Road Trip: Andersonville Civil War Prison

After moving to Georgia from Michigan umpteen years ago I was over whelmed by all of the History there. Caught up in my day to day living I somehow stopped noticing it.  I decided to change that.  I wanted to start exploring and taking notice of the history around me. I decided to start with Andersonville. I had never heard about Andersonville until a couple of years ago.  At the time, my son was studying the Civil War. He wanted to learn more, so we hopped in the car, and headed out.

Camp Sumter was one of the largest confederate prisons during the Civil War. The city of AndersonvilleGeorgia was chosen for the site of the prison due to its location far from Union lines and its close proximity to the railway. Soon after the first prisoners arrived in 1864 it was dubbed “Andersonville”. Andersonville is infamous for being one of the deadliest prison camps during the Civil War. Over the next 14 months, almost 13,000 Union soldiers lost their life.  Stricken by the same diseases and insufficient rations hundreds of the confederate prison guards perished as well.  A replica of the North gate was rebuilt on the site along with markers signifying the 15 ft high outer wall and the flimsy inner wall, which marked the “dead line”.

  Doris Atwater, a prisoner, kept a secret list of men that died. After the war ended he and Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, went back with a team to dig up the mass graves and rebury the dead with dignity. There are monuments throughout the prison site and cemetery from each state that had prisoners held at Andersonville.

  Andersonville is a great day trip it takes about 2 ½ hours to drive there from Atlanta or make a weekend out of it and visit former President Jimmy Carter’s Hometown in nearby Plains Georgia or the State fair in Perry. They offer several guided tours daily. We chose the audio tour, you can rent it for a few bucks and go at your own pace.

  Also on site is the Nation Prisoner of War Museum which was opened in 1998 to honor those who were held captive in the defense of their country. You can also visit the Andersonville National Cemetery where the dead from Andersonville are at rest.

  Today the walls that covered over 26 acres have since fallen but the memories and spirit of the men who lived there linger on.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

The holidays are upon us. I wanted to share an excerpt from my book “A Christmas Crossing”.  It describes a night very long ago. A night filled with fear and promise. The night George Washington Crossed the Delaware, December 24^th, 1776. I hope you enjoy it and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

It was Christmas. The night was dark. Snow filled clouds blocked out the stars offering them little to no light. With the hopes of freedom in their hearts, the men pressed on.

Battered by sleet and snow, Sarah stood huddled on the Pennsylvania shore, with the other women, as she watched them go. She clutched a thin blanket around her frail shoulders even though it did little to block out the frozen wind. Nonetheless, she was one of the lucky ones.

Many of Washington’s soldiers had no coats, and some no shoes. Their bare feet were numb from the cold. A trail of bloody footprints marked their way as they marched across the icy ground.

Tears stung her eyes as she watched her brother Silas step into the last Durham Boat. The deep wooden sides seemed to swallow him up as he sat down for the arduous voyage. The boat was originally constructed to carry iron, not men. She could hear the sound of creaking wood and cracking ice as it was poled off into the river. She said a prayer as it disappeared into the darkness.

Silence remained and she barely noticed as the other women around her shuffled back to camp. They would wait, as they had so many times before, for their men to return. Her body was shivering to warm itself from the bitterness of winter. With a fearful heart she turned and walked back to camp as well.

The sleet had topped the snow with ice. It crunched beneath her feet as she walked. She desperately hoped that the river would not freeze this night.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!