Prison Life in Andersonville

esus Christ as his personal Savior. Lack of moral courage held him back from an open confession. He compromised by secretly pledging to

had settled in his face. He tottered from weakness. His long days and weary nights were spent on his blanket, spread on the ground, just within the little shelter tent that was wedged in among others. When eyes were closed to awful sights, the ears must listen to dreadful sounds. As vitality was ebbing away, and the things of time and sense were withdrawin

brain and mental temptation. The weakened mind accepted a lie in place of the invigorating truth that "now is the day of salvation." Eternity seemed to open its portals to a realm of darkness into which the soul was being forced by the stress of its own past decision, while high over these gates enthroned in light appeared the radiant form of the Son of God. While this Personage seemed unspeakably lovely and "chief among ten thousand," the soliloquizer said, "He has been denied, he is lost to me." These cogitations filled the waking and sleeping hours of seve

was, and is, noted for its orchards of deciduous fruits. On this date the blossoms were out in full. Banks of pink and white embosomed the homesteads that lined the historic highway; sweet odors filled the air, and bevies of bees with droning song were industriously gathering the abundant nectar. Nothing could surpas

and although they were possessed of irrepressible juvenile energy, and occasionally, to her distr

ear and answer prayer, at midnight she aroused from her bed and engaged in an irrepressible travail of soul for the far-away loved one. For several hours the burden of intercession continued. With the coming of the Sunday morning dawn, the light which made all nature bright and beautiful was suddenly duplicated in her heart. All at once the burden lifted. I

about the age of the writer, joined them on the way to the sanctuary. As the others were conversing by the way, the two boys ran on ahead a

ks he is going to die, for in the night I heard her talking and talking to God about saving him

rental anxiety could hold their abounding life from immediate sympathy with nature smiling all around? By the time the chu

ngth. This delay absorbed the brief period of time usually given to an intermission, during which the intermediates might straighten out

y, called the school to order immediately after the benediction was pronounced. "We are

mother now inserted a bent pin under the descending form of his companion; resulting in a response that did not improve the discipline of the occasion. The boisterous impulse seized the entire class to

d attitude of prayer. Her victory in intercession made easy a renewal of request at the throne of grace. Not only her mother-heart but her Christian love yearned over the lads that were committed to her care. Not the surface question of behavior, but the issue of their conversion to Jesus Christ took possession of he

he attitude of reverence; motionless they listened to the tender voice that pleaded in words like these: "O Lord, my heavenly Father, I ask Thee to help my little boys to give their hearts to Thee. Wilt Thou n

ct-matter of the dream on that memorable night in Andersonville. The panorama of what was largely forgotten unfolded before the mind in what was supposed to be the sleep of appr

quired for the recognition of the actual c

nd voices of loved ones had been seen and heard. The intercession of the teacher for her little boys had

red to the normal condition. The mind and will were able to adopt the irreversible determination to henceforth implicitly trust in the

Teacher in

nd hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as

END

UTORY T

uring the Civil War have been written by Union officers and soldiers confined therein. With minor differences of statement

blishing an exhaustive exhibit of the Union and Confederate records. These statistics and memoranda afford to

11,411; paroled on the field, 16,669; died in captivity, 30,218. These last figures are defective. Of twelve Confederate

257,769; died in captivity 25,976. The percentage of deaths among the imprison

onfederate army from 1,239,000 to 1,400,000. The estimated cost of

tes," by James Ford Rhodes, LL.D., Litt.D., who quotes from Ge

s, inspire a new national life, com-pact our strength, ennoble our national ambitions, and make this people great and strong, not for aggression and quarrelsomeness, but for the peace of the world, giving to us the glorious prerogative o

END

TY FOR PRISO

a flame the fire of sectional animosity, and a spirit of retaliation was awakened. It is true the South was comparatively a poor country, and the hand of war had st

