As Sherman marched across southern Georgia, Union prisoners at Camp Sumter near Anderson, Georgia, held on to the futile hope that Sherman would liberate their camp. Known as Andersonville, it had one of the most notorious reputations amongst the prison camps.
Opened in February 1864, Camp Sumter had been intended as a holding area for Union prisoners who were to be exchanged, but the exchanges were halted by General Grant when the Confederacy refused to exchange African-American prisoners. Also, the North feared that any prisoners returned to the South would be returned to the field to reinforce troops.
Andersonville Prison
During its time, Andersonville (pictured above in August 1864) saw 45,000 prisoners pass through its gates. Out of that number, nearly 13,000 died of exposure, starvation, malnutrition, diarrhoea and disease. There were no barracks in the 23-acre compound, and the site was surrounded by a 15-foot stockade. A ‘deadline’ fence, 19 feet inside the stockade, created a no-man’s-land to keep prisoners from scaling its walls. Anyone passing the deadline was shot by sentries. With no housing, prisoners burrowed into the ground in the attempt to shelter themselves from the elements.
The lack of sufficient supplies and the poor quality of the food that did arrive contributed to the horrific conditions at Andersonville. Water came from a shallow creek called Stockade Creek, which ran through the center of the compound. Part of the creek was used as a sink or latrine.
Accused of deliberately increasing the mortality rate among Union soldiers, the camp’s warden, Captain Henry Wirz, became one of only two men tried for war crimes in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Wirz was arrested in May 1865 and taken to Washington DC, where he was tried by a military tribunal on charges of conspiracy to impair the lives of Union troops.
The hanging of Henry Wirz
The trial began in July 1865 and lasted for two months. Testimonies from former inmates, former Confederate officers and residents of Anderson were heard. Wirz himself presented evidence that he had begged the Confederate government for better supplies and had tried to improve conditions at the camp. In November, however, Wirz was found guilty of eleven out of thirteen counts of murder, and sentenced to death. He was hung in Washington on 10 November 1865 hanged (pictured above). His conviction remains controversial.
The North had its own notorious prisoner-of-war camp: Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois, which was established in 1862. During the war the death rate there fluctuated between 17 and 23 per cent. About 26,000 prisoners endured brutal conditions and cruel treatment from the Camp Douglas guards. Water and vegetables were sometimes withheld, contributing to the primary causes of death – disease, starvation and cold.
While only 4,454 men were officially reported to have died at Camp Douglas, the death toll was thought to be closer to 6,000. What is known is that more than 4,000 dead were buried in a mass grave at Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery, with 15,000 more unaccounted for. It was later discovered that an unscrupulous contractor buried empty coffins in order to increase profits.
Guerrilla activity was an unauthorized form of warfare that involved bushwhacking, murder, assault and terrorism, and usually pitted neighbour against neighbour. Few guerrilla units were actually mustered into the army. Most targeted civilians and isolated military forces and were motivated more by vengeance than politics. Some were known to change sides when they deemed it convenient. It brought war to the doorstep of isolated areas that might otherwise have been left untouched.
The military gave a measure of legitimacy to these guerrilla groups. Partisan rangers were legitimate units of the Confederacy that carried out operations which resembled present-day commando tactics. ‘Irregular cavalry’ units in the Confederate army were also used to carry out deep cavalry raids into enemy-held territory with the intent of creating damage and chaos, and possibly act as decoys, rather than to take possession.
Guerrilla warfare was predominate in border states such as Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the north-western part of Virginia that became West Virginia. Hit-and-run tactics were common, with guerrillas crossing borders to raid before running back to avoid pursuit.
While guerrillas often resorted to vicious atrocities against civilians and military alike, it was difficult for authorities to determine if their actions were within the scope of justified acts of war or were in fact war crimes. As a result, only Samuel ‘Champ’ Ferguson was ever prosecuted for guerrilla-related war crimes.
Ferguson was a Confederate sympathizer from Tennessee and was known to ride with Confederate military units. After the war, he was arrested and taken to Nashville where a Union guerrilla named ‘Tinker Dave’ Beauty testified against him. Charged with fifty-three counts of murder, Ferguson admitted to being guilty of all of them and to one hundred more. On 10 October 1865 he was found guilty and hanged ten days later.
William Quantrill
Other guerrilla leaders also became notorious: William Quantrill (pictured above) led his raiders into Lawrence, Kansas, killing more than a hundred civilians; William ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson and his men slaughtered the soldiers on furlough aboard a train; and Cole Younger and Jesse James both became known as infamous outlaws of the Old West and began their outlaw careers as guerrillas during the American Civil War.
Guerrillas categorized as partisan rangers were considered a legitimate part of the Confederate army. Some units continued to fight after Lee’s surrender, including Thomas’ Legion, a regiment of Native Americans and Appalachian highlanders in western North Carolina. Following Lee’s surrender, the Confederacy considered continuing the war effort using partisan rangers, but ultimately decided against the idea.