History 269 The Civil War and Reconstruction
Prisoners of War (continued)

				Captain Henry Wirz, commandant at Andersonville, was  convicted of war crimes and executed on November 10, 1865.  Many Southerners considered Wirz to be a martyr--a good soldier simply following orders--and clearly he was a scapegoat.  It was not his fault that Andersonville was badly overcrowded or that shortages of provisions plagued the Confederate army as well as prisoners.  Nonetheless, Wirz allowed guards to keep food meant for the prison population, he did nothing about the polluted water supply, and he refused to let the prisoners build huts from the pine forests surrounding the prison.  Prisoners on both sides often suffered from poor sanitary facilities, disease, and malnutrition, but exposure was an added hardship in open air prisons like Andersonville and Belle Island.  HIS 269 Exhibits >
The execution of Capt. Henry Wirz Andersonville prison was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners, but at its peak about 33,000 prisoners were held.  The compound was expanded to cover 26 acres in an attempt to relieve the overcrowding, but this was still inadequate.  Prisoners relied on shelter from pieces of tents and holes they dug in the ground.  There was no clothing given to prisoners, so they wore only ragged remnants of their uniforms.  Most prisoners suffered from exposure, but disease was the greatest killer.  The stream running through the prison, Sweetwater Creek, was used for disposal of trash, body and animal wastes, and bathing.  The prisoners often drank from this polluted stream as it was the main water source, naturally developing severe dysentery.  Hundreds of men died each day; the prison "deadhouse" was filled beyond capacity and bodies were stacked outside prior to burial.  Slightly over 49,000 prisoners were sent to Andersonville during the fourteen months of its operation, 13,700 of whom died (27%).  Death rates were high in other Civil War prisons as well, but none approached that of Andersonville.

© 2004 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College