Tom
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- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
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Friday after Thanksgiving the weather here in Savannah, GA was awesome and the prediction was the same for Saturday. So I said screw doing laundry and cleaning house and got out my Georgia state map to plot a course to Andersonville, GA (site of the civil war Confederate camp officially known as Fort Sumter). Not sure why this place has fascinated me, but for some years now I've wanted to visit the place. I dunno....maybe it was the movie "Andersonville", not sure. Anyhow.........
As usual I was a bit too optimistic about how long it would take to get there. I was thinking about 3 hours, but it took almost 4 mostly due to a) a couple of Georgia state highways not being marked, B) me completely misreading the map, and c) no signs of a bridge being out until I got to it (that detour cost me almost 20 miles). You know....I used to think all you guys that had GPS on your bikes were just gadget geeks. I'm starting to re-think that after this past Saturday. LOL....
Despite the trip taking longer than I anticipated, the weather was great (albeit a bit chilly when I left at 7:45am), there was no real traffic, and the roads were pleasant. Obviously, the roads weren't exciting.....I mean, we're talking about southwest Georgia fer chrissakes. But the scenery was nice.
Since the trip took longer, I didn't get to visit Andersonville as long as I would've liked to. I spent about 2 hours at the prison site which was enough to get a feel for the place but I would've liked to have gone into the town of Andersonville just to see what all was there. I would've also liked to have visited the cemetery which I understand is even more sobering. Listening to the Park Ranger give his talk it was nice that he didn't try to put any sort of political correctness spin on anything. He just told it like it was - how small the food rations were and in most cases spoiled or rancid. How the prisoners were responsible for cooking whatever food they were given as well as providing their own shelter. How, due to dysentery, a prisoner could go from 180 pounds down to 90 in 3 months or how one could get gangrene from a simple cut or bug bite. Ironically, it was the Union's destruction of Confederate supply lines in the area that contributed greatly to the short supply of food, clothing, and medical supplies. Even the Confederates guarding the fort weren't eating much. But probably the scarcest resource was water which also contributed to sanitary issues. In less than a year, the place became so bad that it was reported that the odor could be smelled 3 miles away. Knowing how oppressive the Georgia summer heat can be, I just can't imagine the suffering folks there endured.
The Ranger also pointed out that Andersonville wasn't exactly unique. That the loss of life percentages in Union prison camps were just about equal to what happened in Andersonville. Amazing how those facts seem to get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately those facts went ignored after the war when folks in the North wanted some "pay-back" and as a result, the Fort's commander was tried as a war criminal and hung. Sadly, there was much evidence that he had virtually no control over the lack of food, water, sanitation, medical care, etc. Another fact I had never heard was that Lincoln & Grant both refused to reinstate the prisoner exchange and parole systems (even though they were petitioned, in person, by an Andersonville prisoner delegation) which would've surely saved thousands of lives at Andersonville.
It was indeed an interesting place and one I would like to go back to in order to spend more time there. The two hours I was there went by in the blink of an eye.
Oh - and the ride back was pleasant and uneventful.
As usual I was a bit too optimistic about how long it would take to get there. I was thinking about 3 hours, but it took almost 4 mostly due to a) a couple of Georgia state highways not being marked, B) me completely misreading the map, and c) no signs of a bridge being out until I got to it (that detour cost me almost 20 miles). You know....I used to think all you guys that had GPS on your bikes were just gadget geeks. I'm starting to re-think that after this past Saturday. LOL....
Despite the trip taking longer than I anticipated, the weather was great (albeit a bit chilly when I left at 7:45am), there was no real traffic, and the roads were pleasant. Obviously, the roads weren't exciting.....I mean, we're talking about southwest Georgia fer chrissakes. But the scenery was nice.
Since the trip took longer, I didn't get to visit Andersonville as long as I would've liked to. I spent about 2 hours at the prison site which was enough to get a feel for the place but I would've liked to have gone into the town of Andersonville just to see what all was there. I would've also liked to have visited the cemetery which I understand is even more sobering. Listening to the Park Ranger give his talk it was nice that he didn't try to put any sort of political correctness spin on anything. He just told it like it was - how small the food rations were and in most cases spoiled or rancid. How the prisoners were responsible for cooking whatever food they were given as well as providing their own shelter. How, due to dysentery, a prisoner could go from 180 pounds down to 90 in 3 months or how one could get gangrene from a simple cut or bug bite. Ironically, it was the Union's destruction of Confederate supply lines in the area that contributed greatly to the short supply of food, clothing, and medical supplies. Even the Confederates guarding the fort weren't eating much. But probably the scarcest resource was water which also contributed to sanitary issues. In less than a year, the place became so bad that it was reported that the odor could be smelled 3 miles away. Knowing how oppressive the Georgia summer heat can be, I just can't imagine the suffering folks there endured.
The Ranger also pointed out that Andersonville wasn't exactly unique. That the loss of life percentages in Union prison camps were just about equal to what happened in Andersonville. Amazing how those facts seem to get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately those facts went ignored after the war when folks in the North wanted some "pay-back" and as a result, the Fort's commander was tried as a war criminal and hung. Sadly, there was much evidence that he had virtually no control over the lack of food, water, sanitation, medical care, etc. Another fact I had never heard was that Lincoln & Grant both refused to reinstate the prisoner exchange and parole systems (even though they were petitioned, in person, by an Andersonville prisoner delegation) which would've surely saved thousands of lives at Andersonville.
It was indeed an interesting place and one I would like to go back to in order to spend more time there. The two hours I was there went by in the blink of an eye.
Oh - and the ride back was pleasant and uneventful.
