Andersonville DVD - Anyone seen it?

[Ken The Kanuck]

I'm reading the book, Andersonville novel by McKinlay Kantor and am enjoying the book very much. I see that there is a DVD about Andersonville and I was wondering if anyone had watched the DVD and what you thought of it.

KTK

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[Embalmer]

was a made for tv series on TNT years ago. I liked it.

[Dave]

Most civil war internment camps were like Andersonville, or worse, on both sides. I think Andersonville was one of the largest and most notorious however. I visited the site several years ago, very interesting. They have a statue/mounument of the Commander in the town square, he is a hero there, even tho he was hanged. My GGrandfather spent some time in a southern camp near New Orleans, but was paroled after a year or so.

[JimW in OR]

I also have visited the camp several years ago. Not very big for the the amount of humanity that was there. After I returned home ,my aunt told me I had a relative that was a prisoner. When he came out they say he was never right in the head after the exposure.

Jim

[Ken The Kanuck]

To be honest with you Jim I doubt anyone would ever be right in the head after being in a place like Andersonville for awhile.

I'm trying to understand why the north and south treated one another's POW's so badly?

Was this just a product of crueler harder times or was it because it was a civil war?

Interesting stuff for a guy sitting in a comfortable easy chair, pretty tough for someone who was there.

KTK

[Mk VII]

The South was extremely short of food and medicines, and PWs were on the hind teat for that.
Prisoners were exchanged or paroled until 1863 when the North stopped the practice, having calculated that the South was a net beneficiary from it.
Federal prison camps could have been humanely run, but few officers had much interest in doing so and it was seen as retaliation for the conditions in Southern PW camps.

[FTIII]

Ken,

My great great grandfather survived 11 months in that hellhole, he was captured after being wounded for the 5th time. He was a wreck after the camp and I would imagine that those that did survive were all pretty much messed up. Hanging the camp comander was not nearly enough.


Regards

BudT

[Southron129]

I have also read the book "Andersonville" and while it is a "Good Read" most serious historians consider it to be a "joke." What it really is, is just some more thinly disguised Anti-South/Southern propaganda.

The conditions that developed at Andersonville, circa 1864/65 can be DIRECTLY attributed to General U.S. Grant and the NORTHERN decision to stop exchanging prisoners. Prisoners at Andersonville received EXACTLY the same rations as Confederate soldiers serving in the field.

True, that dosen't say much because during the same time period Confederate soldiers in Lee's Army serving in the trenches around Petersburg and Richmond had a grim joke: "There is a new General with the Army, his name is "General Starvation."

Grant thought nothing about squandering the lives of his own soldiers, whether they were serving in his army OR if they were Prisoners of War. Matter of fact, Grant's nick name in HIS own army was "Butcher" Grant.

Just ONE example of his callous, criminal disregard for the lives and suffering of his own men: At the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864; after the Yankee assaults against the Confederate trenches was stopped cold (my G-Grandfather, Private Charles Mallory Sanders of the 3rd Georgia Regiment was one of the soldiers that fought there); thousands of wounded and dead Yankees were lying on the field in front of the Confederate trenches.

Grant absoutely refused to call a "Truce" so HIS OWN WOUNDED MEN could be removed from the field and given medical care! As a consequence, many, many Yankee boys died of thirst and in horrible agony BECAUSE Grant did not want to admit he was defeated by such a smaller army.

As the days passed and the corpses swelled up and bloated in the heat, a joke went thru the Confederate Army there: "If Grant can't push us out of these trenches by assault, he is now trying to 'Stink us out.' " Simply stated, Grant was a 'War Criminal,' nothing more nor less for his actions at Cold Harbor.

After the war was over, Wirtz was made a "scapegoat" for the conditions at Andersonville and was hung following a 'kangaroo court' "trial." So there is no wonder that a statue has been erected of him by people that actually know the real FACTS.

A G-G-Grandfather of mine on my mother's side served as a guard at Andersonville. He was born with a "club foot" and was conscripted into the army and assigned that guard duty because his disability prevented him from serving in the field.

One of the stories that came down in my family was that he was sent on a detail with several other guards to a county in Northern Florida, near Jacksonville. At the time, Jacksonville was occupied by Yankees and the prisioners had been trying to reach Yankee lines when they were caught by a county sheriff and a possee in Southern held territory.

G-G-Pa and his fellow guards were sent down with a team and a wagon get the Yankees from out of jail and bring them back to Andersonville.

When they arrived at the little town where the Yankees were held, they got the prisoners from the sheriff and headed back to Andersonville. When night came, they stopped at an isolated farmhouse to spend the night before continuing back to Andersonville the next morning.

The farmer and his wife fed them (the guards and prisoners) supper and suggested that the Yankees could be confined in his old smokehouse overnight. So, when the Yankees were led out to the smokehouse they were told in no uncertain terms:

"When we come out here in the morning to let you out, IF Y'all are still here, you are going back to Andersonville with us. If you are gone, then we will simply return to Andersonville and report that Y'all escaped."

With that, they closed the door to the smokehouse, neglecting to lock it.

The next morning the Yankees were gone from the smokehouse. G-G- Grandpa and his comrades returned to Andersonville and reported that the prisoners had escaped.

Now, to be fair to Grant, he has never been given the due credit for what he did at Appomattox. By giving Lee and his army such lenient terms and his later actions in preventing ex-Confederate leaders from being brought to trial (and possibly receiving death sentances for committing "treason.") He did much to 'heal the wounds' of the war. If Lee and Jefferson Davis along with other ex-Confederate leaders had been hung for "treason," they would have been converted into instant martyrs in the South-and there would have been 'hell to pay' for the Yankee Occupation trooops.

In 1865, resentful Southerners could have easily begun waging a desperate, guerilla style war that could have lasted for decades with many casualities on both sides. As it was, taking their cue from Lee and many other ex-Confederate leaders, Southerners began rebuilding their shattered economy and section of the nation and after a decade, Yankee occupation troops were withdrawn and the South again became a part of the United States-not just a collection of conquered provinces.

(By the way, the withdrawal of all those Yankee Occupation troops was met with Southerners with mixed emotions. When the troops went away-so did their military payrolls! So IF you have ever wondered why there are so many military instillations in the modern day South, now you know: WE Luv those military payrolls!)

I give Grant credit for that leinient post-war policy towards the South as he was the ONLY Northern leader (following the assassination of Lincoln) with the prestiege and Northern public support to implement such a policy.

So, after reading that tawdry propaganda piece "Andersonville," learn the real facts. Actually, the TNT production isn't that bad-you could probably get a DVD of it thru Amazon. When you watch it, just keep in mind that is is based on a work that is propaganda-nothing more or less.

[John Kepler]

The conditions that developed at Andersonville, circa 1864/65 can be DIRECTLY attributed to General U.S. Grant and the NORTHERN decision to stop exchanging prisoners. Prisoners at Andersonville received EXACTLY the same rations as Confederate soldiers serving in the field.

Yeah? How many guards at Andersonville starved to death? How many died of scurvy? Typhoid? If they got the same rations as the prisoners, then their death-rate should be comparable, should it not? Now just who is dishing revisionist propaganda?

Oh yeah....regarding blaming Grant for the end of prisoner exchanges: Is "Fort Pillow" a term you're familiar with?

[SteveC]

I guess you never heard of "Point Lookout" or "Ft. Delaware" either, did you John? Both sides carry guilt for neglect of POWs. However, the South bears no guilt for her intent in the war, she just wanted to be left alone and your Mr. Lincoln refused her that right. Confederates fought because their homeland was invaded, period.

Respectfully and truthfully submitted,
Steve