Thesis
In 1864, Andersonville Prison was built in Andersonville, GA to move Civil War prisoners from Richmond to be given more food and supplies. Andersonville’s prisoners were deprived of their rights, and because of the terrible conditions, in only fourteen months, one-third of the prisoners had died of starvation, disease, and exposure to the elements. Henry Wirz, being given the responsibility of Andersonville, was blamed for all of the hardship and tragedies, and was hanged on November 10, 1865. Although prison conditions have improved since then, some prisons are still suffering from similar problems to those at Andersonville.
"In an inclosed field of thirty acres of ground, exposed to the heat of an all but tropical sun, fed upon a daily ration for each man of three-quarters of a pound of dirty corn bread and two ounces of rancid swine flesh, and supplied with water from a stagnant ditch, which forms the receptacle of the excrement of the camp, are thirty-five thousand of our bravest soldiers -- the men who were the foremost in the hard-fought field, and the most daring in the final grapple and crisis of battle. There they swelter and rot, or go raving mad, or find an end to it by crossing the "dead line," where the friendly rifle of the sentinel brings them final release without the aid of cartel or Commissioner. A seething, reeking pen, surcharged with horrors unimaginable. Pestilence in every form of deadly fever, scurvy and nameless disease raging with undisputed sway; and death making its daily harvest of half a hundred." -The New York Times; The Union Prisoners at Andersonville, August 1864 |
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Alexis Wagenfeld
Junior Division
Individual Website
Junior Division
Individual Website