The Commemoration of the Andersonville National Historic Site: The Journey From a Soldier s Hell to a Soldier s Memorial 1 2 Some Americans have experienced the prisoner of war ordeal for a few days, others for years. All have experienced the loss of freedom. This is the important story told at Andersonville National Historic Site. To fully understand this loss is to cherish freedom all the more. 3 Craig J. McMichael March 23, 2006 (first edition) April 7, 2009 (revised edition) 1 A Union POW picture taken shortly after his release from Andersonville, http://sherpaguides.com/georgia/civil_war/midwest/malnurished_andersonville_guy.jpg 2 Minnesota Monument in the National Cemetery 3 Andersonville Official Map and Guide
Section 1: Introduction Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, Robert E. Lee, Appomattox, Antietam, Gettysburg; all common responses given by the majority of Americans today when asked to give names and places associated with the Civil War. Most think of the Union and Confederate armies clashing at these historic sites and the massive number of casualties that resulted from these confrontations. But so many soldiers and places are either lost or forgotten in our public memory. And even more forgotten still are the numerous unnamed soldiers the ones who were either unable to participate in these major battles, or as a result of these major battles, were interned behind enemy lines as prisoners-of-war (POWs). Georgia is home to one of the largest and most well-known POW camps in our nation s history. Andersonville Camp Sumter as it was known during the Civil War is located fifty miles south of Macon in central Georgia. The site of Camp Sumter has undergone great changes from its time as a prison. It has transitioned from a place where great atrocities occurred, to a memorial honoring Union soldiers who fought and died there, to a place where all American POWs are honored today. Through the shared experiences of this country s POWs, Andersonville is able to transcend different wars and generations, and as a result, come to mean so much more than just a memorial park for the Union soldiers who either perished or were interned inside her walls between 1864 and 1865. Section 2: Historiography of Andersonville In order to comprehend the significance of Andersonville, it is important to understand the context in which the prison operated. The Confederate States of America had a large POW camp near their capital, Richmond, Virginia. This camp posed a number of problems for the Confederacy and caused them to begin searching for a more strategic location. The Prisoners needed to be moved from Richmond for three main reasons. They had become a serious drain on the city s food supply; General Lee could not sacrifice any more soldiers for prison detail, and the camp became a greater liability if the Confederate capital were to come under - 2 -
attack. 4 After careful consideration, the Confederacy decided the best place to build the new prison would be in a small county in central Georgia. The site would be remote from the threat of war, a smaller threat of enemy raids, its close proximity to the railroad, a large supply of beautiful clear water, and the site had a decent climate. 5 To the Confederates, Andersonville would help solve some of the problems they faced in Richmond. To the Union POW. s interned there, Andersonville would become their hell on earth. The Confederacy s poor planning in the layout and construction of Andersonville proved deadly to many of the Union soldiers who passed through the stockade walls. The first set of 500 POW. s came to Andersonville on February 27, 1864, arriving at a camp that was not yet ready to deal with them let alone the tens of thousands that would follow. Prisoners soon found out that life in Andersonville was difficult, and soon it became a struggle just to survive. The site lacked adequate shelter for the men, with them having to provide their own. The only clothing they had was the clothing on their back. Some of the men that came from Richmond clothes were already reduced to rags and even some were naked. The cookhouse and bake house were not finished until the summer of 1864 and were still inadequate. The vast amount of fresh water was nothing more than a five foot stream that cut the prison in half, with a few springs over the site. 6 The inadequacy of the Confederacy in the preparation and supplying Union soldiers with the basic necessities while interned at Andersonville proved costly for those confined behind the stockade walls. The high fatality rate among the prisoners at Andersonville illustrates the lack of preparation and readiness of the Confederates in dealing with their Union captives. 7 8 4 ANDE 2668, 3 5 ibid, 3 6 ANDE 2668, 7-8 7 Recreation of a shelter made by Union Soldiers at Andersonville (Photo is from McMichael personal collection August 2006) - 3 -
Once the first set of 500 men arrived in late February 1864, more and more Union POWs began filing into Andersonville at an average of 400 men per day. 9 The prisoners came from a diverse set of places and circumstances. Some were captives from the battlefield, while others came from other Confederate prisons that faced similar situations to the one in Richmond. The numbers inside the camp began to swell as the summer of 1864 dragged on. By June there were 26,000 Union captives, July the number swelled to 31,678 finally topping out at a little more than 32,000 in August. These numbers far exceeded the plans of Andersonville housing 10,000 captives maximum. 10 This excessive growth, paired with poor and overcrowded conditions, led to a casualty rate that proved equally as astounding. In the fourteen months that Camp Sumter was up and running 900 prisoners on average died every month with the worst single day death total on August 23, 1864 when 97 prisoners died in one day. In total, Andersonville held a little more than 45,000 soldiers, 12,921 of these men never made it out of the camp alive and were buried in the National Cemetery. 