432
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(MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.) ANDERSONVILLE PRISON.
Andersonville
Prison Survivors Association. LEST WE FORGET.
10 x 6 foot 45 star linen flag,
with brass grommets; legend stenciled on the white areas between the blue stripes; some
bleeding of colors onto the white areas from early dampness; no sign of mildew or any
other such dampness damage. (WGC)
Np, in use from 1896 to 1908
[5,000/7,500]
A RARE SURVIVAL
.
There were one hundred and three black prisoners at Andersonville, a hell-
hole by all accounts. Sixty-nine survived. The Confederate forces were so incensed about the fact
that white officers would have led black soldiers into battle, that they imprisoned two of them at
Andersonville, despite the fact that it was supposed to be an enlisted man’s prison.
Andersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was known officially, held more prisoners at any given
time than any of the other Confederate military prisons. It was built in early 1864 after
Confederate officials decided to move the large number of Federal prisoners in and around
Richmond to a place of greater security and more abundant food. During the 14 months it
existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined there. Of these, almost 13,000 died
from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure to the elements. There
were Senate investigations of the horrors perpetrated at Andersonville after the war, but like the
Fort Pillow Massacre and other atrocities, the Confederate officers involved were given little
more that a “slap on the wrist.”
