Essay On Andersonville

From 1864 to 1865 Andersonville, GA was the site of a huge military prison for the confederacy. It was officially called Camp Sumter and was highly known for its horrible conditions and high death rate. In History.com’s article “Andersonville” it says, “In all, approximately 13,000 Union prisoners perished at Andersonville, and following the war its commander, Captain Henry Wirz (1823-65), was tried, convicted and executed for war crimes.” This camp was highly feared and the conditions in which the prisoners were held were definitely horrible to say the least. It was not a place you wanted to be at all. The first prisoners started arriving while Andersonville was still under construction. It became necessary during the prisoner exchange between the North and the South over the treatment of the African American soldiers. In History.com’s article “Andersonville” it says, “A creek flowed through the compound and provided water for the Union soldiers; however, this became a cesspool of disease and human waste.” If this doesn’t give the worst picture of what it was like in this camp then there is something off. These people …show more content…
“Detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence.” Photographs and videos taken by the soldiers as the abuses were happening were not included in his report, Taguba said, because of their “extremely sensitive nature” which is stated by Hersh in “Torture at Abu Ghraib.” These conditions were horrible for all involved and the U.S. received backlash because they were held responsible for these people. These pictures are horrible to look at and will physically make you sick to think about the things these people had to go through during their time here. No one deserves this type of treatment or to live in the conditions they were placed in. None of these people knew how to run a prison and this is where the blame