; these were sent to the rear for safe keeping and maintenance. With practica

of war share the general limitation. As their numbers increased, it was necessary that they be conveyed to localities beyond the reach of rescue. Their increasing hosts could n

were the object of bitter hatred. In numerous minor particulars, such as ample supply of water, of shelter and of food and fuel, the obligation

ng extract from "A History of the American People," by

ad been brought was seen in the state of the prisons in which she was forc

ast, were taken, and only some sixteen thous

r superiority in fighting population and did not care to lose by returning fighting men to the South. If her soldiers died in

prisons; there were not guards enough; there was not food enough

ould fare no better-inevitably fared worse, because they were penned within a narrow space and lacked the free air of the camp. A subtle demoralization to

combatant service. Officers who entered the prison with these proposals were shunned by our men. I recall a recently naturalized Federal prisoner who thus enlisted. When he re-entered the prison in Confederate uniform as a r

END

LIEF CORPS

the women of the North and of the South. The latter are represented by an organization known as "The

the Grand Army of the Republic. The work of the Woman's Relief Corps in securing and improving t

e Prison Board, is due in large measure the complete success attending the movement to gain

decease of Mrs. Turner explains in her own vigorou

y to the Grand Army of the Republic.) 46 Camp

John L

, considered the idea of buying the Andersonville prison pen and holding

se and hoped to raise through the Northern posts and the

h is very poor. Its members are mostly colored men

are of the place was lacking. The grounds were then offered to the United States Government on the condition

. A. R. Encampment, but these veterans decided that the tim

re is a place on God's earth that should be held sacred, it is that prison pen. The officials accepted

the ground over, I found a large corner of the original pen and three forts we did not own. We bought the extra grounds and

ed President of the W. R. C. At the convention we r

to five cents; some responding, others refusing. Now all bil

all the earthworks and rifle pits; also the wells dug by the men in tryin

changed in shape. That hard, red

tes. Roads are laid out and bridges built over the creek. Bermu

e built over Providence Spring a stone pavilion, also a nine-r

d, a good mule and all kinds

et high floats in the air every day the flag those heroes died to save.

pecan trees that are from 10 to 15 feet high. They do finely in that soil and when from ten to twelve y

t up beautiful monuments in the prison pen. Wisconsin

monuments in the cemetery. All this has b

the monuments, I am thankful to have any State reme

he motto on all the monument

erest; also on the stockade and dead lines. Trees have grown up th

last year and have already $3,000 in the fund. The yearly income is to be added to the

than $1,000 for the increase of the fu

n Chairman of the Board from the beginning and hope to live long eno

n F. C.

TH A.

nville Prison Bo

d Army of the Republic, and was appointed by her compeers as Life Chairman of the

man's Relief Corps, adorns the prison grounds for wh

, President of the Woman's National Relief Cor

broad trenches are interred more soldiers in one group than upon any battlefield on the face of the globe. A whole army perished rather than deny the country which gave them birth! The bravery of the men at Thermopylae has been the theme of song and story; but they fought in the shadows of their soul-in

death at e

met their

r that wonderful Providence Spring. The house erected for the caretaker much exceeded my expectations for comfort and convenience. Honeysuckles and roses clambered over the porch, and the rose garden, planned by Mrs. Turner, gave promise of beauty and fragrance where formerly had been barrenness and foul odors. On these grounds Ohio has raised a beautiful granite shaft, Massachusetts has placed a substantial mo

E FLAG AT A

ANNIE WI

e banner of f

rld know that

tyrs, who starve

ith heroes who f

f woe was fille

e dregs with hig

or wavered, but

ir colors, the re

ir pillow, their

y down on the ba

paint, no pen

dured for love

passion, took no

is majesty, to

nd, where swift l

ground where th

thirst, ere the P

f glory lit u

fell, with o

fountain of Pro

last. Ah! for th

people, their

nd sacred, our ca

ag over the plac

is saved! They

are all reu

ocean-the la

e people, one f

END

AL DAY M

of Atlanta, Ga., in The Con

ries, mostly on Southern soil, where in 194,492 known and 151,710 unknown graves lie 346,202 men who fell fighting for the flag. And in all the l

o speak. No one can spend a day there, as I did lately, without drinking deep of the patriotic spirit. The very ground on which

and there. But in the distance, a mile away, the national flag waving invitingly bids reassurance. At length you stand at the entrance of

marked by a white marble headstone, on which is generally carved the number, rank, name and state of the dead soldier. Here and there we read the sad inscription, "Unknown." The white stones contrasting with the

d. After the exercises the most impressive act of all follows. Each grave, officers or private, white or black, known or unknown, is decorated with a min

