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I subbed the moment I started the video of you walking past the train station. I knew right away that you were ON POINT. Andersonville is my number one there but for the grace of God go I location. My GG Grandpa Andy was there with the 103rd PA. The were captured over in Plymouth, NC with the 101st PA and the 16th Conn. There are so many instances that could have stopped Andy's legacy cold. I haven't counted his number of direct descendants; that's a project for the future because five generations is going to take a long time to calculate. But here's the rub, although well liked and respected in his community, Grandpa Andy's immediate family thought he was completely off his rocker. The stories he told of the things that went on at Andersonville were so seemingly outlandish that they thought he was telling tales. When I listened to the testimony from Wirz's trial (via an old black and white movie that used the record of the court as its script), I finally understood WHY they might have questioned what he said. PA farm boys had never before seen something as horrifically fantastical as those 26 acres. Thank you so much for filming and posting this. I have only been there once, it will be 2 years ago in October, and I had very little time there. (Though I'd never trade the experience for something longer. I arrived very late in the day and had the whole place to myself. It was, as I'm sure you can understand, entirely surreal.) But yes, thank you whole heartedly for such a stunning video of Andersonville. I'm going to share this with my family as no one else has had the opportunity to visit. After I watch your other two videos on the subject, first. 😊
Horrible is not a strong enough word, yet I bear good news. . .We have been in the return of Jesus Christ for some time now. . .We are in the last set of seven years of his return. . .Seeing all the human race has done to itself, I am glad that it is ending. . .The return of Jesus is as the forge of a samurai sword, perfect in its material, absolute by his process, and honed indelible, with unbreakable resolve to bring home who he will in his given time. . .None see 2022. . . . . . .
This was a sad time in history. A long time ago I talk to somebody living in Andersonville and it was said that you could smell the camp all the way into town of Andersonville. However we have to realize that there was a place in New York I think it was called rock Island where they took Confederate soldiers prisoners of war that is if it was a horrible place to. So sad to treat humans the way we do
One of those 45 thousand men was my great great great grandfather. He survived. He suffered from dysentery and was starving but managed a full recovery and had a bunch of kids.
My Mother got me into the genealogy bug. I love history and the stories that my Great Grandmother would tell us (after we did all the research and go to her house to tell her what we found) she would bring out a box of extremely old and brittle photographs. So cool!
Amazing. I've seen other programs about Andersonville with photos. What those men endured was horrific. Our men our tough. God had a plan for us to be here at this time. Fighting for our country.
My husband’s great great grandfather escaped from Andersonville with the help of a slave named Lee. Since then every other generation names their first son, James Lee (Gilmore).
what an amazing family tradition. i hope your line continues it for many generations to come. lee deserves to be remembered for it. honestly, this gave me goosebumps.. thanks for sharing.
My Great great uncle died here after being captured only weeks from arrival. His father tried to keep him from enlisting by making some sort of deal but he went anyway against his wishes. His letters before he died always ended with "kiss the babies for me". Referring to his nieces and nephews. I visited to pay my respects at the mass grave he was buried in. God bless Lamotte Hill. His later relative would become a WWII Naval hero and Superintendent of Annapolis. Lamotte gave his all and unknowingly sparked a long-standing tradition and pride of combat service by our family.
that's a sad post. i never served because i was 4F in the Vietnam war draft. it put a tear in my eye to read your post. may your great uncle RIP. With the thanks of our nation, on both sides, for his ultimate sacrifice
As a child my father a WW2 Vet took me to Andersonville over the course of several summers. The silence and perpetual headstones will humble a strong man. I still have a small bottle of water that he filled from Providence Spring on one of our visits. It's still crystal clear from that day back in the mid 70's.
That should be posted on a HUGE billboard, right now in Louisville, 9/24/20, for all those rioters to read and think about. It should also be posted on huge billboards in every major city, like Portland, OR, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Baltimore, and others, right in the heart of where the rioters are.
@@Crafty1617 I think that’s a question you might want to ask Republicans who are trying and in some states have succeeded in the banning of the history of slavery and the truth of how they were treated.
@@TheHistoryUnderground No no JD, it wasnt long enough! You could have gone into commandant Wurtz. (splng??) I believe he was the only one, North or South, convicted of war crimes.
