Andersonville Prison

[fyrffytr1]

I am going to Andersonville prison in the near future to take some pictures. If anyone has an ancestor buried in the cemetary I will be glad to take some pictures of their headstone. There are also state monuments if anyone is interested.

 

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[olegoat]

i am reading a book about that place when it was in operation, i would like
to see what it looks like today, i have heard that it is nothing now.
post away i for one will look.

 

[goldie1959]

Iread a book about it also. i.ll look also. thanks for the info .goldie

 

[Old Town]

I was in the town hall of Ipswich, Massachusetts recently and saw a huge pen and ink drawing of this prison as if the artist were in a low airplane. It's about 7x5 feet in size and very detailed. Have no idea why such a thing is in the town hall of this northern town. All I know is it's amazing to look at. I should go back and note who rendered this and when.

The drawing seems to indicate no tree cover inside the stockade and only a few open-sided shacks. A filthy creek about 2 feet wide trickles through the middle for water and sewerage removal.

Old Town

 

[fyrffytr1]

They have rebuilt part of the stockade walls so I will get some shots of that. And, there are no trees in the prison site. It was not a nice place! I actually have a relative who died there. Diahrea was the cause of his death as well as most of those who perished there.
That being said there were other POW camps just as bad if not worse. Camp Douglas in Chicago comes to mind.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Well, I finally made it to the prison today. And I took over 100 pictures! But, I am not satisfied with the majority of them. I didn't get there until 11am and the light was way to bright. Also, the sun was in a position that made shooting the fronts of some of the monments very difficult.
I am going to work with some of them but will probably end up returning for more shots later this fall.
I have three shots ready to post so here is a little sample. The first pic is an un-edited shot of some of the graves. The second is one I played with. It's of the rebuilt stockade wall and make shift tents. And the third is a 3' gun at one of the star forts surrounding the stockade. Looking out from it you can see the stockade wall in the far corner.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Here are some more. 12920 Union soldiers died in the camp and are interred here in the cemetary. The six raiders graves can be seen behind the placard in the third picture.
Again, I aplogise for the poor quality of some of the shots. I don't have very good photo editing software installed on my computer but I hope to get Photoshop in the near future.

 

[fyrffytr1]

There is a section of the cemetary set aside for unknown soldiers. The last two pictures are the headstones of the soldier who, I believe, carried the badge I found.When I knelt down to take the picture I placed my hand on the ground and a shiver went up my arm and spread over my whole body! Now that was an eerie experience.I told him the badge would be taken care of. The second headstone is of my great, great, great Uncle who was one of the last to die. He is 12,735 out of 12,920.
He succmbed to Diarrhea as did most of the men who died there.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Very interesting !!! Keep those pics coming. Thanks for sharing

 

[fyrffytr1]

One thing I would like to point out, if you notice some headstones are spaced out while others are right next to each other. The tightly packed headstones belong to the Andersonville POWs. The others are veterans of later wars.

 

[Old Town]

Earlier I mentioned a pen and ink drawing of the prison I saw in the Massachusetts town of Ipswich. I found it online. I have no PC skills and cannot just add it in here. But if you Google: "Andersonville Prison drawing by Thomas O'Dea," you can find a couple of links with good photos of this huge drawing the man did.

O'Dea was a prison survivor who was was part of the 16th Regiment out of Maine. He drew the map/drawing from memory in 1873 or so. You can see it on these links. There is even a photo of the very picture I first saw in the town hall of Ipswich.

These links have other photos too. Just like the original poster's photos. Very cool stuff if you ask me.

OT

 

[Rasputin]

If you are interested in a history of the prison an excellent book is "Andersonville" by MacKinlay Kantor. Long (1100 pages) but an excellent account of what took place there during the "War of Northern Aggression."

 

[truckinbutch]

If you are interested in a history of the prison an excellent book is "Andersonville" by MacKinlay Kantor. Long (1100 pages) but an excellent account of what took place there during the "War of Northern Aggression."

That is a very good read .
Jim

 

[treasurehound]

Can't wait to see the pictures and read about your visit. One of my ancestors was captured at the Battle of Nashville and taken POW to Camp Chase in Ohio. I have his Oath of Allegiance papers (release papers) in 1865. I would like to hear more about this camp as well as I have not done any research on it. I love to read about our history.

 

[midnightmoon]

Well, I finally made it to the prison today. And I took over 100 pictures! But, I am not satisfied with the majority of them. I didn't get there until 11am and the light was way to bright. Also, the sun was in a position that made shooting the fronts of some of the monments very difficult.
I am going to work with some of them but will probably end up returning for more shots later this fall.
I have three shots ready to post so here is a little sample. The first pic is an un-edited shot of some of the graves. The second is one I played with. It's of the rebuilt stockade wall and make shift tents. And the third is a 3' gun at one of the star forts surrounding the stockade. Looking out from it you can see the stockade wall in the far corner.

Amazing. Your pics make me feel as if I am there; and really, not many people have that ability regardless of equipment used. Absolutely amazing.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Thanks for the replies and kind words. I have to work all weekend but I will try to get some more pictures posted soon.

 

[fyrffytr1]

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I resized a few more. The first picture, looking East from the Northwest corner, shows the outer edge of the stockade and the inner "deadline". The second is looking south from the same corner. There were a few trees within the prison and you can see in the third and fourth shots that the POWs tried, in vain, to dig their way out. These trees are in the north side of the camp. The last picture is a view from the southwest corner looking north.
This is where Commandant Wirz had his headquarters. The part of the stockade in this picture is the re-constructed North Gate. The two stone pillars just beyond the taller one are where the South gate was located. Also, the smaller structure is where the "Providence" spring is located. It was just inside the deadline.

 

[Rasputin]

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This is where Commandant Wirz had his headquarters.

Did you know that Commadant Wirz was the only person hanged for war crimes during the Civil War?

 

[fyrffytr1]

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This is where Commandant Wirz had his headquarters.

Did you know that Commadant Wirz was the only person hanged for war crimes during the Civil War?

And, unfairly so!

 

[Kimbrough]

Back in '91 I worked on a made-for-tv movie called Andersonville. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and shot on location in Senoia, Ga. We re-created a 1/3rd scale of the prison and it was still huge! Words cannot describe how squalid this place must have been. I read that the most unfortunate of the prisoners lived the closest to the river of sewage that ran through the place. The prime spot (if i remember correctly) was nearer the walls and the Confederates had no food for the prisoners much less any soldiers to guard them. Old men and boys were sometimes posted as guards.