rison. It is only a few rods away. Its notoriety is universal. Blaine, in hi

52,345 men, the very flower of the Republic, were kept in a pen. For thirteen months they were exposed in that rude stockade to the heat in summer and the col

became unspeakably foul. In their thirst they cried unto God for water. He who hears the cry of the raven could not be dumb to the prayer of the suffering soldier. It was night. Soon the sky was overcast with cloud

on marble tablets in the pavilion. On one we read these words: "The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven. God heard and with his thunders cleft the earth, and poured forth his sweetest waters gushing here." O

untry stir within my heart. I could but say in my heart I would rather be

he cemetery is the symbol of peace. Through that gateway of suffering our martyrs entered int

ANDERSONVI

NUMENT IN ANDER

END

ONFER PERMANENT HONORS

ded by the Government of the United States to its defeated opponents. Well might this be so. The sinew

ter way through the swamps and rivers of the South; foraging widely for subsistance and always read

displayed a vast procession of seasoned veterans whose effectiveness had never been surpassed. They were the choice, steel-tempered residue of m

isbanded to peaceful homes from whence they came; subsiding from their regnant m

ctories of every kind were, with large profits, turning out abundantly all sorts of goods. Our commerce with the world was unhindered, save by the eccentric raids of the Alabama; the muscle and brawn of an ample labor immigration supplied the

her borders the country was war-swept and harried by the consuming necessities of vast armies of both friend and foe; for hungry men

he North, was a neglected art s

aled nearly every Southern port, thereby hopelessly shutting in untold wea

n industry; on the contrary her labor system and prop

re and wealth was dethroned and, to crown her afflictions although she knew it not, th

n and the ignoble invasion of carpet-bag adventurers

rom the Union. By many of their leading minds this contention had been long held, and that conception of gover

more powerful incentive to civil war than

en surpassed. The self-sacrificing patriotism

ern chivalry was distinguished even i

xpand the magninimity of President Lincoln and General Grant by engaging with Congress to erect monuments and other memorials to heroes of the a

nt leaders of the Southern forces were

th, the consecrated devotion to country as they understood the duty, and the pre-em

ey rebelled against the Government they were sworn to defend. To the utmost they did all they could to dismember the U

eny the moral right of Congress to make appropriations for the erection of memorials that are designed to crown Confederat

ch of peace. But we must not forget that brotherly kindness and neighborly good-will cannot cancel the fact that the Southern concep

hopes of the world would have been the arena of two general governments separated by no nat

e disgraceful than was the situation of the warring principalities of ancie

nce steadily flow out from these reminders of civil war to the effect that assault upon the Na

m generation to generation, taught by the influence of public memorials that there is no real distinction between those who fought to save the N

me Court, as given by General N. P. Chipman on page 5

it belonged. The proportion and duration of the struggle did not affect its character. Nor was there a rebel government de facto in such a sense as to give any legal efficiency to its acts.... The Union of the States, for all the

ition did not extend to the pretended government of the Confederacy.... The Rebellion was simply an armed re

xistence and they demonstrate the inherent inconsistency of devoting Federal appropriations to the erection of monuments to

voted friend of General Lee and afterwards a trusted counsellor of Genera

ur years of fratricidal war between the North and the South was waged by neither with criminal or unworthy intent, but by both to protect what they conceived to be threatened rights and imperiled liberty; that the issues which divided the sections were born when the Republic was born, and were forever buried in an ocean of fraternal blood. We shall then see that, under God's providence, every sheet of flame from the blazing rifles of the contending armies, every whizzing shell that tore through the forests at Shiloh and Chancellorsville, every cannon-shot that shook Chickamauga's hills or thunder

tation, "I pledge my allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for whic

FI

tno

pportunity. The vigilence of Genl. Grant forced them into battle. Many were captured and landed in Andersonville. Here they conspired to rob and murder fellow prisoners. Capt.

n. Here men came together to barter trinkets they had made to while away the time, to exchange p

Third New Hampshire Veteran Volunteer Infantry I can certify to the military surroundings at the place of your release. Two days before your arrival from Goldsboro, General Terry ordered our

e bridge back to its place. On the second day after we received the old Andersonville prisoners and had the satisfaction of knowing we had prepared their way by having the bridge in readiness