Andersonville Prison facts for kids

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Andersonville National Historic Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
U.S. National Historic Site

Reconstruction of a section of the stockade wall
Location in Georgia (U.S. state) Show map of Georgia (U.S. state) Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Macon / Sumter counties, Georgia, United States
Nearest city	Andersonville, Georgia, Americus, Georgia
Area	514 acres (208 ha)
Visitation	1,436,759 (2011)
Website	Andersonville National Historic Site
NRHP reference No.	70000070
Added to NRHP	October 16, 1970
Designated NHS	October 16, 1970

The Andersonville National Historic Site is a special place in Georgia, near the town of Andersonville. It helps us remember the old Andersonville Prison, also called Camp Sumter. This prison was a Confederate camp for war prisoners during the last 14 months of the American Civil War.

Most of this historic site is in Macon County. It also includes the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum. The prison was open from February 1864 to April 1865.

Captain Henry Wirz was in charge of the prison. He was later put on trial and executed for his actions. The prison held four times more prisoners than it was built for. It did not have enough water, food, or clean conditions. About 45,000 Union soldiers were held at Camp Sumter. Nearly 13,000 of them, or 28%, died. Most died from diseases like scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery.

Life Inside Andersonville Prison
Escaping Andersonville
Moving Prisoners
The Prison is Freed
The Trial of Henry Wirz
After the War
National Prisoner of War Museum
Andersonville National Cemetery
Andersonville in Books and Movies
Gallery
- Monuments
See also

Life Inside Andersonville Prison

The prison opened in February 1864. It was first about 16.5 acres (6.7 hectares) in size. A tall wooden fence, called a stockade, surrounded it. In June 1864, the prison grew to 26.5 acres (10.7 hectares). The stockade was a rectangle, about 1,620 feet (494 m) long and 779 feet (237 m) wide. This gave each prisoner a very small space, about 5 by 6 feet (1.5 by 2 m).

A depiction of Andersonville Prison by John L. Ransom, a former prisoner

A drawing of Andersonville Prison by Thomas O'Dea, a former prisoner

The Dead Line

Inside the prison, there was a special fence called "the dead line." It was about 19 feet (5.8 m) away from the main stockade wall. This line marked a forbidden area. If a prisoner crossed or even touched this line, guards would shoot them without warning. These guards stood on high platforms called "pigeon roosts." Some people think the modern word "deadline" (meaning a time limit) might come from this prison term.

How Prisoners Survived

During the Civil War, prisoner-of-war camps were a new idea. Rules for treating prisoners were still being made. Andersonville did not follow good rules for its prisoners. There was no real law or protection inside the prison. Prisoners often had to rely on each other to survive.

Having friends in Andersonville made it more likely for a prisoner to live. Friends could share food, clothes, and shelter. They also gave each other moral support and protection. Studies show that strong friendships, especially with people from the same hometown or family, helped prisoners survive.

The Raiders and Regulators

Some prisoners formed a group called the Andersonville Raiders. They would attack other inmates to steal food, jewelry, money, and clothes. To stop them, another group formed, led by Peter "Big Pete" Aubrey. They called themselves "Regulators."

The Regulators caught many Raiders. They held trials with a judge and jury made of new prisoners. If found guilty, Raiders faced punishments like running the gauntlet or being put in stocks. Six Raiders were even hanged.

The conditions were so bad that in July 1864, Captain Wirz let five Union soldiers go. Their mission was to ask the Union to start exchanging prisoners again. This would help reduce the overcrowding and suffering. However, the Union said no to this request. The five soldiers, who had promised to return, brought this sad news back to their fellow prisoners.

Prisoner Deaths

About 45,000 prisoners were held at Andersonville. Nearly 13,000 of them died. Historians still discuss why so many died. Some believe it was due to Confederate policies. Others say it was because of severe overcrowding and not enough food. There were also many diseases and a lack of proper care. The system for exchanging prisoners had also broken down.

During the Civil War, disease was the main cause of death for soldiers on both sides. Poor sanitation in camps, including prisons, made sickness a big problem.

Dorence Atwater's Secret List

A young Union prisoner named Dorence Atwater was given a job. He was supposed to record the names of the dead for the Confederate and U.S. governments. But Atwater believed the U.S. government would never see the official list. So, he secretly kept his own list of the dead.

When Atwater was released, he hid his list and took it with him. The New York Tribune newspaper later published his list. Atwater believed that Captain Wirz wanted Union prisoners to be too weak to fight again, even if they survived.

Newell Burch's Diary

Another prisoner, Newell Burch, also wrote about the terrible conditions in his diary. Burch was a soldier from New York. He was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was held at Andersonville for 661 days, making him one of the longest-held Union prisoners. His diary helps us understand what life was like inside the prison.

