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=Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp-Camp Sumter= toc

Camp Construction
The Andersonville prison, formally known as "Camp Sumter," was constructed in 1864 to house the growing number of Union war prisoners the Confederacy held. The Confederates had an excess of prisoners and no place to contain them, so in November 1863 they searched for a place to construct a new prison. Andersonville, Georgia, a small town of 20 people, seemed like an ideal place for the new camp. Since the town was tiny there would be little public outcry about the camp, and there were ample slaves nearby to build the prison. The village was located on a railroad line, but it was far enough from the fighting that Northern raids were unlikely.There was a small stream near the village that could provide a water source. The Confederacy selected Andersonville to be home to "Camp Sumter" in November 1863, and construction began soon after. The camp was 16 1/2 acres and surrounded by a wooden stockade with sentry boxes. Nineteen feet within the stockade was the "deadline," a row of wooden posts, where any prisoner would be shot on sight if trying to cross. Outside the stockade walls were small earthen forts filled with artillery.

In June, 1864, Camp Sumter was enlarged to 26 1/2 acres due to overcrowding. The camp was originally designed to hold 10,000 prisoners, but by this time that number had grown to 22,000. Even so, by August 1864 there were 32,000 prisoners crowded inside the wooden walls.In September 1864 nearby Union forces threatened the camp's security, so many prisoners were moved to other camps. Andersonville housed a much smaller number of prisoners for the remaining 6 months of the war.

Food and Water
The daily food rations at Camp Sumter could barley pass as a meal, let alone sustain a whole day. Each day prisoners were given 1/4 pound cornmeal and either 1/3 pound bacon or a full pound of beef. From time to time there would also be dried peas or molasses. There was a small store within the stockade, but the food was sold at ridiculously high prices and most of the prisoners had no money to buy it. Often the food was distributed uncooked, and because there was a lack of firewood or tinder cooking was a difficult task. Many prisoners combined their rations and cooked together.

Water supplies were equally disappointing. While there was a fresh stream that ran through the camp, the stream passed two Confederate encampments and the prison bakehouse before arriving at the prison. The stream was the camp's only water source and it was used for drinking, washing, and sewage. The latrines, built on a hill above the stream, often overflowed in heavy rain, filling the stream and surrounding ground with waste. Once during a heavy rain storm in August a fresh spring burst forth from the ground. The prisoners named it "Providence Spring" because to them fresh water was a miracle.

Living Facilities
The prisoners were not given any form of shelter or clothing, so they were forced to create their own makeshift tents from what they had. Many prisoners made small homes called "shebangs" from materials like cloth, mud brick, and tree limbs. They used bits of their clothing sewn together, and often shared materials with other prisoners to construct joint shebangs. All the trees within the stockade had been ordered cut down, so there was absolutely no protection from the elements. The summer heat usually went above 100 F and in winter it was sometimes below freezing.

Each prisoner had about 6 square feet of living space, and disease spread quickly.Originally there was a small hospital within the stockade to care for sick prisoners, but it was later moved outside. There were huge masses of ill, and there were simply not enough workers or supplies to cope with them all. Tents were used and later wooden buildings were built, but the prison could not accommodate all the sick because the Confederacy's finances and supplies were slowly dwindling. Between February 25th and May 9th 1864, just 4,588 prisoners received treatment. There were over 15,000 prisoners within the stockade.

Daily Life
The daily life of a private was a treacherous one. Food given to the soldiers was less then satisfactory. They also had to be wary of disease. During the Civil War two out of three deaths were due to illness. To keep their morals up, soldiers would sometimes keep a journal or play games like cards and football.

While a soldier's life sounds difficult, life at Andersonville was hell. The food was nearly inedible, and hardly enough was provided to sustain the prisoners. The men were crampedand crowded. It was hard to move"without jostling and being jostled," wrote one prisoner, Prescott Tracy. Soldiers in the war were at least given tents and means of shelter, but in the prison there was no shelter whatsoever. The soldiers had to make do with what they had. Privates were given clothing and uniforms, while few of the prisoners had shoes, some were naked, and "more than half were indecently exposed," wrote Tracy. In the war soldiers had the knowledge and sustenance of a common goal--to keep moving and defeat the enemy. There was a continuity to their lives, they had a purpose, but at the prison the men's lives held no meaning.

There was no way to escape the prison and nothing to look forward to except the end of the war. About two men per day committed suicide by running across the "deadline" and being shot on sight. Some prisoners tried encouraging their fellow men, telling them to keep faith, but many simply lay on the ground either too sick or too hopeless to move. Other prisoners wandered about aimlessly, and some tried to escape by digging tunnels (none of which were successful). Often prisoners would wake in the morning to find the comrade next to them dead. It was easy for prisoners to point out their fellow men that would soon die from sickness, starvation, or fatigue.

To cope with the hopelessness of their situation, prisoners filled time with activities similar to those of a normal soldier. They played cards, carved wood, wrote in journals, read any material available, and sang songs.

Impact
The prison existed for 14 months, and 45,000 prisoners were sent there in total. At it's peak the prison held 32,000 prisoners. Of the 45,000 prisoners sent to Camp Sumter,12,912 died of disease, overcrowding or malnutrition. Sickness was rampant and some of the most common diseases were diarrhea, dysentery, malaria, and scurvy. Prisoners died at a rate of 100 per day.

There was huge Northern outcry against the terribly inhumane conditions at Andersonville. Northerners wanted justification for the atrocities committed, and when the war ended their wrath fell upon head commander Henry Wirz. He was arrested and later hanged for "wanton cruelty" ﻿, but the punishment was somewhat misdirected. The blame for all the terrors of the prison wasn't entirely Wirz's fault. He was a man who acted on orders and the limited supplies and money available. The Confederacy hardly had enough finances to pay for their own soldiers, let alone Northern prisoners. The budget was far too small to accommodate and care for thousands of prisoners. Records show that camp officials tried to ask for more supplies and money,but the Confederatcy had none to spare. Regardless of these facts, Wirz was still hanged as a scapegoat for the many horrors at the camp.

Life Afterwards
When the war ended in May,1865 Andersonville Prison closed it's doors for good. Most of the surviving prisoners went back home to their old lives. However, they were forever altered by the horrors of war. Their time in the prison was never forgotten.

In July and August of 1865, former prisoner Dorence Atwater returned to the prison to mark and bury the dead with the help of Clara Barton and former soldiers. They gave the prisoners a proper burial and allowed their deaths to be recognized. Their efforts also created an accurate record of the soldiers who died for future reference.

The grounds of the prison site were eventually sold to Women's Relief Corps, who developed the land by planting trees. In 1910 the WRC decided to honor the many soldiers who died there, so they donated the land to the people of the United States.The prison land was designated a national historic site in October,1970 by Congress. It is the only park in the National Park System to honor all American prisoners of war.