Andersonville Prison

Andersonville National Historic Site

Company type	National historic site
Industry	Historic preservation, museum
Founded	February 1864
Headquarters	Andersonville, Georgia , United States
Products	Historic site, National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville National Cemetery
Website	www.nps.gov/ande/index.htm

The Andersonville National Historic Site, located near Andersonville, Georgia, safeguards the former Andersonville Prison (also known as Camp Sumter), a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp that operated during the final fourteen months of the American Civil War. Primarily situated in southwestern Macon County, Georgia adjacent to Andersonville, the site encompasses the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum. The prison was active from February 1864 until April 1865.

Under the command of Captain Henry Wirz, who was subsequently convicted and executed for war crimes, the facility was severely overcrowded, housing up to four times its designed capacity, with insufficient provisions of water, food, and sanitation. Of the approximately 45,000 Union captives confined there, nearly 13,000 (about 28%) perished, mainly due to illnesses such as scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery.

Conditions

Established in February 1864, the prison initially occupied an area of about , enclosed by a high stockade. By June 1864, its size increased to . The rectangular enclosure measured by , featuring two gates on the western side known as the "north entrance" and "south entrance". This layout provided approximately 5 by 6 feet (1.5 x 2 m) per prisoner.

Descriptions of Andersonville

Robert H. Kellogg, sergeant major of the 16th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, recounted his arrival at the camp on May 2, 1864:

As we entered, a dreadful scene stopped us in our tracks—once robust men appeared as walking skeletons, covered in filth and infested with vermin. Many whispered, "Is this hell?" At the center lay a swamp serving as a latrine, emitting a suffocating stench of excrement. Our quarters were near this hazardous spot, making survival through the summer seem impossible.

Additional testimonies come from Ransom Chadwick of the 85th New York Infantry, who arrived on April 30, 1864. John L. Ransom also maintained a detailed diary chronicling his experience during captivity.

Father Peter Whelan arrived on June 16, 1864, to coordinate Catholic church efforts in support of the prisoners.

The dead line

Within Andersonville stood a light fence known as "the dead line," positioned approximately inside the stockade wall. This boundary served as a forbidden zone preventing prisoners from approaching the -high log barrier. Any attempt to cross or touch this line resulted in immediate lethal force from sentries stationed in guard towers called "pigeon roosts". This enforcement may have influenced the contemporary use of the term deadline referring to a time limit.

Health Issues

By 1864, Andersonville Prison was grappling with critical food shortages that impacted both Confederate soldiers and captives, with prisoners receiving substantially less nourishment than the guards. While the guards avoided extreme weight loss and scurvy thanks to better provisions, inmates endured vitamin C deficiency, dysentery, and typhoid fever due to inadequate diets and filthy living conditions. The camp’s only water supply came from a creek polluted by waste from thousands of ill prisoners. Even when food shipments arrived, they were frequently of inferior quality and poorly prepared.

New clothing was never issued to inmates; worn-out garments often fell apart or were taken from deceased prisoners. John McElroy, a former captive, recounted frequent conflicts over clothing scavenged from dead men. Despite being surrounded by woodland, prisoners had minimal access to firewood for warmth or cooking tools, making it difficult to prepare their scant rations of coarsely ground cornmeal.

Throughout the summer of 1864, starvation, exposure, and illness caused approximately one-third of the Union detainees to perish within seven months; victims were interred in mass graves. The Confederate Surgeon General appointed Joseph Jones to examine the elevated death rate, attributing it primarily to "scorbutic dysentery" (diarrhea linked to vitamin C deficiency). In 2010, historian Rosemary Drisdelle identified hookworm infection—unknown during the Civil War era—as a significant factor contributing to mortality.

During the Civil War period, prisoner of war camps were a relatively new institution. In 1863, President Lincoln issued a code of conduct aimed at ensuring detainees received adequate food, medical treatment, and protection from enslavement, torture, or murder. Andersonville failed to uphold these protections; prisoners existed in a rudimentary environment devoid of law enforcement. Survival frequently relied on a prisoner's social connections that provided food, clothing, shelter, emotional support, trading opportunities, and security. Research indicates that strong social bonds based on ethnicity, family ties, or hometown affiliations considerably enhanced survival prospects.

The Raiders

A faction known as the Andersonville Raiders preyed upon fellow captives by forcibly stealing food, valuables such as jewelry and money, and clothing through violent means using clubs. To counter this threat, Peter "Big Pete" Aubrey formed the Regulators, who succeeded in capturing nearly all Raiders. These offenders were tried by a jury composed of newly arrived prisoners under the leadership of judge Peter McCullough. Sentences included running the gauntlet, confinement in stocks with ball and chain restraints, and in six cases, execution by hanging.

