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Courage and Sacrifice

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Courage and Sacrifice Andersonville National Historic Site National Park Service Andersonville Georgia U.S. Department of the Interior Courage and Sacrifice Imagine yourself as a prisoner of war (POW) strug- felt it, witnessed it, yet I cannot find the language to I had an undying faith that my Andersonville National Historic Site is the only na- gling to survive in a disease-ridden prison, sometimes adequately describe it.” POW experiences connect tional park to serve as a memorial to all American in aching isolation, sometimes in filthy, overcrowded soldiers from one generation to the next. When country was not going to forget prisoners of war. Once filled with desolation, despair, conditions. Imagine the day-to-day uncertainty when William Fornes, held as a POW in Korea, visited and death, Andersonville today offers a place for all you can think about is food, water, freedom, and Andersonville he said, ”A feeling came over me that me. No matter how long I stayed remembrance and reflection. Here we remember death. What was it like to be, as one soldier wrote, I had something in common with these people, and I POWs and honor their courage, service, and sacrifice. “dead and yet, breathing?” feel that way about all wars.” there, no matter even if I died there, my country was not going Walk the grounds of Andersonville—the Prison Site, Would freedom ever come? How? When? Could you Since the American Revolution our soldiers have where nearly 13,000 Civil War soldiers died in 14 escape? Should you try? Questions like these tor- marched off to war, defending our country, families, to forget me. months, mostly from disease and starvation; the mented POWs. For some, freedom came in a matter and liberties. Some have given their lives. Some have National Prisoner of War Museum, dedicated to of days; others waited torturous years. Too many been captured and held as POWs, subjected to tor- —Col. Tom McNish, USAF, POW Vietnam 6.5 yrs American soldiers who suffered captivity in all wars; found freedom only in death. ture, starvation, inadequate medical care, and un- and Andersonville National Cemetery, a final resting speakable conditions. Some have returned home place for our veterans. Andersonville prisoner George Tibbles, 4th Iowa In- but have been forever changed. Illustration of Camp Sumter, above, drawn from memory by Andersonville fantry, recalled, ”No one can imagine the agony of prisoner Pvt. Thomas O’Dea, 16th Maine infantry. NPS continued hunger unless he has experienced it. I have Exhibit items, left to right: stockade lock and canteen, Ander- sonville, Civil War; radio and headset, World War II; “blood chit,” Persian Gulf War; Holy Bible, World War II; returning soldiers pamphlet, Korean War; toothpaste, toothbrush, and rubber sandals, Vietnam War. NPS These images by Keith Rocco depict POWs of various wars supporting one another. The years changed and each war had a different name, but the suffering endured by these soldiers forged a common experience across time. NPS Civil War Prisons: A Cruel Legacy Prisoner of War Camps — In 1901 and 1911 Emogene Marshall trav- den of providing for captives. Prisoners of McHenry in Baltimore, Fort Warren in Bos- North and South 215,000 elled from Ohio to visit the grave of her war were conditionally released, promis- ton Harbor, and other coastal fortifications. Confederate POWs brother, Edwin Niver, buried here in grave ing not to return to battle until officially Civil War Prisons’ 195,000 2183. In the decades following the Civil exchanged. Confined soldiers suffered terribly from Death Toll Union POWs War, Americans were haunted by the overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inade- Whether held in the deaths of their loved ones in military pris- A formal exchange system adopted in quate food. Mismanagement by war-weary North or South, a prison- er of war was more likely ons. Although Andersonville was the most 1862 failed when the Confederacy refused governments worsened matters. Most pris- to die than a soldier in infamous Civil War prison, some 150 oth- to exchange or parole captured black US oners died from disease, starvation, or combat. Prisons were overcrowded, short on ers were set up across the country. In 1863 soldiers. In the South, captured Union sol- exposure. The end of the war saved hun- food, medical supplies, the Union and Confederate governments diers were first housed in old warehouses dreds of prisoners from an untimely death, shelter, and clothing, adopted laws of war to protect prisoners, and barns around Richmond, Virginia. As but for many the war’s end came too late. while disease and death ran rampant. How many yet some 56,000 soldiers died in captivity. the number of prisoners increased, prisons For the men who survived, the memory of prisoners died is not How and why did this happen? were hastily erected in Florence, South