Andersonville Prison Essays - American Civil War Prison Camps

Andersonville Prison Andersonville Prison Andersonville prison opened on Feb. 24, 1864. It was the ideal prison. It's located in Sumpter County, Georgia. The prison was originally called Camp Sumpter. At first it was 16.5 acres then expanded to 26 acres. It was 1010' long and 780' wide, constructed of pine logs with thickness of a foot. A small creek ran through the middle, it was the only source of water. The prison caused many things like: misery, suffering, and death. It was only open for 14 months; from Feb. 1864 till May 1865. During that time,13,700 died in confinement. They died of various reasons like: tainted food, starvation, dirty water, filth, and diseases such as scurvy, gangrene. The prison was designed to hold only 10,000 union soldiers. In June, 1864, it held 20,000 men and in Aug. '64 it held a whopping 33,000! A total of 49,485 men were detained. In 1822 Henry Wirz was born. He earned a medical degree. He was a captain. He worked at other prisons before taking command of Andersonville in April, 1865. He became a major at the end of the war. He was took into custody by the Union in Nov. . On Nov. 10 1865 he was hanged in the Old Prison in Wash. DC for various war crimes, such as: murders of Union soldiers. It is now a national cemetery and it became a national historic site in 1970. American History