Andersonville Prison

Camp Sumter, better known as the Andersonville Prison, was a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp constructed toward the end of the Civil War. It was built just outside the town of Andersonville in Macon County, Georgia. The prison, which opened in February 1864, was roughly rectangular with two entrances along the western side, one toward the north and one toward the south. A fifteen-foot stockade wall bordered it. A small stream divided the enclosure roughly in half. In June 1864 the prison was enlarged to over 26 acres.

But that description does not capture the horror that was the Andersonville Prison. Nor do simple numbers do the nightmare justice. Of the 45,000 Union soldiers held in Andersonville--four times the number the prison was designed for--13,000 died, most of scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery brought on by lack of food, lack of water, and unsanitary living conditions.

One of the men held at Andersonville was Jesse C. Underhill, Company E, 85th NY Volunteers. Underhill and his company were held at Andersonville starting in April 1864, a few months after it was constructed. He stayed there until September 11. Underhill documented his time at Andersonville in a diary, portions of which were published in The Courier, a local newspaper, after the war. In an understated way that I have found characteristic of other soldiers’ diaries, Underhill captures life during the five or so months he was held.

Within the confines of the stockade walls, prisoners attempted to provide shelter for themselves. Some arrived with tents and bedrolls but many were relieved of these by guards upon entering the gates. As a result, most were left to construct what simple shelters they could. The lack of shelter, combined with poor sanitation and lack of water, challenged even those with the strongest will.

Monday June 13th - Rained all night; the boys without shelter look pretty well soaked up; this is a hard life to see hundreds suffering from hunger and exposure while all their suffering could be stopped by the rebels if they would only let the boys have what belongs to them, but instead they are confiscated to add to the rebels’ comfort while they laugh at our misery.

Overcrowded within the prison walls, and with a small stream the only source of water for both drinking and sanitation, prisoners were desperate to rid themselves of lice and fend off intestinal disease.

Thursday June 23rd - Everything quiet this morning. We had a great time combing lice with a fine comb that one of the boys got somewhere. We received cooked mush for rations to last 24 hours but we still have to skim the bugs first. About 600 more prisoners today.

To prevent prisoners from attempting to scale the wooden walls surrounding the prison, the Confederate Army constructed a light fence roughly twenty feet inside the stockade wall creating a buffer between the lighter fence and the stockade wall. This buffer was called the Dead Line and anyone entering or approaching the line was likely to be shot without warning by one of the sentries posted in towers along the wall. But punishment for crossing the Dead Line was not limited to those attempting to escape, as guards would withhold rations for all prisoners if even one prisoner attempted escape.

Saturday May 28th - The company are alive that are in camp this morning. One of our detachment has to go without his rations on account of not being at roll call. One hundred prisoners came in today from Atlanta or near there. Food is scarce and full of bugs; some of the poor devils in here have become so disheartened that they walk over the dead line for the purpose of getting out of their misery.

Wednesday June 22nd - One of the boys was shot for getting over the dead line last night. We went without rations today. Considerable fighting going on tonight.

Threats to prisoners were not limited to the Dead Line, lack of food, dire sanitary conditions, and lack of shelter. Within the prison the Andersonville Raiders--a group of fellow prisoners--attacked other prisoners, stealing food, clothing, blankets, anything of value. The Raiders armed themselves with clubs and killed to get what they were after.

Monday May 30th - One more long, miserable day all most gone. Nine hundred more unlucky boys came in today and our rations are cut down more than half; more hungry men and less provisions is not this cheering to a half-starved camp overrun with lice and threatening with death at any moment at the hands of the desperate raiders.

But the Raiders were not unopposed and prisoners fought back, extracting an informal justice.

Wednesday June 15th - A raider caught this morning and rode on the sharp side of a rail; how is that for a ride without extra charge.

Sunday June 19th - Raiders around all night stealing blankets and rations. Some of them got thumped in good shape. Nine hundred and fifty seven more prisoners came in from Mississippi.

In time a prisoner group called the Regulators formed to counter the Raiders. Organized by Peter "Big Pete" Aubrey, the Regulators caught nearly all of the Raiders. They then tried and accused Raiders in a prisoner court and meted out punishment including, in six cases, hanging, all under the watchful eyes of their Confederate captors.

Despite the horrid sanitary conditions and risk of disease, the threats from their guards, and even attacks from fellow prisoners, the biggest concern to the prisoners was starvation. Rations were meager or non-existent and even when provided, the food was often covered with bugs or maggots.

Sunday May 29th - Eighty more Yankees came in last night and one thousand more today; we are getting creamed for quarters and everything seems to be working against us. Our meat, what little we get, stinks; meal is sour and the water we get from the run would puke a dog that was not used to it.

On some days, the only thing they could do was fantasize about food.

Friday June 17th - Raining this morning. We had baked rice this morning for breakfast. D. Cox came to our tent this morning; He was not paroled as reported. Rainy all day, everything still no stir around camp, boys without tents are huddled together to keep as dry as possible. We have been telling what we would like to have for supper; some want plum pudding, some bologna sausage, but I would rather have a good rich mince pie for mine and rinse it down with a good cup of coffee, well sweetened.

After the war, Henry Wirz, commandant of the inner stockade at Andersonville, was tried, convicted, and ultimately hanged on charges of war crimes.

Jesse Underwood was transferred from Andersonville to another prisoner-of-war camp in Charleston on September 11, 1864. He remained a prisoner of war for many months, and immediately upon being paroled from prison was hospitalized for over a month. He was honorably discharged on June 21, 1865, after which he moved to Michigan, married Ursula Stone, and returned to farming.

The former prison is now a National Historic Site and includes the Andersonville National Cemetery where headstones mark the final resting place of 13,000 prisoners who died there.

Sources of Information: Excerpts of Diary of Jesse C. Underhill as printed in an undated copy of The Courier; History of Branch County, 1888, page 393; National Park Service; and Wikipedia. Photo credits to National Park Service

Jesse C. Underhill was Sam's 3rd great aunt's (paternal) husband.