My great great great Uncle Charles was there for a year , he was 85th NY infantry, captured at Plymouth NC. So many of his friends and fellow soldiers died there. He was lucky and made it through to live out the rest of his life here in Western NY on the farm. Thanks for the awesome video.
hard to imagine a lot of these guys had served or went to the military academy together before they starting killing each other and committing atrocities on each other it's sad 😢 and it doesn't appear 156 years later that our country learned anything
@@williamk2257 Maybe you're not that dumb and actually know Lincoln invaded the South to collect taxes, kill people who resisted and to take the land and its resources. Could that be it? If you're just dumb you actually believe Abraham Lincoln and most Northerners cared about Negroes in bondage.
@@tomcockburn6939 put you in the field picking cotton for a week. working for free with no future except to die at a young age by overwork. BTW i am a white conservative TRUMP SUPPORTER from NYS
Thank you for showing this awful piece of history. My great grandfather was imprisoned there, but survived. Then, on his way back home to Michigan, he was on the steamboat Sultana when it exploded. He also survived that. What a lucky man he was.
Are you talking about invading a people's land, killing their men, raping their women, pillaging and torching their homes? And then write history to make conquered people's out to be subhuman? Like the union did?
My gg grand uncle survived Andersonville but his neighbor didn’t and they both vowed to take care of each other’s family. He married his friends daughter.
Just visited this museum a few weeks ago, it's heart breaking but also made me want to see the other side, how did the union treat the Confederate soldiers... those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. Grew up outside of a former Japanese internment camp that we were never taught about in school, there's history to learn from absolutely everywhere if one only knows where to look and cares to.
I went to Andersonville two years ago, in the heat of a Southwest Georgia summer. Even more sobering than the Andersonville area and the military cemataries there is the US Prisoner of War Museum that is the entrance what was the Andersonville compound. After walking through displays and videos of survivors of POW camps we walked out into the heat to where the front gate of Andersonville once was. Now, I grew up on a NC tobacco farm. I know what heat and humidity is but once I looked at that space and imagined the numbers of men packed in there together with no protection from that sun, humidity, and the always present gnats and flies it hit me like a ton of bricks. I will never forget the things I saw there.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I hope you can. It's not large but you leave with even more of an understanding of how bad a human being can treat an "enemy" prisoner of war. If you can make it through the Vietnam exibits without a tear in your eye, you need to check your pulse.
There is no way to really understand what it was like for the men imprisoned there. Horrific. Between you and The History Guy I'm always learning something new. Thanks.
I was doing a civil war study group, and we would take turns holding it at each other's houses. One day we were at my friend's house and andersonville was the topic. My friend happened to be Jewish and her grandmother was an holocaust survivor. She walked past the table and thought we were learning about the holocaust because of the pictures of emaciated soldiers... we then explained that it was this POW camp. The grandmother said "I can smell this picture...the death, the sickness, I can still feel the hunger" it was really intense...
One gets an idea from the plaque the union soldiers placed there: "With malice toward none and charity for all." The POWs witnessed that the guards were given the same amount of food as they were, as directed by law in the Conderacy. The guards died in almost equal measure to the prisoners. *That* is why they carried no malice.
I had 2 relatives that were held in Andersonville. One is buried there, the other left very sick and didn't live much longer after being released. It was a horrible place. Hell on earth, and not many people know of it's existence. Such a tragic place and story.
My 3rd great grandfather, James Ira Gillespie, was taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamauga and then held at Andersonville. He survived, having lost an eye, and came home to Kentucky to conceive his last child of 13 total, my 2nd great grandmother 😊
This, Sir, is the history I'll be teaching my son. This is so much more impactful than any "history" lesson he'd learn in school. I'm so very grateful for the time and energy you put into your videos and give parents like myself the means to teach our children the true history of our great nation!
Bravo! I read the very comprehensive book on Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor (hope I recalled the spelling of the author's name correctly) when I was in middle school-a brilliant work of scholarship and writing. Of course, I would assume you will also teach them about Camp Douglas?
@@wrmlm37 I've started my own lessons for him and am beyond grateful for the reference and idea to teach him this part of our history. It's been difficult to determine what's appropriate for his age bc he's only 4...but he thrives on every history and science lesson I put together for him and your channel has been an invaluable resource. I sincerely can't thank you enough.
