A SOUTHERN HERITAGE RAMBLE
ANDERSONVILLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
WE STARTED OUR TOUR OF ANDERSONVILLE AT THE NATIONAL PRISONER OF WAR MUSEUM COMMEMORATIVE COURTYARD. WE WERE WALKING INTO THE MUSEUM WHEN THEY ANNOUNCED A RANGER-LED WALKING TOUR OF THE PRISON SITE .
THE PARK RANGER TOLD US THE STORY OF THE PRISON - EMPHASIZING THE SERIES OF EVENTS THAT LED TO THE TRAGEDY OF ANDERSONVILLE.
WE STARTED THE TOUR AT
THE WISCONSIN MONUMENT. AN AMERICAN EAGLE
PERCHES ATOP AND WORDS INSCRIBED
READ - "TO LIVE IN HEARTS WE LEAVE BEHIND IS NOT TO DIE"
THIS GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF THE PRISON. THE PRISON COVERED 26 1/2 ACRES AND WAS 1,629 FEET LONG AND 779 FEET WIDE. INSIDE THE WALLS, ABOUT 19 FEET FROM THE WALL, WAS THE DEADLINE WHICH PRISONERS WERE FORBIDDEN TO CROSS. FLOWING THROUGH THE PRISON YARD WAS A STREAM CALLED STOCKADE BRANCH WHICH SUPPLIED WATER TO MOST OF THE PRISON. THE LARGEST NUMBER, HELD AT ONE TIME, WAS IN AUGUST, 1864 AND TOTALED 32,000. OF THE 45,000 PRISONERS WHO PASSED THROUGH THIS PRISON, 12,914 DIED FROM DISEASE, POOR SANITATION, MALNUTRITION, OVERCROWDING OR EXPOSURE TO THE ELEMENTS.
THE WALL WAS 15 FEET HIGH AND MADE FROM HEWN PINE LOGS STANDING ON END. SENTRY BOXES WERE AT 30 YARD INTERVALS ALONG THE TOP OF THE STOCKADE.
THE RANGER TOOK US INSIDE THE RECONSTRUCTED ENTRANCE.
ONE OF THE TUNNELS DUG
BY DESPERATE MEN. MOST OF THE SUCCESSFUL
ESCAPES WERE FROM FLEEING WORK DETAILS NOT TUNNELS.
THIS IS A DISPLAY OF
THE DIFFERENT SHELTERS IN THE PRISON.
THE WOODEN ONES WERE FROM THE EARLIER YEARS. TOWARD THE END,
SOME PRISONERS USED THEIR CLOTHES TO SHIELD THE SUN AND MANY WERE
TOTALLY
NAKED AND EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS.
THE STREAM THROUGH THE STOCKADE WAS SO POLLUTED AND SO INADEQUATE, THE PRISONERS PRAYED FOR WATER. IN AUGUST, 1864 , AFTER HEAVY RAINFALL, A SPRING GUSHED FROM THE GROUND - SOME SAY CAUSE BY LIGHTNING. THE SPRING WAS NAMED PROVIDENCE SPRING BECAUSE IT WAS AN ANSWER TO THEIR PRAYERS. UNFORTUNATELY IT WAS LOCATED WITHIN THE DEADLINE. CAPTAIN WIRZ ALLOWED THE PRISONERS TO CONSTRUCT A FLUME TO CHANNEL THE WATER INSIDE THE PRISON.
JUST IMAGINE - IN THIS
AREA, MARKED BY THE WHITE POSTS, ARE 33,000
PRISONERS WITH VERY LITTLE SHELTER, A DAILY RATION OF A HANDFUL OF
CORNMEAL, POLLUTED WATER, AND THEN IMAGINE THE HEAT IN AUGUST.
MONUMENTS FROM THE UNION STATES HAVE BEEN PLACED ON THE GROUNDS.
THE MONUMENT FOR SOLDIERS FROM RHODE ISLAND.
FOR THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
MASSACHUSETTS - IN MEMORY OF HER SONS WHO DIED IN ANDERSONVILLE.
OHIO - TO HER 1,055 LOYAL SONS WHO DIED HERE AT ANDERSONVILLE
TENNESSEE - IN MEMORY OF HER UNION SOLDIERS AND LOYAL SONS WHO DIED IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
MEMORIAL FOR DELAWARE,
KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MARYLAND, MISSOURI,
NEW HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT, AND WEST VIRGINIA