Andersonville Prisons

The prison camps of the American Civil War were terrible due to the falling apart of prisoner exchange programs, the decline of paroles available for officers, and poor war strategies by both sides. Camps were scattered across the country in both the North and the South. The best known of the Union camps were; Fortress Monroe, Virginia; Ohio State Penitentiary, Ohio and point Lookout, Maryland. The better known of the Confederate camps were; Danville, Virginia; Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia and Andersonville, Georgia. Conditions where many inmates died would send chills down the spine of anyone in this day and age. The camps ended up so crowded there wasn't enough space to shelter every inmate, some died of exposure to the elements, and
The original structure covered 16.5 acres, with a 15 foot wall surrounding it . Later that year it was increased to 26.5 acres and made to a parallelogram shape . Sentry boxes ere stationed every 30 yards along the fence . White posts marked a line, 19 feet from the wall all the way around the inside, if crossed by a prisoner they would be killed . A stream called "Stockade Branch" ran through the stockade and supplied most of the water for the camp. The camp was designed to hold 13,000 prisoners but in August of 1864 confined a total of 32,000 men ! Over its 14 months of existence it contained a total of 45,000 Union soldiers . Almost 13,000 of these died, from diseases, such as Gangrene, Scurvy and Dysentery, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and constant biting of flies and mosquitoes, overcrowding or exposure to the elements . The prisoners had meager shelters built stacked near open sewers causing intoxication of another level from the diseases that dwelled there. There were no medical supplies available for the prisoners because the North had blocked off all the Southern
A captured officer could be released back to their own side undo a flag of truce, not allowing them to fight, if they did fight and were caught once again they were executed. In late 1863 Grant paroled 30,000 Vicksburg prison captives to lessen the number of prisoners in the overcrowded prisons, Banks soon followed in his footsteps, releasing 7,000 parolees from Port Hudson . The South failed to handle these parolees well and acted as if a legal exchange had been done and so putting them back on the front line. Grant discovered this when some of the same were recaptured at Chattanooga. This led to the last crack in the stern of the ship of prisoner exchanges. Grant had been so outraged he terminated all prisoner exchange