@@debmoadd yes all sides of history must be taught. This video is absolutely heartbreaking 💔 but its also a good way to show how all of our POW are treated. Its horrific what humans do to each other.
From a few generations back, my Great Uncle Charlie Howe died at Andersonville. This is the first video I've seen of the place, thank you for filming it. It truly was Hell on Earth.
I visited Andersonville several years ago in the July and it was 107 degrees, no breeze to speak of and the sky was nearly cloudless. This really cemented for me the savage conditions the prisoners endured.
@@mr.honesty5115 I live in Arizona for 15 yrs. Our high temps would get up to 120 degrees at times, usually 114 to 117. My husband loved it & I got use to it pretty quickly. Worst time was during the monsoon season (July to September), although we didn't get alot of rain, but the humidity was horrible 😫!!!!!
My great great uncles were at Andersonville. One survived and one died. My husband and I went to visit my uncle, Hubbard (Hubbert on his stone) Blaylock- grave number 3176. It meant the world to me as I am adopted and I didn’t know much about my past. He was the first person I have been able to be connected to that is an actual blood relative of mine. It was an emotional experience knowing what happened to him and also finally having a piece of my birth history right in front of me. My hubs and I are planning to go to the actual campsite in a few weeks as it was closed due to New Years. Watching your video brought back those feelings again of sadness and of joy. Thank you for posting this video.
I had a 1st cousin, 4 times removed, Christian P. Bartshe, who died in Andersonville prison on May 23, 1864 at about 22-23 years of age. It must have been horrible. How can man be so inhumane to others. Thank you for this video.
You must keep in mind, the yankee soldiers came down south to kill the confederate soldiers, and force Abe Lincoln's will on the southerners. Hence, the war of northern aggression.
My great grandfather barely survived this atrocity. He credited his survival to beinhg able to survive drinking very little water, and my father, who died 2 years ago at almost 95, never drank much water. Thought it wasn't healthy. My great grandfather did recover his health although he was always thin, and had about 13 children, the youngest of whom was my grandfather.
My Great Great Grandfather, John B. Weymer was here from November 1863 until exchanged sometime in'64. He wrote a brief memoir sometime after the War and told of a prayer meeting held by the prisoners and of an ensuing rainstorm thereafter that created the Providence Spring.
The book “Diary of a Dead Man” by Ira Pettit is perhaps the best primary source of a young Union soldier’s journey from his home in rural upstate NY through Virginia and into Andersonville. I’ve read literally hundreds of Civil War books, and this one is the most poignant and informative.
One of my Great great grandfather's is Payson Wolfe. He was one of the few native american soldiers that made it out, but he was permanently disabled from his treatment there.
I know what you mean John Reinburg especially since I one of my 4x great uncles named George Washington Shriver who served in the Union army is buried at Andersonville prison and he is buried there because he was captured on New Year’s Day 1864 in rectorstown Virginia
Jesco Nevada well let me ask you this like I know the north was against slavery but do you think that the northern states that had slaves like Missouri Kentucky and Maryland had the same right under god to have slaves
Beach3Girl I completely agree with you on that and just saying but I am really proud of what the American battlefield trust is doing because they are preserving battlefields of war and they are bringing the war to classrooms and that is sort of helping people remind themselves of what war can do
Certainly this historic site and the monuments contained therein need to be preserved. Unlike men, all monuments are not created equal and some should be moved to dedicated war cemeteries and museums.
The lesson we need to learn is old politicians send young man to die from both sides. We need to lock the politicians in a room and demand they compromise or they live in that room the rest of their life trying to find an agreement.
The part I find that's also moving is the graveyard. Almost 14,000 graves and the Union Nurse kept records on who was buried where in her little black book. about 900 are still marked un-known. The best option for a war is not to have it.
No telling how many times I’ve watched this. It moves me with such emotion for the men who suffered here! And fills me again with Praise to God for Providence Springs! 🙌🙌🙌 God is so good! Been reading first hand accounts. It came after 3 days of prayer meetings, one man who was a non-believer, became a believer, dedicated his life to ministry. So good!
The music you chose for this is absolutely perfect. Keep up the great work, and thank you for going places we can’t go right now-it’s wonderful learning through your journeys.