11 Camp Sumter operated until April of 1865 after which most of the prisoners returned home. The site continued to polarize and divide the country after the war. Many Northerners were eager to punish the Southern States and looked for reasons to justify their calls for action. Next to the death of President Abraham Lincoln, the deliberately planned atrocities at Andersonville became the most lethal weapon in the arsenal of those who wished to impose harsh Reconstruction on the Confederate States of America. 12 In reality, though, the alleged atrocities at Andersonville were no more gruesome than those found at other POW camps during the Civil War. When assessing the number of men who died in both Union and Confederate POW camps, it is impossible to prove with any authority that one side was more inhumane than the other. In total, 25,976 Confederate soldiers perished in Union camps, and 30,218 Union soldiers perished in the Confederate camps. But for the people of 1865, the atrocities of Andersonville were incontrovertible. Few were able to imagine how this site could be anything more than a painful reminder of those atrocities, instead of the 8 Recreation of a shelter made by Union Soldiers at Andersonville (Photo is from McMichael personal collection August 2006) 9 Andersonville Map and Official Guide 10 ANDE 2668, 7 11 ibid, 7-10 12 ANDE 2668, 14-4 -
place of honor it would become. Clara Barton began this transition in her report commissioned by the federal government. Section 3: Report On the Condition of Andersonville: Clara Barton, July 1865 In July 1865, the United States Government sent Clara Barton to Andersonville to aid in identifying and marking the graves of the Union soldiers who died and were buried adjacent to the prison grounds. The expedition was part of a larger group sanctioned in March 1865 by President Lincoln for the purpose of locating the missing men of the United States Army. Barton was famous during the Civil War for organizing soldier relief efforts as well as for caring for wounded soldiers at various battle sites. It was only fitting then that this remarkable woman was selected for the purpose of honoring those men who perished during their internment. In her report to the federal government, Barton addressed the need to preserve this sacred site. In addition, she also addressed the poor conditions of the grounds (much of which was previously discussed). One point of interest in her report was her commentary on the water supply, or lack there of, available to the prisoners at Andersonville. Only a small stream ran through the heart of the camp, but as Barton observed, The water must have become so foul and loathsome that every statement I have seen of its offensiveness must be considered as falling short of the reality. 13 The stream Barton encountered is shown below. Although this photograph was taken in today s times, one can see that it is indeed very small and would be hard pressed to serve the needs of 500 men let alone the over 30,000 men interned at the camp during the war. 14 13 ibid 14 Picture of the stream that cuts across the prison grounds today (McMichael personal collection August 2005) - 5 -
After seeing the wretched conditions inside the camp, Barton was pleasantly surprised by the state of the cemetery. She learned that a gentleman by the name of Mr. Griffin, a local from the area, was appointed the cemetery s temporary superintendent by Major General Wilson. Miss Barton described the care that Mr. Griffin took in maintaining the grounds. No human bodies were found exposed, and none were removed. Mr. Griffin was informed by one of the ever faithful negroes that some of the bodies were uprooted by animals. Having verified this statement, he collected a few negroes; sunk the exposed bodies and covered them to a proper depth. 15 Barton then began the purpose of her mission: marking the graves of the soldiers who perished inside the walls at Andersonville. But she could not have completed this important task without the help of a former Andersonville POW: Dorence Atwater. Mr. Atwater, of Connecticut, a member of the 2 nd N.Y. Calvary, who had been a prisoner at Andersonville and Belle Island twenty-two months, and charged by the Rebel authorities with the duty of keeping the death register of the Union prisoners who died amid the nameless cruelties of the first named prison. 16 Atwater s register allowed Barton the possibility of corresponding each numbered post or board marking in the cemetery with the names on his list. Barton and her team identified all but 400 soldiers, and gave the remaining headstones with the marking Unknown Union Soldier to let it be known that the men were gone but not forgotten. Barton and her team left most of the site the way they found it. In her report, she noted that substantially nothing was attempted beyond enclosing the grounds, identifying and marking the graves, placing some appropriate mottoes at the gates and along the spaces designed for walks, and erecting a flag staff in the cemetery. 17 All of the incredible work Barton and her team accomplished immediately following the war illustrates the importance of preserving the sacredness of this site. Section 4: Control and Preservation of Andersonville after the Civil War In the years following the Civil War, the job of preserving and maintaining Andersonville has come under the control of different organizations. The site was privately owned until it was purchased by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1891. It would again change hands when the GAR sold its rights to the 15 ibid 16 ANDE 2637 17 ibid - 6 -