By July 1864, deteriorating conditions compelled Captain Henry Wirz to parole five Union soldiers tasked with delivering a petition signed by most inmates requesting the resumption of prisoner exchanges to alleviate overcrowding and improve conditions. The Union authorities rejected this appeal. The petition bearers returned to relay the response to their fellow prisoners.

Deaths

During its operation, Andersonville prison held approximately 45,000 captives and recorded nearly 13,000 fatalities. The causes behind these deaths remain subject to debate: some attribute them to Confederate policies and war crimes; others point to disease stemming from extreme overcrowding, food scarcity within the Confederacy, incompetence among prison officials, and breakdowns in prisoner exchanges due to refusal to include black Union soldiers. Overcrowding was a particularly severe problem.

Disease was the predominant cause of death among both Union and Confederate forces, fueled by unsanitary conditions within camps and prisons.

Dorence Atwater

Union detainee Dorence Atwater was assigned the duty of documenting the identities and numbers of deceased prisoners at Andersonville for both Confederate and Union authorities. Anticipating that the federal government might disregard the record, he covertly maintained an additional copy. Upon his release, Atwater clandestinely transported this list out, leading to its publication by the New York Tribune after official refusal to acknowledge it. Atwater held the view that prison commander Henry Wirz intended to incapacitate surviving Union captives from returning to combat.

Newell Burch

Prisoner of war Newell Burch chronicled the severe conditions at Andersonville in his personal diary. Captured early in the Battle of Gettysburg while serving with the 154th New York Infantry Regiment, he was initially confined at Belle Isle before transfer to Andersonville. Notably, Burch endured captivity for 661 days, making him the longest-held Union POW during the Civil War. His diary is currently preserved by both the Dunn County Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Prisoner population

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

Escapes

Attempts to flee were frequent among inmates, often involving tunneling toward nearby wooded areas approximately fifty feet beyond the camp’s perimeter. However, successful escapes remained scarce due to prisoners’ debilitated physical states. Those caught attempting escape faced severe penalties such as denial of food rations, forced labor in chain gangs, or execution. Another method involved feigning death to be removed alongside corpses; once outside under cover of darkness, prisoners would attempt to escape. After uncovering this tactic, camp authorities mandated surgeons to inspect all bodies leaving the facility.

Confederate documentation records that around 351 prisoners (approximately 0.7%) managed to escape, though many were recaptured. The United States Army noted only 32 individuals who successfully returned to Union lines; others likely assimilated back into civilian life unnoticed or perished.

Confederacy's offer to release prisoners

In late summer of 1864, Confederate officials proposed releasing prisoners on condition that Union vessels be dispatched for their retrieval. After the Battle of Atlanta, able-bodied captives were moved to Florence Stockade in South Carolina and Camp Lawton in Georgia, where conditions were more favorable and access to Savannah’s port was available. Following General Sherman’s destruction of Millen, remaining detainees were sent back to Andersonville.

Liberation

The Union Army liberated Andersonville Prison in May 1865, discovering inmates reduced to "human skeletons surrounded by scenes of utter devastation."

Trial

Post-war proceedings saw Henry Wirz, commandant of Camp Sumter’s inner stockade, tried before a military tribunal for war crimes. The trial was presided over by Union General Lew Wallace with prosecution led by Judge Advocate General Norton Parker Chipman.

Testimony from former inmates detailed harsh treatment and deplorable conditions under Wirz’s command. The tribunal examined Confederate correspondence including a critical report from James Jones in 1864, dispatched from Richmond to investigate Camp Sumter. Jones described the facility as appalling and his findings strongly supported charges against Wirz.

Wirz submitted evidence indicating his appeals to Confederate leadership for increased food supplies and efforts to improve prisoner welfare. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sentenced to death. On November 10, 1865, he was executed. Wirz was among three individuals executed for war crimes after the conflict and stood as the sole Confederate official; others executed included guerrillas Champ Ferguson and Henry C. Magruder. The revelation of prisoner suffering significantly influenced Northern attitudes toward the South during Reconstruction.

Contrary to common misconceptions, Wirz was not alone prosecuted for offenses related to Andersonville. James Duncan, employed in Camp Sumter’s quartermaster office, was found guilty of manslaughter for withholding food from captives. Initially a defense witness for Wirz, Duncan was arrested upon arrival to testify.

Aftermath

In 1890, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), Department of Georgia, acquired the Andersonville Prison grounds through contributions from its members and fundraising efforts. As the GAR's membership diminished and upkeep expenses increased, they transferred ownership of the site to the Woman's Relief Corps (WRC), the auxiliary organization linked to the GAR.