It’s just horrible the way humans treated one another. Humanity really needs an overhaul. Sad. Thank you for sharing this piece of history with us. 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
a short man got me a free mc cafe hot coffee today . Even though it a one cup it was thought and effort that counted. he a drunk. it a cold wind blowing here in new zealand so ahh was gratefull.
Hello from Macon, GA! Wife and I are history buffs and love your videos. Know it's not easy to make them but we sure do appreciate them! Thanks for all your hard work!
My grandmother's sister did a lot of genealogy. She showed me some letters of relatives at that time. They were concerned about one of the family who had been captured by the South and had survived Andersonville prison camp and come back home. He was never the same. His health had been devastated. He survived the war but died in 1867. Not sure what unit he had been assigned in the Union Army. But the family lived in Pennsylvania at that time. Pretty horrible place. The prisoners even ate their own clothes including shoes and belts. I did read that the officers in charge were hanged for crimes against humanity. Very sad chapter in American history.
I was extremely sadden by the filthy water situation, the men were skin and bones. Provence Springs was a wonderful gift for all. Thank you again for you dedication to history.
Providence Springs were a blessing until the dying men too weak to move away from the water befouled it with dysentery and the like. It kept people alive for a day or two though
I’m from middle Georgia and when I was in 8th grade we took a “field trip” to Andersonville. I remember pulling up in the school bus and seeing nothing but green gas and white tombstones. When you visit Andersonville you can’t help but feel strange and eerie “energy”.
When I was enduring OCS (US Army’s Officer Candidate School, Ft. Benning, GA), we were bused to Andersonville as part of the Curriculum. It was sobering to see & understand the horrors that went on there ~ the ground was like Gettysburg or Antietam or Shiloh… Ghosts remain on those hallowed grounds!🇺🇸
Reaches down and grabs something inside, and rings out your guts. The things men have done to one another. We don't deserve even one of God's blessings and yet we receive. So glad you keep this knowledge alive. It needs teaching everyday.
I'll leave your belief in god alone, but why would we not deserve blessings for things other people did? Your "just" god sure seems to like to punish people for things others did.
@@gregbors8364 If you knew the Bible, then you wouldn't let your ignorance spew onto the internet! Lucifer had so much pride that he wanted to rule heaven, so God casted him out of heaven and told him that he can be ruler over Hell. But, Lucifer told God that it wouldn't be fair because he would interfere with his people. God promised Lucifer that he would give people "FREE WILL". He would allow people to choose their own destiny! God will not break his promise to Lucifer, and that's why he will not interfere with the evil that people do! It's up to you on what destiny you choose!
@@kimberlycampbell8355 Maybe you’re right, maybe I’m not familiar with that part of the Bible. Please cite the chapter and verse which you are paraphrasing here.
It is unimaginable the cruelty that man is capable of, the conditions these men were in was well beyond appalling. Horror presented as respectfully to those that were there as possible. Thank you for another well documented historical account. Be safe and take care.
My wife and I visited here on a trip to Americus, GA about 15 years ago. It's definitely one of those places where you can sense that many tragedies took place here.
Well said! His students are so lucky to have a teacher who actually goes out and sees the places that he teaches about in his classes. Yes, reading is good for the mind but life is meant to be lived and not just read about it. Keep up the good work J. D.!
Thank you for this post. I just found out that my great great great grandfather, Truman Jackson, 95tjh Regiment, Ohio Infantry, was held at Andersonville until it was liberated by the Union Army. He was one of nearly 2,000 people killed in the explosion of the Sultana as he was returning to Ohio.
I have always found the explosion of the Sultana to be the saddest part of the war. Heartfelt thanks to your Great Great Great Grandfather for his service.
My great grandfather and his brother spent 2 years, including 2 absolutely miserable winters, in Rock Island Prison. Family says when he came home he was permanently scarred from the experience. We have heard about Andersonville from many different sources. How about a video on Rock Island Prison? There's quite a few other Northern prisons that were horrific, like Camp Douglas, Elmira, Point Lookout and Alton. My heart goes out to those men from either side that suffered so much at the hands of their captors.
My great-great grandfather was taken prisoner after being shot during Pickett's charge and spent the remainder of the war at Point Lookout. He survived and lived to an advanced age for the time. I've been to the area of Lookout and read the history of the camp. Been to Andersonville and walked it. Both were sections of Hell on Earth but I have found few places that I can imagine as horrible as Andersonville.