property six years later to the Women s Relief Corps (WRC), due to high maintenance costs. The WRC eventually gave up its rights to the U.S. Army in 1910. The National Park Service took control of Andersonville in 1970 and it was during this time that the site began to transcend beyond a Civil War memorial. The work done by the GAR and WRC enhanced Andersonville and made it more visitor-friendly. Though both groups only controlled it for less than ten years each, they were influential in maintaining and protecting it so that it would never be lost or forgotten in the public s conscience. According to a local paper in 1891, the GAR built bridges over the creek so that visitor s buggies could be driven around the entire grounds. 18 Andersonville s Angels, as WRC became known, perpetuated the work of the GAR with their own enhancement projects to the site. The entire area was enclosed with a strong wire fence, roads and walks were built to make all parts of the grounds more accessible. The old stockade was sodded with Bermuda grass and the creek bottom cleared of its tangled undergrowth. A roadway was laid out around the entire park, passing by all the old forts, with a beautiful flagstaff erected and a graceful arch built over the main entrance. 19 Once the Army was in charge, however, the priorities of the park began to shift. The Army focused more on the upkeep of the National Cemetery and was less concerned about the amount of people who would visit the site each year. Despite this fact, the time in which the army controlled the area is commonly referred to as the monument era. Many Northern states spearheaded the efforts to make sure that the men from their states would not be forgotten to the annuls of history. Many of the Northern states erected monuments in memoriam of their interned or perished soldiers. The 100 th anniversary of the Civil War brought about a renewed interest in Andersonville and left the Army looking for someone else to look after and care for the site. They found a taker in the National Parks Service (NPS). There was only one problem with the NPS taking over the site. The site needed to overcome the mentality of just being a sectional memorial. Groups all over the South opposed Andersonville becoming a National Historic Site. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, and other groups still sympathetic to the Southern Cause were concerned that National Park status would again open up old wounds for the South about the horrors of Andersonville and that the site would forget the suffering of Southerners held in Northern 18 The Americus Daily Times Recorder, April 18, 1891 19 Women s Relief Corps at Andersonville, 4-7 -
Camps. 20 It was decided then that in order to get the bill to pass, the site would need to incorporate the story of all American POW s. On October 16, 1970, Public Law 91-465 was passed with Andersonville gaining a new purpose. The act declared that in order to provide an understanding of the overall prisoner-of-war story of the Civil War, to interpret the role of prisoner-of-war camp history, to commemorate the sacrifice of Americans who lost their lives in such camps, and to preserve the monuments located therein, the Secretary is hereby authorized to designated not more than 500 acres in Macon and Sumter Counties, Georgia, for the establishment as the Andersonville National Historic Site. 21 However, the American POW experience was left out of Andersonville until the 1980s when the American Ex- Prisoners of War (AXPOW) came onto the scene. Section 5: National Prisoner of War Museum: A New Meaning 22 The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated to the sacrifices of all POW s in American history to instill a new found love of our nation to those who visit the Andersonville National Historic Site. 23 With the hopes of finally incorporating the American POW experience at Andersonville, Chief Ranger Alfredo Sanchez contacted AXPOW; both parties agreed that a museum should be erected in honor of the American POW. The two sides reached a formal agreement in 1984 which stated that AXPOW would raise 20 National Prisoner of War Museum, 7 21 Public Law 91-465, 91 st Congress, H.R. 140, October 16, 1970 22 Photograph of the National Prisoner of War Museum (McMichael Personal Collection August 2006) 23 National Prisoner of War Museum, 10-8 -
$2.5 million for the museum. 24 But it wasn t until 1990 when Congressional appropriations were received and the museum planning was allowed to commence. During the six-year wait, both sides also received funds from an organization known as The Friends of the Park, which helped bring national publicity to Andersonville and aided in soliciting funds from the state of Georgia and the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation. Actual construction of the museum began in the summer of 1996. The construction and design is of special importance and significance. The creators of the museum thought it should be a living monument to the American POW. Therefore, only the strongest and most sustainable materials were used to ensure the monuments sustainability. The massive foundation was constructed of cast-in-place concrete. The walls, towers and slate roofs are supported by a heavy structural steel skeleton. On the interior, the metal stud walls were sealed inside and out to prevent humidity from entering the building, heavily insulated and covered with veneer plaster gypsum board to ensure that the museum s rare artifacts are not damaged. 25 The same care of selecting only the finest materials for the job was taken in deciding the overall design and layout of the museum. The architect of the National Prisoner of War Museum, Carla McConnell, worked alongside the Andersonville staff and a committee representing AXPOW. One of the first decisions they made was to build a new access road to the museum. The new park entrance, located at the north end of the park, would serve twofold: first, to allow more privacy and less noise pollution for the private funeral services that would take place at the National Cemetery, and second, to act as a calming device for visitors, welcoming them as they enter through a gently curving, heavily forested road that leads to the museum. The placement of the museum was also an important aspect that the architects had to consider. They wanted to make sure it had a prominent place in the park, but that it did not take away from the prison site or the cemetery. They decided to put the museum at the north end to try to minimize the view from the prison site. They achieved this by replanting trees along with the walls that frame the Commemorative Courtyard. Now that they had the idea for where the museum would be located, the architects next turned their focus to the design of the museum itself. 24 ibid, 8 25 ibid, 11-9 -
