Andersonville Civil War Prison

by Robert Scott Davis

Andersonville (Camp Sumter) Civil War prison was only in operation for little more than one year, from 1864 into 1865. In just a few of those months, however, it became the largest city in Georgia and the fifth largest city in the Confederate States of America. During that time, it also became America's deadliest prison. Of the almost forty thousand captured Federal soldiers, sailors and civilians who entered its gates, some thirteen thousand died there. Thousands more died as a result of their time in this stockade of legend in deep southwest Georgia. Join historian Robert Davis as he tells the story of this infamous Confederate prison.

146 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2010

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The horrors of Andersonville are both factual and folklore. It seemed like Davis was trying to establish fact. He clarified some information, and even brought new stories to light. However, in the end, it felt like the facts were rather muddled. This was not entirely the authors fault though. He acknowledges throughout the book that so much of Andersonville’s history is legend and myth based on less than reliable facts – and he tries to remedy this. He does a very good job showing how difficult it was to establish facts, and he tries to present a full picture of both the legend and the truth.

Over the course of fourteen months, nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died in Andersonville Prison – mostly from disease, starvation, and exposure. The conditions described by survivors were beyond imagination: maggots so plentiful that they cause the ground to appear to be moving, scarce rations, filth, swamp like water sources, rags for clothing, and abuse and crime from fellow soldiers. The conditions were so bleak that some prisoners simply fell dead from lack of desire to live.

It was with this background that I struggled with the tendency to explain away guilt - as if Andersonville was really nobody's fault – or just a series of poor management choices and bad luck. Henry Wirz, the only officer held responsible for war crimes at Andersonville, was made to look like an innocent scapegoat – and Sherman, negligent for marching past . Davis certainly convinced me that Wirz did not have a fair trial and that others should have been held responsible as well, but he painted such a picture of Wirz innocence that it didn’t add up with the other facts presented. I would have loved for him to write an entire book based on the life and trial of Wirz in the context of Andersonville. That seemed to be the real passion of this author – and it was the best section of the book.

[Jay Guffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

[Drew Boswell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat meandering and repetitious listing of facts more than a coherent narrative.