Thank you sir for bringing out the POW camps for Confederate soldiers. To me this is bias toward the North when both were equally as bad with 1 exception . The North had plenty of everything and the Southern Soldiers and people were all starving not Just he northern in pow!!
I've been to Andersonville many years ago (mid 1990s). It's one of those places that even after that many years you can still FEEL the emotions that are trapped there from so many being imprisoned there. You walk onto the grounds and it just rolls over you the suffering that happened, but at the same time it feels almost like it's holy ground.
My first time watching. I’ve visited Andersonville twice and have read about it but I learned some new things today. Andersonville has a heaviness that still hangs over it. Great job.
My 4th great grandfather was a prisoner in Andersonville (Died of starvation). My Dad love researching our family tree (Been his hobby for 40 years now). Once I found out about Andersonville, I was about 13 and that made me fascinated with the Civil War.
I told a cousin about your programme on the Alton Prison. Then she shared a family story. A wife and mother had to endure her husband and two sons joining the Union Army. All three ended up at Andersonville but later in the war. They survived Andersonville. But on their way home they had the misfortune to be on a steamboat called the Sultana on the way home. There were known issues with the ship's boilers and it was vastly overloaded. During the journey there was an explosion on April 27, 1865 which is still the greatest maritime disaster ever in the US. Meant for 377 people, there were over 2,000 troops going home from the prison camps and 86 crew. Outside of Memphis, there was an explosion and fire. 1,800 men died including the father and sons. I can't imagine her horror at first learning they were alive and free from Andersonville and then to learn about their deaths due to the explosion of the Sultana. This was an event that is lost in history except for military historians and genealogists.
One of my relatives on my mom’s fathers side was held at Andersonville. Thank you for going there so I could view it myself. I actually have copies of his record of when he arrived and fortunately left.
A very powerful story. Thank you. Fighting is only the beginning of the hell brought to full weight by the POW stories. Ending on a note of redemption is a wonderful touch. Thank you.
@@smooshiebear80 it's actually just a copy. I'm guessing it was in bad shape and a relative years ago copied it. I haven't even read it. My folks are just now telling me about it. Looking forward to reading it
I Have my great great grandfathers journal from when he was to bunked up in the stockade here in forest city MN in 1862/1863. The whole Indian uprising started when his neighbors were murdered by dakota braves. Very interesting time period.
Excellent video. I've done a lot of research into Andersonville as I have a relic from there that I may give to the museum eventually. I was lucky enough to be able to visit years ago. A very sobering experience.
You explain this part of history very well Sir. This is what all Americans should learn about as far as our history. You've definitely got a new subscriber
That’s the truth. 80 years after this was WWII and the Holocaust. Here were are in the early 2020’s 80 years after WWII. This century is still young and there is no doubt we’ve got some sorrowful years ahead!
You are very much correct. Once again we have some who think they can subjugate Americans to tyranny To just roll over and give away our Freedoms. Patriots have long since forgiven. The hopeful tyrants today hate Union and Confederate alike. 'Dont Tread on Me.'
Thank you for this clip. I have letters from my ancestors who fought for the Union. One letter talks about one relative who was taken to Andersonville. I am writing a book using these letters, so this will help on context when discussing that relative.
This is so significant,and educational.I was so impressed by this video.Thank you for your efforts. Andersonville, the movie was an eye opener to say the least.
I live 45 mins away from Andersonville. We go every Memorial Day to plant flags. They really don't teach you about the bad stuff but it's definitely a history one could never forget.
My mama is buried there. She passed before my daddy. Hes still living. When he passes away, he will be stacked on top of her. Daddy is a Vietnam war veteran and a retired career Army officer.
When I was in the Army, I went on an Warrant Officer Staff Ride to Andersonville to witness failure of leadership firsthand. It’s a sad yet breathtaking exhibit.
The North illegally invaded the south. Each of the southern states had a legal right to leave the union. The war resulted from the North refusing them that right.
@Checkmate Chess Channel How can he be a traitor? the south seceded before he was even inaugurated, after that he was opposing people who claimed to be a sovereign nation seperate from the US government and who had fired on and killed Unites states soldiers? By the time the CSA had been defeated and the CSA returned to US control he was already dead. By definition you cant be a traitor to a foreign nation.