Images play a major role in conveying the overall experience of Andersonville. At the camp, the markers and road surrounding the perimeter allow visitors to comprehend the vastness of the site. At the National Cemetery, the tens of thousands of white headstones offer a visual representation of the number of Union soldiers who perished within Andersonville s walls. The architects of the National Prisoner of War museum do not add to this with the painstaking details in the museum s placement and construction. McConnell gives us a sensory-driven guide when describing the layout of the museum. Approaching the building from the North, visitors see, across a clean sweep of lawn, a long, low solid dark-maroon brick building punctuated with three grey granite towers. Walking toward the building from the parking lot, the visitor is forced to approach in pairs or sing up a narrow straight walk leading between two small brick buildings. These buildings and the black entry gate serve to constrict the approach to quiet groups and create a feeling of tension prior to entering the lobby. 26 Once inside the museum, visitors are welcomed by a volunteer park ranger. To their left is a small gift shop and to their right are the museum s exhibits. The museum allows visitors to digest the information and POW experience at their own pace. For example, visitors can start in an exhibit of POW artifacts from the different wars that America has participated in, they then move through the different stages of the POW process that affect both the POWs themselves and their families. The first major exhibit is the soldier s transition to a POW. The spaces are not heavily lit; foreign languages can be heard yelling in the background with images on large screens of American GI s being marched to the POW camps by their enemy. The next major exhibit is entitled Letters from Home. This section takes visitors outside of captivity and returns them to the POW experience on the homefront. There is a strong use of visual and audio images to heighten the senses of the visitors. Actual letters sent from prisoners to their loved ones are on display, and reenactors or read old letters or depict family members talking about what it s like to have a loved one in captivity. Following Letters from Home is an exhibit that recreates life inside a POW camp. In order to achieve this, there are two solitary confinement cells that the visitor can peer into. Each cell is complete with 26 ibid, 14-10 -
mannequins to help give a sense of life inside the camps. Videos, audio messages and different artifacts are on display to help visitors attempt to comprehend what life was like for a POW. Finally, visitors are led through the welcome home exhibit. This exhibit is filled with welcome banners and various pictures. It lightens the mood and allows visitors to come full circle with their emotions. The museum also shows two films that are free to the public and aid in the comprehension of both the Andersonville POW experience and the American POW experience. These movies will be discussed in a later section. Every aspect of the National Prisoner of War Museum is an integral part of the National Historic Site. The museum itself is a valuable tool, transforming visitors from passive viewers to active participants in the American POW experience. Section 6: Andersonville Today Upon first glance, the Andersonville site appears to be nothing more than an open field spanning approximately sixteen acres. However, a closer look reveals numerous markers and symbols that take the visitor beyond the open space. A road encircles the former camp, creating a rule for just how large it once was. Lining the road are white posts, spaced about every ten to twenty feet with the words stockade and deadline written on them. Also recreated at the site are two sections of the 15-foot stockade wall and the deadline just in front of it complete with makeshift shelters. The camp originally had stockades, as the outside walls were known, 15-feet-high surrounding the perimeter, sentry boxes or pigeon roosts stood at 30-yard intervals along the top of the stockade, and about 19 feet from the stockade was a the deadline, which the prisoners were forbidden to cross upon the threat of death. 27 Today, these markers and reproductions allow the visitor to see the camp from the prisoner s perspective, providing insight into what life may have looked like from inside her stockade walls. 27 Andersonville Official Map and Guide - 11 -