At the 1896 WRC annual convention held in St. Paul, Minnesota, representatives from the Georgia GAR officially handed over the prison property to the WRC for preservation purposes. The women accepted this duty and appointed Lizabeth A. Turner as chairperson to oversee the transformation of the area into a commemorative park. To provide housing for a caretaker, additional acreage was acquired, expanding the park’s boundaries to approximately . A ten-room residence was constructed for the caretaker, and landscaping initiatives commenced, including planting Bermuda grass, establishing orchards with pear and pecan trees, and creating a rose garden featuring bushes donated from nearly every state. Several states—Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin—were allotted parcels within the park to build monuments honoring their deceased soldiers. Following Turner’s passing while in service, the WRC also erected a monument in her honor.

In 1910, ownership of the site was transferred by the WRC to the federal government. The next year, a commemorative plaque was unveiled listing names of WRC founders, trustees from 1909–10, and members involved in the transfer.

National Prisoner of War Museum

Established in 1998, the National Prisoner of War Museum honors all American POWs. Its collection includes artwork, photographs, exhibits, and multimedia presentations that depict capture scenarios, living conditions, struggles, and personal accounts of American prisoners across various conflicts. This museum also functions as the visitor center for the park.

Andersonville National Cemetery

This cemetery serves as the burial ground for Union soldiers who perished at Camp Sumter/Andersonville. Recognized as a national cemetery, it contains 13,714 interments, including 921 marked as "unknown." Additionally, it accommodates graves for more recent veterans and their family members.

Guests can visit the Camp Sumter location outlined by double rows of white posts. Two sections of the original stockade wall—the north gate and northeast corner—have been reconstructed for historical interpretation.

Depictions

• Andersonville (1955), a novel by MacKinlay Kantor centered on Andersonville prison, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956.
• The Andersonville Trial (1970), a PBS film adaptation of a 1959 Broadway play, dramatizes the 1865 trial of commandant Henry Wirz.
• The Italian western comic series Tex includes a three-part storyline set in a fictional Civil War POW camp named Anderville, inspired by Andersonville.
• The 1996 television film Andersonville, directed by John Frankenheimer, portrays events at the infamous Confederate prison camp.
• Escape from Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War (2008) by Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan depicts attempts to flee from the camp.
• Max R. Terman’s historical novel Hiram's Honor: Reliving Private Terman's Civil War (2009) recounts experiences connected to Andersonville.
• Tracy Groot’s 2014 novel The Sentinels of Andersonville features historical figures such as Capt. Henry Wirz and General John Winder alongside fictional prisoners and local rebels condemned by Americus, GA residents.

See also

• American Civil War prison camps
• Camp Douglas
• Dix–Hill Cartel, the 1862 pact governing prisoner exchanges
• Elmira Prison
• Florence Stockade
• Immortal Six Hundred
• Libby Prison
• Camp Lawton
• Salisbury Prison
• Washington Street Military Prison

Academic works

• Cloyd, Benjamin G. Haunted by Atrocity: Civil War Prisons in American Memory (Louisiana State University Press, 2010)
• Costa, Dora L; Kahn, Matthew E. "Surviving Andersonville: The Benefits of Social Networks in POW Camps," American Economic Review (2007) 97#4 pp. 1467–1487.
• Domby, Adam H. "Captives of Memory: The Contested Legacy of Race at Andersonville National Historic Site," Civil War History (2017) 63#3 pp. 253–294.
• Futch, Ovid. "Prison Life at Andersonville," Civil War History (1962) 8#2 pp. 121–35.
• Futch, Ovid. History of Andersonville Prison (1968)
• Marvel, William. Andersonville: The Last Depot (University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
• Pickenpaugh, Roger. Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy (2013) pp. 119–66
• Rhodes, James. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vol. V. New York: Macmillan, 1904.
• Silkenat, David. Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019.

Primary and other sources

• Chipman, Norton P. The Horrors of Andersonville Rebel Prison. San Francisco: Bancroft, 1891.
• Genoways, Ted & Hugh H. Genoways (eds.). A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War Prisoners from the 12th Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2001.
• McElroy, John. Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons Toledo: D.R. Locke, 1879.
• Ransom, John. Andersonville Diary. Auburn, NY: Author, 1881.
• Ranzan, David, ed. Surviving Andersonville: One Prisoner's Recollections of the Civil War's Most Notorious Camp. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2013.
• Spencer, Ambrose. A Narrative of Andersonville. New York: Harper, 1866.
• Stevenson, R. Randolph. The Southern Side, or Andersonville Prison. Baltimore: Turnbull, 1876.
• Voorhees, Alfred H. The Andersonville Prison Diary of Alfred H. Voorhees. 1864.

External links

• Official site of Andersonville National Historic Site at NPS.gov
• Historical Background on Andersonville Civil War Prison
• "WWW Guide to Civil War Prisons" (2004)
• "The Rebel Prison Pen at Andersonville, Georgia" – transcript from an 1874 newspaper article authored by a former prison guard
• Newspaper clippings and articles regarding Andersonville Prison at Newspapers.com