@@lindanwfirefighter4973 Lol!! You history revisionists are always so comical... There were legal ways to try and secede from the Union, Unfortunately the low intelligence leaders of the Southern rebellion, who's sole purpose was to keep human beings as slaves, decided to attack Fort Sumter.. a legal installation of the U.S. Government. And in return got their azzes whupped... lol Personally I think every southern leader including Jefferson Davis and General Lee should've been hung for being traitors to the United States... especially Lee and any officers who had already sworn their allegiance to the United States of America...
Wow my mother was born and raised not far from there and she also said that when she went there the spring was very powerful and spoke just like you did by also saying it was what touched her the most. Thanks for posting this and keep up the good work.
Both sides had such atrocious camps for POW's, but Andersonville is the best known because history is written by the victors. Many on both sides suffered, but none should be forgotten. A well done video, thank you.
Yep, they should’ve left the south alone. Also, if the south would’ve won (and almost did), this country wouldn’t be as screwed up as it is today. Could care less who agrees or doesn’t.
I really enjoy your episodes. There’s nothing like seeing the actual areas where our ancestors lived and died. I have a GGuncle buried at Andersonville. His brother was exchanged. I can’t imagine having to leave your brother there knowing what he was facing.
As an Andersonville prisoner descendant I've been enjoying this. Thank you for this, I hope to make the trek there someday to pay my respects to my 2nd Great Grandfather and those the many that were there.
I visited Andersonville in August 1997, and it was powerful to be there and learn about it. I would guess it takes a minimum of 3 days to see everything there. I would love to go back again.
The Spring Memorial was so inspirational & so emotional. Thank you JD for ending this video with it. I put it on my Pinterest Board History-We should never forget.
One of my great great uncles died there ,God Bless him and all the others ,there was also a cousin of theirs who died in Salisbury,his wife died one year later ,so sad ,they had a young daughter 😔😔,thank you for this ❤️🇺🇸💪🏼
Great video..seen the movie Andersonville but actually seeing the place brings chills..can’t imagine the hell those men went through. Love your videos.
Don't forget the Union Prisoner of War Camp in Elmira, NY. It was nicknamed Hellmira by the prisoners of war held there. Prison camps on both sides of the Civil War were brutal places of death and disease.
Indeed…. The nationalists don’t like to bring up the the northern camps… let’s not forget Camp Douglas, Chicago, an "extermination camp," described by a visiting group of northern doctors on an inspection tour. The Confederate POWs were purposely starved, denied medicine, and left to freeze from the elements without winter clothing as the camp policy while surrounded by a country with an abundance of food and medicine. Wirz, who commanded at Andersonville, was hanged as a scapegoat to cover for the duplicity of Union officials. Union prisoners came forth to speak for Wirz to say that he had done all he could for them but had scant resources to offer. Consequently, they were not allowed to testify on his behalf. The POW suffering of Andersonville, aka Camp Sumter, should be understood to be the direct result of the Union war policies. These were a blockade of southern ports depriving the people of imported medicine, the vast destruction of food and livestock in the South by the Union Army, and Grant's suspension of the prisoner exchange, which would have sent the inmates home. As a result, the guards and POWs had the same rations and lack of medicine, and the civilians outside the stockade had even less. But they all died together in alarming numbers.
@@gregorybaltzer2736 every single time but then again how unimportant is that? As mentioned above, the North during the Civil War most decidedly was "not without sin."
My 2nd great grandfather was there and survived, only because his brother was captured and found him there starving and sick. His brother foraged for both of them until their release. I would not be here if my great grandfather had not survived. He was a hard worker, but sickly all his life.
Love your video. As a Yankee and Veteran VFW Ross-Pearson Post, Rockford, IL it makes sad to see what happened to these men. They didn't join to die. No one does. The dead and permanently maimed soldiers fought the good fight and the right fight.
The movie Andersonville was good, but didn't take in the full account of how terrible that place was. I've heard of the ghost stories of Andersonville, many of which were interesting. Great video, keep it up!
@1776 I found most of mine through google (here's one for example: seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2016/02/haunted-andersonville-prison.html ) I think there's a few ghost hunter type youtube videos out there too that did episodes at Andersonville.
