President Davis objected to his first choice for a prison site, a location near Albany, because he feared it would be vulnerable to a Union raid. Locals vetoed his second choice, a spot between Americus and Plains. Winder finally was able to lease the area that would become the Andersonville prison from a pair of landowners.
Both Sidney and his cousin, Captain Richard B. Winder, who arrived in December to serve as post quartermaster, soon ran up against local intransigence that made it nearly impossible to get anything done.
- phone book for perry ohio 43076.
- dept of homeland security background investigation.
- Blog Posts;
- They paid to enter Libby Prison - February Civil War Times Feature?
- The American History Podcast.
- average length fbi background check.
The war had robbed the region of capable white workers, and slave owners were reluctant to hire out their chattels. In a rare instance of support, Seddon, desperate to clear the Richmond prisons, empowered the quartermaster to impress slave labor.
Meanwhile supplies were so scarce that prison officials dispatched a civilian to Cartersville, well north of Atlanta, just to secure cooking kettles. On February 26, , Colonel Alexander W.
Escape from Libby Prison: The Largest Successful Prison Break of the Civil War
Persons of the 55th Georgia was named commander of the facility, officially dubbed Fort Sumter. The first prisoners, a detachment of sent from Richmond, had arrived late the previous evening. Because of the lack of coordination in Confederate prison policy - and the resultant poor planning - these captives, who had spent a bitter winter on Belle Isle, would now face summer in the broiling sun of southern Georgia. In Wirz had served John Winder in a variety of capacities.
He had been in charge of captives sent west from Richmond and briefly commanded the small military prison at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For a time, he had supervised prisons in Richmond. A case in point was his plan to improve sanitation in the stockade. Wirz planned to construct twin dams on the stream that bisected the facility. This would create a pool for drinking water and a downstream pool for bathing. The sinks would be below the lower pool, and both dams could be opened to flush the waste. The plan was sound, but the lack of tools and lumber doomed it to failure. By May 8 there were over 12, Union prisoners at Andersonville.
The following month the number exceeded 18, The trip south had done nothing to change their ways; and the constant influx of prisoners, many of whom arrived with money, guaranteed a steady supply of victims. Fourteen, identified as the worst offenders were kept outside the stockade to be put on trial. Of them, six were sentenced to death by a jury composed of prisoners. On July 11, after gallows were erected near the south prison gate, the sentence was carried out.
Camp officials addressed another problem in late May when they began a project that extended the prison fence to the north. Prisoners provided much of the labor, reasoning that alleviating the crowding of the camp justified performing work for the enemy. The old wall came down on July 1, and the prisoners had ten extra acres of space.
Other problems proved more difficult to address. Among them was the lack of shelter. Numerous inspectors called for the erection of barracks, citing exposure to the elements and difficulties with policing the camp. Unable to secure even enough lumber to dam the creek, Wirz was powerless to provide shelter for the prisoners. As a result the prison was a hodgepodge of crude tents largely fashioned from poles and blankets. Others burrowed into the ground for shelter, while some simply remained outside and took whatever weather conditions came along.
May and June proved to be wet months. Securing good drinking water was also a problem for the Andersonville prisoners.
Confederate Prisons - Essential Civil War Curriculum
The stream running through the camp was often fouled by slops from the cookhouse and by prisoners who used it to wash. Many tried digging wells, but success was far from guaranteed. One group had to go down 62 feet before striking water. Some dug even deeper and still came up dry. A few secured water by trading knives or other personal items for a share in a well already dug. Relief finally came following an August 9 storm, which opened up a spring of fresh water. The flow was beyond the prison dead line, but the Confederates erected spouting to bring the water to the prisoners.
- Libby Prison;
- About this Item.
- {dialog-heading}.
- birth certificate get in texas.
- how do i get my background check.
- death records sd 1966 james robbins.
- find and address using a phone number.
If thirst was a frequent problem for the Andersonville prisoners, hunger was their constant companion. Rations represented the efforts of harried prison officials to keep up with the demands of an ever swelling captive population. With few exceptions, those efforts were doomed to failure.
Early on the standard rations at Andersonville consisted of cornbread and bacon. By June rice and beans were often issued in lieu of cornbread. The following month molasses sometimes replaced meat. By then quantities were growing much smaller. The quality of the rations was also poor - and definitely unhealthy. There was no equipment to sift the cornmeal, and the prisoners received it cob and all. The cornbread, prepared in open troughs, attracted flies, which quickly became part of the mixture.
The death toll that month neared three thousand. Eventually 13, Unionists would occupy Andersonville graves, more than one of every three held there. In the early months the Belle Isle prisoners, who arrived weak after enduring a bitter winter in Richmond, made up a large portion of the death toll. The poor rations were a prime cause of sickness and death.
Many [are] going about the camp with bleeding mouths and teeth actually dropping out. One medical inspector wrote that virtually every prisoner in the camp suffered from one or the other. They were caused, he reported, by exposure, the smoke and filth of the camp, and the cornbread prepared from unbolted meal. John Early dug me a hole [in the] street to use as a sink. The prison hospital was crowded, resulting in a pathetic lottery that took place whenever a sick call was announced. Hundreds of even thousands would show up, some hobbling or crawling on their own, others assisted by friends, some carried on blankets.
by Roger Pickenpaugh
There they waited in the broiling sun as the doctors slowly conducted examinations. From early morn till past noon there was a constant crowding through the gate. Men in all stages of disease. And not the half of them were taken. It was perfectly awful.
The oft-repeated tale that camp guards received furloughs for every Yankee they shot was not true. Considering the number of youthful, inexperienced guards-- and the crowding of the prison - the sentries appear to have been restrained. Three days later camp officials received orders to ship the prisoners there and at Macon to Charleston and Savannah. The prisoners at Macon were Union officers. The Confederates had reopened Camp Oglethorpe for their reception, and they began arriving in May.
You may also like...
Conditions there were far better than those the enlisted prisoners endured at Andersonville. Fresh water came from a spring, a well, and a creek that ran through the compound. The prisoners received lumber to construct barracks. Rations of corn bread or corn meal, rice, beans, and pork were issued every four days in quantities the prison diarists considered adequate.
- They paid to enter Libby Prison – February 1999 Civil War Times Feature;
- Site Information Navigation.
- Libby Prison;
They also received salt and soap, two items rarely distributed at Andersonville. The Confederates provided a skillet and a two-quart cooking dish to every squad of ten men. When the Confederates evacuated Macon, many of the Union officers found themselves bound for Savannah. They stayed in a hospital yard, where they were crowded into tents. The water there was foul tasting and muddy. However, the prisoners also found improved rations, including an occasional issue of fresh beef. Other officers were sent to Charleston, where they spent their first two weeks in the jail yard.
They were in the path of Union artillery shells, which were then bombarding the city. Their lot improved on August 23, when the Confederates transferred the officers to the Roper Hospital and the Marine Hospital. Although still harassed by friendly fire, they received acceptable rations and perhaps the most comfortable quarters experienced by any Union prisoners. The Savannah prisoners followed them to Charleston. Those captives, in turn, went to Columbia in October.
Rations were worse than at Savannah or Charleston. The only time the prisoners enjoyed meat between October 6 and December 9 occurred when an unfortunate wild boar roamed into the camp. By early October there was also frost on the ground many mornings. Despite that, the prisoners went without wood for another three weeks. When finally allowed out to gather fuel, many also brought in the raw material for crude shelters.