28 29 Section 7: Monuments at the Site: Honor the Dead and Healing the Country There are a number of monuments located throughout Andersonville to commemorate the people interned behind enemy lines. Each of the monuments selected for this paper represent a different stage in the commemoration process at Andersonville. The monuments from the states of Michigan and Minnesota were dedicated in the early twentieth century. They served a two-part purpose during this time: to honor the men who died in the prison, and to restore the once fractured relationship between the North and the South. The Wirz Monument, dedicated to the man who was commandant of Andersonville, is the only monument viewed in this paper that does not sit on the grounds of the original site. The monument was funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and serves as the only place in or around Andersonville where the Confederate soldier is honored. The Georgia Monument was dedicated in 1976 and honors all American Prisoners of War. This particular monument was the first step in Andersonville s transformation from a Union POW memorial to an American POW memorial. 28 The stockade and deadline posts that surround the perimeter of the grounds (McMichael personal collection August 2006) 29 Recreation of the stockade wall and deadline rail on the grounds (McMichael personal collection August 2006) - 12 -
The Michigan Monument 30 The Michigan Monument was dedicated on May 30 1904, Memorial Day of that year. The monument sits on the northern end of the former camp and honors both the living and the dead Union soldiers who were interned inside of Andersonville s walls. In order to understand the significance of this monument, it is important to look at the dedication service for the memorial. The dedicatory service took on two overlying themes. The first theme honored those soldiers who died inside the very walls where the monument came to rest. The second theme centered on bringing the divided country, North and South, back together once and for all. The two main speakers at the dedications services were Michigan Governor A.T. Bliss and former Union General James H. Kidd. Both of the men s speeches corresponded with the overall theme of honoring those whom had perished at the site and uniting the country again. Governor Bliss felt that the monument was there not only to honor the Michigan soldiers, but all soldiers. We cannot overlook the suffering of those heroes who gallantly we are assembled here to perpetuate in imperishable granite. A monument to the soldier of either army is a monument to an American soldier. 31 The governor was one of the first to introduce and view Andersonville as no longer a strictly a Union Memorial. General Kidd echoed these sentiments and stressed how the monument united the country. 30 Michigan Monument; Inscription reads: Erected by the State of Michigan, to her soldier s and sailor s who were imprisoned on these grounds. 1861-1865 (ANDE 2635) (Photo is from McMichael Personal Collection August 2006) 31 Report: Michigan Andersonville Monument Commission, 1905, 14 & 16-13 -
General Kidd s words were marked with the sense of trying to heal the old wounds of the Civil War that may be stirred again with a dedication ceremony at Andersonville. His words left his audience with a sense that he was doing more than playing politics, but making an overture to an estranged brother. We have come with no bitterness in our hearts on account of those things which were done in that cruel and fanatical strife of forty years ago. We are met to extend a hand of fraternal greeting to all those, if any there be, who wore the gray and are here present. The Time has not come yet- it may never come-where the stars and stripes and the stars and bars can be blended together, but the men who marched under Grant and Lee under those two flags, are today friends and brothers, who meet under one flag and allegiance to one government. 32 The words of General Kidd were representative of the people of the United States who no longer looked at punishing the South for the war but wanted to bring them back and embrace them. The dedication of the monument from Minnesota was eleven years later and many of the themes from Michigan s ceremony occurred in their ceremony. The Minnesota Monument 33 The Minnesota monument s dedication ceremony was held on September 26, 1916. The monument is located in the Andersonville s National Cemetery and honors the 85 Union soldiers from Minnesota entombed on the grounds. The keynote speakers for the ceremony represented Andersonville s shift from a Union memorial to a place of healing for the country. At the ceremony, two men who may have squared off in battle 32 ibid, 22 &26 33 Minnesota Monument; Inscription Reads: In memory of her soldiers, Here buried who lost their lives, In the service of the United States, In the war for the Preservation of the Union. (ibid) (Photograph is from McMichael Personal Collection - 14 -
some fifty years earlier, came together to continue to heal the rift the war had left on the country. The Union veteran spoke of the sacrifice the men had made for their country and how the country was finally united. The Confederate veteran honored those who had once been his enemy and assured the people of South s allegiance to the country. Having Union and Confederate veterans speak at the dedication ceremony illustrates the long way the country had come in the reunification process since the end of the Civil War. The first man to speak at the ceremony was the Honorable C.F. MacDonald, a Union veteran. MacDonald spoke of the uniqueness of being asked to speak at the ceremony and echoed the sentiments of unity and harmony between North and South. To me, this is an occasion of joy and sorrow. Sorrow that my comrades should have died; sorrow that the dark clouds of war have long since passed away, that we are again united, happy and prosperous people- one nation, one flag, one sentiment animating all of our hearts- pride in our country and a firm resolve that the Republic will endure and continue through the great century to be the greatest, freest and wisest governed nation. 