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Captain Wirz Was Responsible For The Death Of Andersonville

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Almost 12,000 people suffered and died at Andersonville prison in a span of around a year. Andersonville was a war prison that was created in April 1864 and was used to hold Union war prisoners during the Civil War. The living situation was horrible, and thousands of people died there. The person responsible for the thousands of deaths that occurred at Andersonville prison was Captain Wirz because many Union soldiers died due to the lack of food and water he provided to the prisoners, the spread of disease with no vaccinations, which was partly caused by contaminated water, and raiders in the prison that he did not stop from killing many people. To begin, Captain Wirz was responsible for the deaths at Andersonville due to the lack of food …show more content…

This quote proves that Captain Wirz let many prisoners die from starvation because he did not care if they had not eaten in a while, and so they were not provided with enough food to keep them alive. He even stated that he did not even want to give the prisoners any rations and would not if he could. Furthermore, the testimony from former prisoner A.G. Blair also claimed, “It was absolutely necessary sometimes either to go over the deadline or thirst. I have seen men on five or six occasions either shot dead or mortally wounded for trying to get water under the deadline” (Lindor D6). This additional piece of evidence makes it clear that there was a great lack of clean water at the prison, and they were so thirsty that many people went over the deadline (a guarded rail

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This goes to show that there was hunger on both sides of the war, not only in the prisons. According to Exploring American Histories, Value Edition, union soldiers were basically fighting two battles, the Civil War and Hunger. “Rations, too, ran short.” The prisoners of war were sent to war prisons like the Rock Island where rations were also short. The Civil War also provided a somewhat a boom for companies and markets.

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Andersonville was built in April of 1864 . The Confederacy made Andersonville to hold captured Union soldiers because of better security and more supplied food. Andersonville is known as the South’s largest confederate military prison . The prison , after 14 months , had confined 45,000 soldiers with 400 more coming each day. Out of those 45,000 soldiers , 13,000 died from disease , poor living conditions , starvation , overcrowding , or exposure to harsh weather conditions.

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“Rations were meager and of terrible quality and nutritive value. About once a week a wheelbarrow full of ‘meat’. Spread over 900 men servings were thimble-sized,consisting of horse intestines and dog meat.this lead to some people swallowing lumps of coal to slow the digestive system. Many of them weighed 90 pounds. " The POWs and Louie were deprived of food and water and were worked and people who didn't work only got half rations of food.

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There were many appalling prison camps during the Civil War, but the most infamous was Andersonville. A shocking 13,000 people died in this camp(Bartels). Andersonville was run from February of 1864 until April of 1865. When the North found out about what happened at Andersonville, people were outraged. They wanted justice, and so the man running the camp, Henry Wirz, was tried and hanged for war crimes(Kohn).

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The Peculiar Case of Wilbert Rideau The Farm has destroyed many that have entered its camps. First, it was slaves from Africa, then Union army troops during the Civil War, and finally hundreds of thousand of men of every race and background. For those inmates on death row, Angola can be particularly cruel and inhumane. Prisoners in the row spend most of their time, and in many cases, their life, deprived of human interaction. However, through all the hardships of life in Angola, a select few are able to overcome.

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Name of Document: The Hell of Andersonville Prison (1864) A. List four things the author said that you think are important: (This should be written in your own words. No direct quotes from the document, quoted or otherwise) 1.The prison was expanded to accommodate for the large population. 2.The wall of death lead some men to question their desire to live.

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Paul Pearce Andersonville Georgia or as it was used to be called Camp Sumter is used as a historic site but what was it like back when it was in full use? Andersonville was used as a confederate prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. The Camp was built in 1864 and during its time was home to over 45,000 soldiers. The prison was commanded by Henry Wirz. The prison was over 261 acres surrounding it was 15-17 foot logs and at every 90 feet was a watchtower or as they were called pigeon roosts for guards to look over the prisoners.

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Each soldier was promised a decent amount of food daily, but sometimes they did not follow through with their proposals. When the rations each soldier were promised would run dry they would resort to eating things they could make with flour such as fire cakes. The men would carry on something awful until their shortages were again replenished. Life was very hard for the soldiers of this time and they experienced many hardships. There were camps all over during the revolutionary war though that experienced the same shortages and some even harsher winters.

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These deaths occurred because of diseases and afflictions resulting from the crowded conditions, lack of adequate shelter, poor water supply, and nutritional needs not being met. Deaths also resulted from violence within Andersonville. This violence came in the form of gunshots from guards killing prisoners crossing the deadline and from violent encounters within the prison community itself, including six executions carried out against individuals convicted by the prisoners themselves. The hell that was Andersonville finally ended with the South’s surrender April

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The differences in living conditions between the Northern and Southern prison camps during the Civil War were vast. In the North, the prison camps were usually better equipped and maintained, with enough shelter, food, and medical care provided to the prisoners. On the other hand, the Southern prison camps are notorious for their horrid conditions. The overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and inadequate provisions led to lots of suffering and high mortality rates among the prisoners. According to Prisoners of Civil War: Treatment in the Hands of Captors, “Though it can be assumed that all Civil War prisons were quite unpleasant, the atrociousness of most other prisons pales in comparison to that of the Confederate camp in Andersonville, Georgia”

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Life for the Union Soldier was not only brutal on the battlefield, but the camp life for a Union soldier was just as cruel. With the lack of personal hygiene, unsavory and repugnant food, and the shortage of clothing made living, a very difficult thing to do. Growth in the number of people with diseases was also a contributing factor to the massive amounts of death within the camp and as well as the post-battle wounds that often left either a man with one less limb or put in a mental institution. A Union Soldier’s life during the Civil War was cruel and horrific during their stay at the camps.

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The other two individuals, John Rice and Dylan Butler, only received a seven-year sentence for their role in the attacks on Anderson. Additionally, seven more people who had taken place in the attacks were awaiting sentences. All three men that received sentences were from the suburban area of Brandon, Mississippi, and would visit Jackson, Mississippi to attack black people. Their actions were ruthless, as they would use weapons such as beer bottles and slingshots according to authorities.

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14 were executed. Another example is when in October 1862, Unionist sympathisers in Northern texas were killed. Over 41 people were hung, and 2 other suspects were shot while trying to escape. This event has been called the “Great Hanging at Gainesville” and may be one of the deadliest acts of Vigilante justice in history. Vigilantes believe that the current justice system has failed them in prosecuting a suspect.

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Lucky prisoners would find food lying around the camps or they would have people in their workplaces sneak them food. At night, prisoners would be given bread and a small piece of meat or cheese. The bread they were given was supposed to last them all night until the morning, so people would try to hide them in their beds, while they were asleep. The small rations were just meant to keep the prisoners alive so they weren’t completely starving. Many thousands of prisoners died from starvation or the illnesses caused by the lack of nutrition.

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