Andersonville

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Like the “Hanoi Hilton,” the name “Camp Sumter” was infamous to a prisoner of war. The vast area where the largest Confederate POW camp sat is a National Historic Site now. It’s three in one: the National Cemetery where many of the dead prisoners were buried, the prison grounds, and a museum. I’ll deal with the museum later. According to the stats, Andersonville (as Camp Sumter was commonly called, given that it was in the town of Andersonville, Georgia) was nearly eight football fields wide and sixteen football fields long. That is A LOT of ground. And, unfortunately, that’s about all it was: a fenced-in lot with a creek running through it. No barracks. No toilets. No shade from the blistering hot and humid Georgia summer or unpredictable winter. No hospital. Just a few Confederate guards and 45,000 or so captured or wounded Union troops. The heat, disease (they drank from and bathed in the same stream), and adverse conditions took a terrible toll on the prisoners. To give a guide: there were over 7,000 soldiers TOTAL (Union and Confederate) killed during the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the worst battle on American soil ever. In contrast, over 13,000 perished in the POW camp. If you’re old enough you’ve heard Vietnam POWs (notably, the late senator John McCain) describe the torture of the “Hanoi Hilton.” Camp Sumter wasn’t a deliberate psychological and physical torture location, it just happened. The number of prisoners far exceeded what the place was supposed to hold. Additionally, the Rebels had a problem with Sherman on the way over Lookout Mountain later in 1864. The prisoners were herded into the area and more or less left on their own. If there was a captured medical person then maybe some of the sicknesses could be dealt with. But not likely: Medicine was equally as scarce. The site of the Confederacy’s largest POW facility is a good place to remember all prisoners of wars. That’s the next discussion. PHOTO COLLAGE: (Top left) An artist rendition of the grounds (Top right) The vast field, with part of a reconstructed wall visible (Bottom left) Tents (shebangs) that prisoners had to construct themselves (Bottom right) A walkway of monuments from various states to honor their war dead at Andersonville.