Andersonville: Hell on Earth




Andersonville suffered from all of the major problems that caused Civil War prison camps to be centers for death. Those incarcerated there suffered from malnutrition, numerous diseases like smallpox, inadequate housing, cramped living spaces, a lack of a way to dispose of human waste, and no way to obtain drinkable water. By the end of the war prisoners were in such a bad state at Andersonville that Capt. Henry Wriz, the man in charge of running the camp, was charged for war crimes. These pictures illustrate the disgusting unsanitary conditions that prisoners were forced to live in. They are cramped, dirty, unsanitary, and as Union prisoners described, hell on earth. Ultimately about 13,000 Union soldiers died at Andersonville making the death rate (32%) one of the highest out prison camps on either side.

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