I live about 40 miles north of Andersonville and go there quite often to see things that I might have missed before, yes some of those dug out holes were escape tunnels that have collapse over the years.There are rumored stories of ghosts of the dead soldiers walking up and down the highway in front of the cemetery late at night also
I live in a small town called Ellerslie outside of Columbus. My son got out of the Army in May and I took him down there for his first visit. I also took him to the grand opening of the infantry museum on Ft Benning. He loved it, I loved it, and I even take my grandkids there at least once a year. Did you ever try eating at that restaurant by Andersonville called Yoders ? It’s ran by the Amish and they have a small store where they sell all sorts of things including jams and stuff.
I drove through Andersonville once going to southern Georgia to make a delivery, it was just as a chilling experience as the several times I drove through Gettysburg, knowing the history of both places.
Worked as a seasonal Park Ranger there in the Summer of 1981. (Had a way smaller visitor center at that time than today, where it's also the site of the National POW Museum...awesome visit) This was a VERY good video to give those that don't know about an infamous chapter of our Civil War a basic overview. Well done Sir. Perhaps it will stimulate those to delve further. Fascinating history. Sooooo many stories.
I grew up a few minutes drive from "Bloody Creek", the bloodiest battle ever fought at Antietam, in Sharpsburg MD. I can not fathom the sheer terror that was first and foremost for every soul on that battlefield.
I remember my dad loading us kids in the car to go to Andersonville for a history lesson, I was only 6 and didn't understand the horrors he explained .That's been 54 years ago and alot of books ,movies that I can fully appreciate those lessons.
I’m sorry but your incorrect. There never was a COUNTRY called America. It is a union of smaller countries that shared a few things on a federal level. Each state was an independent country. What the northern states did was illegal. My mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother was driven out of the south and came here to Canada. She was forced to leave because of the absolute terrible retribution that was done to them after the war. One wasn’t an American you were a Texan or a Virginian. A New Yorker or someone from Pennsylvania. It was not a civil war but rather a war of Northern Aggression. Even the lie that that the war was over slavery is easily refuted. See only the slaves in the south were set free. Not the slaves in the North. The states that fought for the North were allowed to keep their slaves. That’s not taught in school because that would show that slavery wasn’t the reason for the war. It was just an excuse that was created long after the war ended.
@@lindanwfirefighter4973 That's largely true. Calling Confederate officers traitors is really an attempt to strip them of their honor. In that day one was more loyal to his State than the Union. The culture was still very much Colonial just like the States that negotiated in the Continental Congresses. Those States did not want to relinquish their individual authority to a centralized government. That is the reason we have a Federalist system today; attempts by the Democrats to steal power delegated to the States, under the Constitution, notwithstanding.
@@michaelbee2165 Exactly! And they are using Antifa to riots, burn, assault, murder and worst of all: Stripping statues in an attempt to erase history that the left doesn’t want taught.
MacKinlay Kantor wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning historical novel titled "Andersonville" which depicts what life was like in this camp. The book was published in 1955, and I first read it as a teenager in the 60s. I have read it at least twice more since then, and I still have my original copy. Anyone who likes to read Civil War material might try to get a copy of this excellent book. Job well done on this video!
Unfortunately the history of the Civil War is often surgarcoated, tampered with, or outright not taught in certain parts of the country and there are people in power who are trying to ensure that Civil War history will be forgotten
If you've watched a few episodes and feel like I've earned it, be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any new content when it comes out. Click here: ruclips.net/user/thehistoryunderground
Thanks!
I subbed the moment I started the video of you walking past the train station. I knew right away that you were ON POINT.
Andersonville is my number one there but for the grace of God go I location. My GG Grandpa Andy was there with the 103rd PA. The were captured over in Plymouth, NC with the 101st PA and the 16th Conn. There are so many instances that could have stopped Andy's legacy cold. I haven't counted his number of direct descendants; that's a project for the future because five generations is going to take a long time to calculate.
But here's the rub, although well liked and respected in his community, Grandpa Andy's immediate family thought he was completely off his rocker. The stories he told of the things that went on at Andersonville were so seemingly outlandish that they thought he was telling tales. When I listened to the testimony from Wirz's trial (via an old black and white movie that used the record of the court as its script), I finally understood WHY they might have questioned what he said.
