Union
prisoners of war began arriving at Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville
on February 27th 1864.
Andersonville
began excepting Union POW’s on February 27th 1864. The prison started out with 16.5 acres of
land, it had a 15 foot high stockade.
The camp would be expanded in June 1864 to 26.5 acres, and the stockade
finished off at 1,620 feet by 779 feet.
The stockade had two entrances, both located on the west side and known
as the North entrance and the South entrance.
There was an interior fence, built about 19 feet inside the stockade,
known as the dead line. Any prisoners
crossing or touching this line were shot by the sentries located in what the prisoners
called the pigeon roosts.
The Union
prisoners and the Confederate staff of Andersonville were undersupplied and
what foods they received were of poor quality.
Men died from disease, exposure and malnutrition. During a seven month period a third of the
men held there died from dysentery and scurvy. In July 1864 five Union prisoners
were sent north by Captain Heinrich H Wirz with a petition asking that the Union reinstate
prisoner exchanges, hoping to relive conditions. When their petition was denied all five of
the men returned to their comrades at Andersonville.
From the
time Andersonville opened until it closed it held some 45,000 soldiers, of
these 13,000 lost their lives.
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