To this day, Andersonville is a small southern town in Sumter County, Georgia that sits 120 miles south of Atlanta.
It began its life in 1853 as a small train station settlement called Anderson Station, named for John Anderson, the director of the South Western Railroad. When a post office was added in November of 1855, the Federal Government renamed the town Andersonville, so as not to confuse it with the post office in Anderson, South Carolina.
When the Civil War began in 1861, the station was used as a Confederate supply depot. The cotton farming town was equipped with a post office, a blacksmith and stable, a school, a Methodist Church, several general stores, and two saloons!
In 1863 the prisoner exchange system between the north and south collapsed due to the fact that the Union would not return their black prisoners. And so the number of war prisoners being held, indefinitely, exploded.
Because of its tiny rural population and availability of land, the small Georgia town was chosen as the site for a new prison camp, to ease the overpopulation in Richmond, Virginia. Early in 1864 construction of Camp Sumter began, and saw its first prisoners arrive in February.
In the first four months, as many as 400 prisoners arrived each day. Within six months, the prison was grossly overpopulated, with nearly three times as many captives as it was intended to hold.
Supplies ran short very quickly. Food, medicine and construction materials became increasingly hard to obtain. The river that was used for drinking and sanitation quickly became a cesspool of contamination. Dysentery and Cholera were rampant, as other men starved.
When the Union army, led by General Sherman invaded Atlanta in September of 1864, Andersonville began moving much of its population to other prisons in Georgia and South Carolina. For it's remaining 8 months, the prison operated on a smaller scale, until it was liberated in May of 1865.
The Odom brothers, of Brothers In Arms, suffered a brief stay at Andersonville, just before its closure. Only one made it out.
In the 14 months that it was operational, Camp Sumter, more commonly known as Andersonville Prison, took in approximately 26,000 inmates, of which approximately 13,000 died.
Visit these resources for further information about Andersonville and Camp Sumter, as well as other people and events associated with this point of interest.
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