34 The words of MacDonald are similar to the words and ideas from the speakers at the Michigan dedication ceremony. They are from Northern men commemorating their fallen comrades and countrymen. The words of the Confederate veteran demonstrate that the sentiments felt by their Northern brethren were also felt by the South. H.T Davenport was a former private in the Confederate army attempted to relay these Southern sentiments to the people of Minnesota at the ceremony. Davenport s words echoed the sentiment of his northern counterparts and reassured the American people that citizens of the South are just as patriotic as those of the North. He concluded his speech with a special message directed to the children of Georgia. As an ex-confederate private soldier under Lee, Jackson, Stewart and others; I gladly recognize the duty and express to you my gratification for the conservative, fair and unprejudiced and therefore patriotic sentiment characterized by each of the five gentlemen that made up the Minnesota State Monument Commission.To the children of Georgia: honor our country and flag, stand up when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, remove your hat when you see old glory I pledge to you today, that the surviving Confederate Veterans are as loyal to Old Glory and our country as they were to the Confederacy. 35 34 Report of the Minnesota Commission Appointed to Erecting Monument to Soldiers in the National Cemetery, 59 35 ibid, 70 & 71-15 -
Michigan and Minnesota s dedication ceremonies demonstrate the healing power of Andersonville for soldiers of both the blue and gray. The Contested Monument: The Henry Wirz Monument 36 The most contested monument associated with the Andersonville story is not located on the prison grounds. The Wirz monument is located in the Village of Andersonville which lies adjacent to the site of the former camp. The monument is dedicated to the former commandant of Andersonville, Captain Henry Wirz. Henry Wirz became the scapegoat for the atrocities against the Union soldiers at Andersonville and would also shoulder much of the anger and outrage of Northerners against the Confederacy for the War. On November 10, 1865 he was hanged by the Union government for committing war crimes against Union soldiers. Wirz would be the only Confederate official, military or within the government, to be executed for crimes against the Union. After his death, Wirz became a Confederate martyr. The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) sought to have a monument for the embattled captain in order to properly honor him. The Georgia Division of the UDC was the first to propose the idea of a monument to Captain Wirz at their 1905 convention in Macon, Georgia. Their purpose in erecting the statue was simple and clear. The UDC wanted a monument to be erected to the memory of Henry Wirz in order to vindicate him from the stain of 36-16 -
judicial murder under false charges. 37 The UDC saw in the Wirz memorial an opportunity to educate the world on Southern History and set right the wrongs of the past. The Georgia Division of the U.D.C decided to hold a special session in order to decide on the proper placement of the monument. The UDC struggled to come to an agreement of where the proper place for the Wirz monument should be. Some of the women favored Macon, located in central Georgia, others Americus, located near Andersonville and finally there were some who thought that Andersonville was the only fitting place for the monument. Andersonville appeared to be the most logical place for the monument, but the site did pose some problems. If erected at Andersonville it would be the cause of friction whenever Northern visitors paid a visit to the cemetery where the dead were buried. It was even stated that if the monument were erected at Andersonville that it would be torn down, and threats were made to this effect anonymously. 38 Each delegate for the cities spoke in front of their peers and tried to persuade the UDC as to why the monument should be placed in their particular city. The delegates were finally swayed in choosing Andersonville after the careful words of one Mrs. Meyers of Fitzgerald, Georgia. Mrs. Meyers worked with many of the members from the Grand Army of the Republic and the Women s Relief Corps and felt that it was far more important for the Wirz Monument to be in Andersonville and not in Atlanta or Macon. Few people would see the monument if it were not at Andersonville and that none of the people would go to Macon or Atlanta, and they did not know where Americus was. That their reason for stopping in Macon was to make connection and they got away from Atlanta as soon as they could get on the train. 39 The delegates then voted and Andersonville was selected as the home of the monument to help in clearing Captain Wirz s name. Although it not on the grounds itself, the monument stands near the Railroad Depot where the soldiers first stepped off the trains before being transported to Andersonville. 37 Facts and Figures vs. Myths and Misrepresentations, 1921, 45 38 ibid, 44 39 ibid, 54-17 -
The Georgia Monument A Monument to All Prisoners of War 40 Upon entering the National Cemetery, visitors drive past a bronze statue of three men arm and arm. The monument is called the Georgia Monument and was dedicated on Memorial Day of 1976. It was the first in the park not to be dedicated in memoriam of the Union soldiers who were interned or perished at Andersonville. Instead, the monument is dedicated to all American POWs. Erecting this monument was the first step in helping the NPS transition Andersonville from a Union POW memorial to a memorial for all American POWs. Section 8: The Commemoration of Andersonville through Stage and Film There have been a number of plays and films dedicated to commemorating Andersonville. Andersonville on Trial, which portrayed the trial of Captain Henry Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville was the first to bring Andersonville back into the public consciousness. It first came to the theater in 1959 and then to television in 1970. The horrors of life inside the camp came to fruition in 1996 in the Turner Home Movie Andersonville. The National Historic Site has two films that play at the National Prisoner of War Museum. The first film links the Andersonville POW story to the American POW. The film is called Echoes of Captivity and uses Andersonville to show that the experiences of the men of Andersonville are the similar to what any POW goes through. The National Historic Site has another film entitled Voices of Andersonville recreates life inside the stockade with actors reading from diaries and letters bringing the horrors to life. Each of the plays or films keep Andersonville in the public conscience allow individuals to experience the site without physically making the trip to central Georgia. 40 Picture of the Georgia Monument (McMichael personal collection, August 2005) - 18 -
