When was andersonville closed

Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park. Share on reddit Share on facebook Share on twitter. Joe Ward. Credibility: This article contains new, firsthand information uncovered by its reporter s. As a news piece, this article cites verifiable, third-party sources which have all been thoroughly fact-checked and deemed credible by the Newsroom.

Read More: The Bird Cage. Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale. In fact, military inmates were housed at more than prisons across the nation. Among the other notable places of incarceration were Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Ga. To pass the time during their incarceration, many prisoners got creative.

Escape plots were also prevalent, despite the threat of recapture and punishment. In February , Union officers made a break for freedom from Libby Prison after digging a foot tunnel under the east wall; 59 men made it safely back to Union lines.

Records indicate that some , soldiers from both sides were captured and interred in these facilities, as opposed to being quickly paroled. Of these, an estimated 56, died of their wounds, disease, malnutrition and other causes due to their confinement. While, in aggregate, 12 and For example, at Andersonville, 29 percent of inmates perished, compared to 23 percent at Elmira. After the war, more than 4, dead Confederates were moved from the grounds of Camp Douglas to be reinterred in a mass grave at Oak Woods Cemetery.

Civil War Article. Hell Hath a New Name. By Robert S. The cemetery at Andersonville contains nearly 20, interments. Adam Smith. Adam Smith The horror of what happened at Andersonville is hard to appreciate. Robert S. Related Articles. View All Related Resources. Calamity in the Crater. This decision was made because of the battles taking place near Richmond, VA where many prisoners were being held, and as a way to procure a greater food supply.

Camp Sumter was only in operation for fourteen months, however, during that time 45, Union soldiers were imprisoned there, and nearly 13, died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure. The stockade was constructed in the shape of a parallelogram that was 1, feet long and feet wide. Approximately 19 feet inside of the stockade wall was the "deadline," which the prisoners were not allowed to cross.

If a prisoner stepped over the "deadline," the guards in the "pigeon roosts," which were roughly thirty yards, apart were allowed to shoot them. The first prisoners arrived at Camp Sumter in late February Over the course of the next few months approximately prisoners arrived daily. By June over 26, prisoners were confined in a stockade designed to house 10, The largest number of prisoners held at one time was 33, in August The Confederate government was unable to provide the prisoners with adequate housing, food, clothing, and medical care, Due to the terrible conditions, prisoners suffered greatly and a high mortality rate ensued.

The rebels found out the most expert whittlers and furnished them materials to work upon and thus many prisoners earned extra rations in this way. Thomas A.

Gossett Private, Co. I, 7th Indiana Infantry. On July 21 he reported that there were now 29, prisoners in the stockade including 1, in the hospital. He reported that he had a complement of 2, guards with on sick call each day. It was in the latter part of July that a petition was circulated throughout the prison that was to be taken to the proper authorities in Washington, D. John Warren, 7th Wisconsin Artillery, wrote that the document declared, "We earnestly yet respectfully pray that some action be taken immediately to effect our speedy release, either on parole or by exchange, the dictates of both humanity and justice alike demanding it on the part of our Government.

We shall look forward with a hopeful confidence that something will be done speedily in this matter, believing that a proper statement of the facts is all that is necessary to secure a redress of the grievance complained of. There were many church meetings among the prisoners with Boston Corbett, among others, doing the ministering. There were reports of two Catholic priests, including Father Peter Whelan, working among the prisoners. As Reverend H. Claverevel wrote, "The religious work among the prisoners found expression in the throngs of individuals we met here and there, bowed down in the attitude of prayer or listening to a comrade who was reading from the Bible or addressing to them words of exhortation.

During July Confederate officials at Andersonville had plenty of reasons for concern. General William T. Sherman's army was near Atlanta and prison officials feared he would head toward Andersonville.

They were also concerned that the prisoners, fueled by reports of new arrivals, would attempt a mass uprising. During this time slaves from surrounding farms were brought in to fell trees and dig additional earthworks in anticipation of a cavalry attack. The concern was not unfounded. General Sherman did order two cavalry units to ride south and cut the Macon railroad.

He also granted permission to General George Stoneman, who commanded one of these units, to advance on Macon itself. Stoneman planned to free the Union officers at Camp Oglethorpe in Macon, then make his way south to free the 29, prisoners at Andersonville.

To what extremes bad men will go to secure their own comfort was fully illustrated in the doings of a band of robbers in Andersonville, or "Mosby's Marauders", as the rest of the prisoners call them. Their rendezvous was near the southwest end of the prison. John W. Urban Private, Co. D, 1st Pa. General Stoneman had 2, men and a two-gun battery.

At a. Before noon on the 29th the Union cavalry reached Clinton, but the Confederates were following them with 4, cavalry Stoneman met the Georgia militia, and in a number of skirmishes Stoneman's cavalry was defeated. The Union cavalry members were either killed or taken prisoner. The Confederates captured about prisoners and took them to Andersonville. The prison's teeming population had been increased, not freed.

During this period, a total of 1, prisoners was added to the population by the last day of July. It was now August and during the month 2, would die. There were 1, sick in the hospital and 5, ill in the stockade. The average number of men in the stockade during August was 32,, each having less than six square feet to call his own. In a letter to Colonel Chandler on August 1, Captain Wirz wrote, "As long as 30, men are confined in any one enclosure the proper policing is altogether impossible.

A long confinement had depressed the spirits of thousands, and they are utterly indifferent. Hoping your official report will make such an impression with the authorities at Richmond that they will issue the necessary orders to enable us to get what we so badly need. The common shelter was constructed with blankets, old shirts, half shelters tents, etc. The chief surgeon at the post and Captain Wirz kept directing letters to Richmond pleading for badly needed medicine, food, tents, tools and lumber, to no avail.

As Private Northrup, 7th Connecticut Infantry, wrote, "One poor boy near cried all night and wished to die and suffer no longer; he is an awful object; his clothing is gone but a rag of a shirt; his body is a mere frame; his hair has fallen out from his head; his scurvy ankles and feet are as large as his waist. I never saw a sight more appalling.

Than the awful thought that he is a man, somebody's darling boy, dead, and yet breathing. Early in the morning seen a boy about to die.