Andersonville Prison

[fyrffytr1]

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.

The original prison was 16 acres and would hold 6,000 POWs. When that area became overwhelmed another 10 acres was closed in. The bottom of the camp was very swampy but there was no river of sewage. As for the guards, old men and boys were used in the last days as the more seasoned Confederates were sent to stop Sherman's advance. And, the gaurds suffered from the same problems as the prisoners. There was little food for anyone.
But, I will get to some of these points in a few posts.

 

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[fyrffytr1]

The next stop on the tour is the North Gate. This is where the prisoners entered the camp after getting off the train about 1/2 mile west.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Next stop is the miracle of the camp; Providence Spring. The structure was built over the spring many years after the camp closed. The spring was only a few feet from the deadline.
From there we continue on to the southest corner where Capt. Wirz' headquarters were located inside a star fort.

 

[fyrffytr1]

The rest of the star fort pics.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Now we move on to "the Sinks". This is the low part of the camp that was used for fresh water as well as sewage disposal. That didn't work very well.
Then it is on to the "Pigeon Roosts" or the gaurds towers. They were spaced every 100' and, in the last days of the camp, manned by old men and young boys.
Imagine your son or father having to look at and listen to the thousands of prisoners below them and not be able to do anything for them.

 

[cheese]

Very nice thread and pictures. Thank you for going through the effort to show these to us with this kind of detail. There is a small prison camp site in my town where the prisoners headed to Andersonville from Savannah were held temporarily.

 

[fyrffytr1]

The last stop on our tour of the prison is the re-constructed North wall.The stocks were used to punish Confederate soldiers as well as Union POWs.
At one time there were a little over 33,000 prisoners confined here. The highest monthly mortality rate was about 3,100 in august, 1864. The most single day deaths was 127 also in August 1864. Chronic Diahhrea was the leading cause of death taking 4,000 lives.

 

[fyrffytr1]

One more stop was the town of Andersonville. Here, there is a monument erected in memory of Capt. Wirz and a marker relating the story of Father Whelan. I am also including two pics of the Father Whelan marker from the prison.
Anyone thinking about a visit might consider coming the first weekend in October.
That is when the historic fair is held. Here is a link for anyone interested.
http://www.andersonvillegeorgia.com/...nformation.htm

You can contact me anytime as I live less than 45 miles from the site. Thank you for viewing my pictures. As sad as the subject matter was I hope you enjoyed them.

 

[Mackaydon]

Excellent narrative and pics; many thanks.

 

[Tnmountains]

A very well done post. Thank you for taking the time to share this. This is one of the reasons I like treasure net. Someday I might ride over to Chickamauga and do a similar type post with time frame and then do Chattanooga.
Thank you.
TnMtns

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Cool shots... I saw Wirz as a name listed... kinda funny since my grandfathers name was Wirz... not many around.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Cool shots... I saw Wirz as a name listed... kinda funny since my grandfathers name was Wirz... not many around.

Maybe you should do a family history. You might be related. His name was Henry Wirz.

 

[fyrffytr1]

One other interesting statistic; each POW had about 30 square feet to move in. That is a 5' X 6' plot.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Doubt it, but I would have no idea where to start...