The truth about the tragedy of Andersonville is much different from
the propaganda version that prevailed after the Civil War and still
flourishes in politically correct media.
Near the tiny village of Andersonville, Georgia, are 13,714 graves, a
testament to one of the greatest tragedies of the Civil War and of
American history. In fourteen months of 1864 and 1865, nearly 13,000
Union prisoners of war died there of malnutrition, disease, and despair.
Union propagandists then and still today have branded it an atrocity.
But what is the truth?
Late in the war, the Confederate government decided it needed to move
its Union POWs to locations far removed from the most active areas of
combat and vulnerability to attack. New locations also needed to be near
railroad transportation and plentiful agricultural supplies to feed the
prisoners and Confederate infantry units assigned to guard them. They
found what they thought was an excellent location in southwest Georgia
at Station Number 8 on the Georgia Southwestern Railroad line. A small
community of six buildings, called Andersonville, had grown up around
that station.