the atrocities they witnessed was the cruel- known. Surviving records Carolina; Millen and Andersonville, Geor- est legacy of all. suggest some 30,000, or 15 percent of Union pris- When the Civil War started, neither side gia; and other locations. In the North, Fed- oners, and about 26,000, was prepared to hold thousands of enemy eral training camps were converted into or 12 percent of Confed- Andersonville Prison, Georgia, south end view of Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1863 erate prisoners died. Number 30,000 26,000 prisoners. Although no formal exchange prisons at Camp Douglas, Illinois; Camp that died 15% 12% stockade (detail), August 17,1864, by A.J. Riddle. CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM, ICHi-01800 system existed early in the war, both Chase, Ohio; and Elmira, New York. Other CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART, NORFOLK, VA armies paroled prisoners to lessen the bur- Confederate prisoners were held at Fort Where We Held Each Other Prisoner National Prisoner of War Museum, Prison Site, Andersonville National Cemetery The camp was covered with vermin all over. You could not sit down anywhere. You might go and Established in 1970 Andersonville Nation- Prison Site Hastily built to relieve crowd- tioned in sentry boxes shot anyone who al Historic Site has three main features: ing at Richmond prisons and to relocate crossed this line. The stockade was ex- pick the lice all off of you, and sit down for a half the National Prisoner of War Museum, Union prisoners away from the battle- panded to 26½-acres in June, but POWs a moment and get up and you would be covered which also serves as a visitor center; the front, Camp Sumter military prison, com- continued to arrive, and by August over with them. In between these two hills it was very Prison Site; and Andersonville National monly known as Andersonville, was an un- 32,000 struggled to survive in what the Cemetery. finished, undersupplied prison pen when men called “hell on earth.” swampy, all black mud, and where the filth was the first prisoners arrived in February emptied it was all alive; there was a regular buzz Start your visit at the POW Museum. It de- 1864. Intended to hold 10,000 men, the Today this area is outlined with double scribes both the Civil War prison camp and 16½-acre pen had a 15-foot-high stockade rows of white posts. Two sections of the In 1901 and 1911 Emogene there all the time, and it was covered with large Marshall travelled from the hardships, experiences, and sacrifices wall and two gates. Nineteen feet inside stockade wall have been reconstructed, white maggots. Ohio to visit the grave of of American POWs throughout history. the stockade was the “deadline,” marked the north gate and the northeast corner. her brother, Edwin Niver. — Sgt. Samuel Corthell by a simple post and rail fence. Guards sta- FROM TO THE MEMORY OF MY BROTHER BY Co. C, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry EMOGENE NIVER MARSHALL Andersonville National Cemetery Andersonville Andersonville National Cemetery, established National Historic Site July 26, 1865, is a permanent resting place of honor for deceased veterans. The first inter- ments, in February 1864, were soldiers who died in the prison. They are in sections E, F, H, J, and K. By 1868 over 800 more interments in sections B and C—Union soldiers who died in hospitals, other prison camps, and on battle- fields of central and southwest Georgia— brought the total burials to over 13,800. Five hundred of these graves are marked ”un- known US soldier.” Today the cemetery con- tains over 19,000 interments in 18 sections let- tered A through R (no section O), and one memorial section. Sections are in four quad- rants separated by cemetery roads. Please respect graves and funerals that might be in progress. Use the Nationwide Grave Locator, gravelocator.cem.va.gov, to locate burials online. Please help maintain a reverent atmosphere by following these cemetery regulations: • Pets are prohibited on landscaped and grassy areas. Pets on leash are welcome in other parts of the park. • No jogging, picnicking, or recreation activities • Keep voices lowered • Place all litter in refuse containers • Do not sit on cemetery headstones or monuments • Respect the privacy of all funerals Dorence Atwater Nineteen-year-old smuggled it out when sonville to mark the Dorence Atwater, 2nd he was released. graves of the dead. New York Cavalry, was Atwater’s death regis- captured in July 1863. After the war he asked ter, published in 1866, He spent eight months the War Department enabled many families in Richmond, Virginia, to publish the list, but to locate their loved prisons before arriving they refused. He met ones. Thanks to his at Andersonville. In Clara Barton, a battle- work, over 95 percent June 1864 he was de- field nurse, who was of the graves were tailed to work in the looking for missing sol- identified.
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