In February 1864, 500 Union prisoners of war arrived at the Confederate
stockade at Anderson Station, Georgia. Andersonville, as it was later
known, would become legendary for its brutality and mistreatment, with
the highest mortality rate--more than 30 percent--of any Civil War
prison. Fourteen months later 32,000 men were imprisoned there. Most of
the prisoners suffered greatly because of poor organization, meager
supplies, the federal government's refusal to exchange prisoners, and
the cruelty of men supporting a government engaged in a losing battle
for survival. Who was responsible for allowing so much squalor,
mismanagement, and waste at Andersonville?
Looking for an answer, Ovid Futch cuts through charges and
countercharges that have made the camp a subject of bitter controversy.
He examines diaries and firsthand accounts of prisoners, guards, and
officers and both Confederate and federal government records (including
the transcript of the trial of Capt. Henry Wirz, the alleged "fiend of
Andersonville").
First published in 1968, this groundbreaking volume has never gone out
of print.