Andersonville on Trial (Play and Movie) In 1959, Saul Levitt brought the trial of Captain Henry Wirz to New York s theater district in his play, Andersonville on Trial. The play was later adapted into a made-for-tv-movie in 1970. The play and the movie revolved around the central issue regarding Wirz s treatment of the prisoners at Andersonville. Throughout the real trial, Captain Wirz maintained he was not cruel to the prisoners, but merely just following orders. Andersonville on Trial begged the question Does a military officer have a moral duty to refuse an order that he regards as inhuman? 41 Levitt made sure to draw from credible sources to make the trial as historically accurate as possible. Levitt did extensive research for the recreation of the trial. He relied upon the resources of the Library of Congress as well as the New York Historical Society in order to ensure historical accuracy. These two sources helped him set the scene of the trial as well as giving him actual artifacts to be used as stage props during the production. The New York Times ran an article in late October of 1959 explaining Levitt and his set designer s use of the two institutions. From the Library of Congress Mr. Armstrong has obtained many photographs of sketches of the court action. The realistic setting will attempt to capture the grubby, hot and tense atmosphere of that unhappy historical episode. The New York Historical Society has supplied him with an actual map of the prison, to be used as a court exhibit during the trial. 42 Levitt strived to tell the story of a trial that happened almost a hundred years prior to the play or movie. Levitt, for both the play and the film, drew largely from the transcripts of the Wirz trial when writing up his script. Even with Levitt s commitment to historical accuracy, some Americans viewed both the play and the film as a social commentary on some of the major issues and events that were much more current in the public s mind. The theme of Andersonville on Trial was asking what moral responsibility a military officer has in disobeying inhuman acts. The judge advocate in the film argued before a military tribunal for humanitarian reasons Wirz should have disobeyed the orders of this superiors to save the lives of the men herded into the Andersonville prison. 43 Newspapers in both 1959 and in 1970 could not help but draw comparisons between 41 New York Times, December 30, 1959 42 ibid 43 New York Times, December 30, 1959-19 -
what they were seeing on stage or film and the conflicts facing the country during these two times. In 1959, comparisons were drawn to the Nuremberg Trials that took place shortly after World War II. Even more comparisons were drawn in 1970 from the trial to the conflict in Vietnam. New York Times columnist, Lewis Freedman, drew parallels between the trial and the present day situation. Captain Wirz declares over and over that he was simply obeying orders that he would have been shot for treason if he hadn t obeyed. As we listen to him, and are moved, we also hear the voices in today s news. It is not only the officer of the Confederacy, it s the officer in our Army, it is the student on our own college campus; it is ourselves caught in today s dilemmas. 44 Levitt aided in helping transform the story of Andersonville to make it pertinent and relevant and not something that happened and remains exclusively in our past. Andersonville In 1996, the Turner Network brought the atrocities of Andersonville to the silver screen. The four hour miniseries follows a group of Union soldiers from the time of their capture until the time of their release at the conclusion of the war. The closing caption of the film dedicated the film to all prisoners of war, following in the spirit of National Parks Service. The film captured the reality of life inside the walls of Andersonville. The film shows how the men s health gradually deteriorated over time, sometimes driving them insane and causing others to commit suicide. Similar to Andersonville on Trial, Andersonville had its audience seeing and interpreting the film far beyond just a Civil War story. The images of the film made its viewers recall the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Mel Gussow of the New York Times wrote upon seeing the film; the television film evokes an image related to that of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. 45 Like the National Prisoner of War Museum and Andersonville of Trial, the film allows Andersonville to continue to be reborn in the public conscience and transcend in meaning as each generation experiences it for the first time. Voices of Andersonville and Echoes of Captivity Inside the National Prisoner of War Museum there are two short films that are played every half hour throughout the day. The first movie entitled Voices of Andersonville gives a brief history and background information on the site. The film is shot with the actors giving testimonies of life inside Andersonville. The 44 New York Times, May 17, 1970 45 New York Times, March 3, 1996-20 -