Prisoner Population Growth

The number of prisoners at Andersonville grew very quickly:

Date	Population
April 1, 1864	7,163
May 5, 1864	12,002
June 13, 1864	20,654
June 19, 1864	23,944
July 18, 1864	29,078
July 31, 1864	31,680
August 31, 1864	31,695

Escaping Andersonville

Many prisoners tried to escape from Andersonville. Most tried to dig tunnels out of the camp. They aimed for nearby forests, about 50 feet (15 m) from the wall. But even if they got out, escaping was very hard because the prisoners were so sick and weak.

Prisoners caught trying to escape faced harsh punishments. They could lose their food, be put in ball and chain, or even be killed. Some prisoners tried to escape by pretending to be dead. They would lie with the dead bodies taken out of the camp at night. Then, they would try to run away when it was dark. When Captain Wirz found out, he ordered doctors to check all bodies before they left the camp.

Confederate records show that 351 prisoners escaped. However, many were caught again. The U.S. Army says 32 prisoners made it back to Union lines. Others might have gone home without telling the military, or they might have died.

Moving Prisoners

In the late summer of 1864, the Confederacy offered to release prisoners if the Union sent ships to pick them up. Andersonville was far inland, so this was difficult.

After the Battle of Atlanta in the autumn of 1864, many prisoners who were well enough were moved. They went to Florence Stockade in South Carolina and Camp Lawton in Georgia. At Camp Lawton, conditions were better, and prisoners were taken by train to the port of Savannah. But when General William Tecumseh Sherman began his "march to the sea" and destroyed Millen, the remaining prisoners were sent back to Andersonville.

The Prison is Freed

The Union Army freed Andersonville Prison in May 1865. The soldiers found the prisoners looking like "human skeletons" in a terrible place.

The Trial of Henry Wirz

Capt. Henry Wirz

After the war, Captain Henry Wirz, who was in charge of the prison, was put on trial. He was accused of war crimes. Union General Lew Wallace led the trial. Many former prisoners spoke about the terrible conditions at Andersonville. Some even accused Wirz of specific cruel acts.

The court also looked at official letters from Confederate records. One very important letter was from James Jones, who visited Camp Sumter in 1864. He was shocked by what he saw and wrote a detailed report to his leaders. This report strongly helped the prosecution's case.

Wirz argued that he had asked Confederate leaders for more food and tried to make conditions better. But he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 10, 1865. Wirz was the only Confederate official executed for war crimes after the Civil War. The terrible suffering of the prisoners at Andersonville greatly affected how people in the North felt about the South after the war.

After the War

In 1890, a group called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) bought the land where Andersonville Prison stood. They later offered it to the Woman's Relief Corps (WRC), a women's group.

In 1896, the WRC accepted the land as a "sacred trust." They wanted to protect it and make it a park. They bought more land, making the area about 87 acres (35 hectares). They built a house for a caretaker and started planting grass, fruit trees, and a rose garden. Rose bushes were sent from almost every state! Several states also built monuments there to honor their dead soldiers. These states included Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. The WRC also built a monument for Lizabeth A. Turner, who worked hard to create the park but passed away.

In 1910, the WRC gave the site to the U.S. government. A year later, a special tablet was revealed, listing the names of the people who helped make this happen.

National Prisoner of War Museum

The National Prisoner of War Museum opened in 1998. It is a memorial to all American prisoners of war from every war. Inside, you can see art, photos, and videos. These show what it was like for American prisoners to be captured, live in difficult conditions, and experience hardships. The museum is also the park's visitor center.

Andersonville National Cemetery

Andersonville National Cemetery, June 2011

The cemetery is where the Union prisoners who died at Camp Sumter/Andersonville are buried. It has 13,714 graves. About 921 of these graves are marked "unknown."

Today, the Andersonville National Cemetery is also a burial place for more recent veterans and their families.

Visitors can walk around the 26.5-acre (10.7-hectare) site of Camp Sumter. The original prison area is marked with double rows of white posts. Two parts of the stockade wall have been rebuilt: the north gate and the northeast corner.

Andersonville in Books and Movies

Andersonville (1955) is a book by MacKinlay Kantor about the prison. It won a big award called the Pulitzer Prize in 1956.
The Andersonville Trial (1970) was a TV show based on a play. It showed the trial of Henry Wirz in 1865.
The Italian comic series "Tex" has a story set in a prison camp called Anderville. It is based on Andersonville.
The TV movie Andersonville (1996), directed by John Frankenheimer, tells the story of the prison camp.
Hiram's Honor: Reliving Private Terman's Civil War (2009) by Max R. Terman is a historical novel.
The Sentinels of Andersonville (2014) by Tracy Groot is a novel. It includes real people like Captain Henry Wirz and fictional prisoners.