross), Captain J. More and 42 letterers,
painters, and clerks were sent to Andersonville on July 25th. Using the Atwater records, a marker was
placed with each soldier's name, state, and a reference number. Only 460 graves
have been marked "Unknown Union Soldier".
Monuments have been
added from Northern states, including Illinois, honoring the Illinois dead
buried in the row after row of Civil War Andersonville prisoners who never made
it home.
National Prisoner of War Museum
At the risk of including
a tangent, I have to note the presence of the National Prisoner of War
Museum. It is the perfect museum
and the perfect location. It
honors all of America's prisoners of war.
The collection of letters, photos, and video clips is very moving. The sculpture wall, located outside the
museum building is more effective than my photo can show. I don't know what
else to say about it.
References
Anon. Undated. Andersonville, Official Map and
Guide.
National Park Service.
Anon. Undated. The Andersonville Death Rolls.
http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/ Andersonvilleprison/ATWATER.html.
Futch, Ovid. 1968. History
of Andersonville Prison. University of Florida Press. 146p.
Marsh, Michael. 2000. Andersonville,
the Story Behind the Scenery. National Park Service.