actors, dressed as Union soldiers, read from letters and diaries, the actor s appearance give the viewers a sense that these are not actors but actual prisoners. The second of the two films incorporates the shared experiences that a POW in Andersonville would go through and how it was similar to the experience of a POW from World War II, Korea, Vietnam or the Persian Gulf. The film goes through the six stages that a POW experiences after they are captured. Each stage is introduced with a recreation of an account written by a POW from Andersonville and then uses oral interviews from POW s from other wars to demonstrate the shared experience. The films conveys the National Parks Service s goal of Andersonville continuing to maintain its relevancy one hundred and fifty years after its last prisoner left from insider her stockade walls. Section 9: Conclusion The future of this historic spot cannot fail to constitute a subject deep and abiding interest to the people of this entire country, and it would seem fitting that it would seem fitting that it should be preserved as one of the sanctuaries of the Nation, and in due time decorated with appropriate honors. 46 Clara Barton July 1865 Clara Barton realized the importance of preserving Andersonville to honor those men who were interned and or perished within the stockade walls. Over time, it has come to transcend those men who knew Andersonville as hell on earth. The National Cemetery memorializes the Union soldiers entombed there. The memorials placed on the grounds not only came to honor the imprisoned or perished Union soldiers but also aided in reconstructing the country. The National Parks Service allowed for Andersonville to grow and expand beyond its Civil War parameters to a place for all veterans and POWs. These men and women can go along with their families to see that they are not alone in their unique experiences of being a POW and that someone understands what they are going or went through. Through the work of many great people and organizations, Andersonville continues to be reborn in the public conscience and transcends in meaning as each generation experiences it for the first time, allowing the men interned within her walls to never be forgotten. 46 ANDE 2637-21 -
Bibliography I. Books Andersonville Park Plan, Unpublished, Andersonville National Historic Site, National Parks Service, Andersonville, Georgia Burnett, Bill Andersonville Monuments, Unpublished, Andersonville National Historic Site, National Parks Service, Andersonville, Georgia National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville, Georgia, Dedication April 9, 1998. Andersonville National Historic Site, National Park Service, Andersonville, Georgia Report: Michigan Andersonville Monument Commission 1905, Robert Smith Printing Company, Lansing, 1905 Unpublished, Andersonville National Historic Site, National Parks Service, Andersonville, Georgia Report of the Minnesota Commission Appointed to Erecting Monument to Soldiers in the National Cemetery, Unpublished, Andersonville National Historic Site, National Parks Service, Andersonville, Georgia, A Reprint of the U.D.C. Bulletin of 1921, Entitled- Facts and Figures vs. Myths and Misrepresentations, Henry Wirz and Andersonville Prison. The Truth About Captain Wirz Athens, Ga., January, 1921 Women s Relief Corps at Andersonville, Andersonville National Historic Site, National Park Service, Andersonville, Georgia II. Andersonville Archive ANDE 563: one page program for Memorial Day at Andersonville ANDE 1007: printed one side, black ink. Memorial Day at Andersonville May 30, 1934 ANDE 2631: three page memo from war department in Washington September 23, 1936 ANDE 2635: 14 pages of questionnaire for superintendent November 19, 1958 ANDE 2636: Sheet of onion skin paper, typewritten with black June 9, 1967 ANDE 2637: Six page report by Clara Barton July 1865 ANDE 2640: Twelve page memos dated upper right hand corner May 19, 1927 ANDE 2643: report from Eugene E. Sullivan, superintendent April 17, 1874 ANDE 2646: five pages. Legal size sheet with Andersonville National Cemetery, Andersonville, Georgia ANDE 2647: Single sheet of onion skin Minnesota State Monument August 17, 1959 ANDE 2648: American National Red Cross, Clara Barton Chapter No. 1 November 14, 1966 ANDE 2650: two page letter from Carl W. Shaller to John H. Walter October 30, 1962 ANDE 2651: one page memo from Carl to Ray April 6, 1965 ANDE 2652: single page letter form Mrs. Bessie K Coughlin April 23, 1958-22 -
ANDE 289: One black and white photograph of the Pennsylvania Monument ANDE 2668: A 20 page booklet titled Andersonville published by the Office of Publications, National Park Service, Us. Department of the Interior, Washington D.C. 1972 III. Newspapers The Americus Times Recorder, April 18, 1891 Archives Aiding Civil War Drama New York Times, October 31, 1959 Andersonville Trial of Civil War is Staged New York Times, December 30, 1959 How Far is Andersonville From Vietnam New York Times, May 17, 1970 Andersonville Trial Is Revived on N.E.T. New York Times, May 18, 1970 Disgrace in a Profusion of Detail New York Times, March 2, 1996 Andersonville, A Symbol of Wartime Suffering and Brutality Mar 3, 1996 V. Internet Sources http://www.nps.gov/ande/ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wirz/media1.htm http://sherpaguides.com/georgia/civil_war/midwest/malnurished_andersonville_guy.jpg VI. Pamphlets Andersonville, Official Map and Guide National; National Historic Site Georgia; National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. Andersonville National Historic Site, National Park Service, Andersonville, Georgia Sunday, May 29, 2005 Memorial Day Service. Andersonville National Historic Site, The National Park Service, Andersonville, Georgia Thompson, William J., The Story of the Andersonville Sculpture. Andersonville National Historic Site, National Park Service, Andersonville, Georgia. VII. Government Documents Public Law 91-465, 91 st Congress, H.R. 140. October 16, 1970-23 -