PA farm boys had never before seen something as horrifically fantastical as those 26 acres.
Thank you so much for filming and posting this. I have only been there once, it will be 2 years ago in October, and I had very little time there. (Though I'd never trade the experience for something longer. I arrived very late in the day and had the whole place to myself. It was, as I'm sure you can understand, entirely surreal.)
But yes, thank you whole heartedly for such a stunning video of Andersonville. I'm going to share this with my family as no one else has had the opportunity to visit.
After I watch your other two videos on the subject, first. 😊
Horrible is not a strong enough word, yet I bear good news. . .We have been in the return of Jesus Christ for some time now. . .We are in the last set of seven years of his return. . .Seeing all the human race has done to itself, I am glad that it is ending. . .The return of Jesus is as the forge of a samurai sword, perfect in its material, absolute by his process, and honed indelible, with unbreakable resolve to bring home who he will in his given time. . .None see 2022. . . . . . .
This was a sad time in history. A long time ago I talk to somebody living in Andersonville and it was said that you could smell the camp all the way into town of Andersonville. However we have to realize that there was a place in New York I think it was called rock Island where they took Confederate soldiers prisoners of war that is if it was a horrible place to. So sad to treat humans the way we do
@@claudettebean2094 Also, the POW camp in Chicago. Camp Douglas was the "Andersonville of the North".
Is that word on your arm: усмиовлен
One of those 45 thousand men was my great great great grandfather. He survived. He suffered from dysentery and was starving but managed a full recovery and had a bunch of kids.
My Great Great Grandfather was Peter McCullough. He was known as the hanging Judge of Jacksonville.
My Mother got me into the genealogy bug. I love history and the stories that my Great Grandmother would tell us (after we did all the research and go to her house to tell her what we found) she would bring out a box of extremely old and brittle photographs. So cool!
Amazing. I've seen other programs about Andersonville with photos.
What those men endured was horrific. Our men our tough. God had a plan for us to be here at this time. Fighting for our country.
My great great grandfather died near Marietta, GA and is buried there in the Confederate Memorial Graveyard.
Imagine how close it must have been for you to never exist, unless he had kids before he went to the camp.
My husband’s great great grandfather escaped from Andersonville with the help of a slave named Lee. Since then every other generation names their first son, James Lee (Gilmore).
what an amazing family tradition. i hope your line continues it for many generations to come.
lee deserves to be remembered for it.
honestly, this gave me goosebumps.. thanks for sharing.
Yep. The current James is just James. His Dad is James Lee, my brother in law.
What an amazing family tradition.
Great respect
LOVE THIS❤️❤️Has to be my favorite comment!
My Great great uncle died here after being captured only weeks from arrival. His father tried to keep him from enlisting by making some sort of deal but he went anyway against his wishes. His letters before he died always ended with "kiss the babies for me". Referring to his nieces and nephews. I visited to pay my respects at the mass grave he was buried in. God bless Lamotte Hill. His later relative would become a WWII Naval hero and Superintendent of Annapolis. Lamotte gave his all and unknowingly sparked a long-standing tradition and pride of combat service by our family.
that's a sad post. i never served because i was 4F in the Vietnam war draft. it put a tear in my eye to read your post. may your great uncle RIP. With the thanks of our nation, on both sides, for his ultimate sacrifice
😢🇺🇸
As a child my father a WW2 Vet took me to Andersonville over the course of several summers. The silence and perpetual headstones will humble a strong man. I still have a small bottle of water that he filled from Providence Spring on one of our visits. It's still crystal clear from that day back in the mid 70's.
Thanks for sharing that story with us
“With charity to all and malice toward none.”
Words we would all do well to remember.
Amen
Because it was his doing. Lincoln was a war criminal. His karma was a bullet to the brain.
That should be posted on a HUGE billboard, right now in Louisville, 9/24/20, for all those rioters to read and think about. It should also be posted on huge billboards in every major city, like Portland, OR, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Baltimore, and others, right in the heart of where the rioters are.
@@alan30189 Maybe some men in blue could read the quote also.
alan30189 Probably a lot of the protesters/rioters/looters are illiterate!
This is the kind of history that needs to be taught to our country. Thank you for the education and tour.
My pleasure! Thanks and feel free to share it with others so that they can learn too.
Is it okay if they teach the history of slavery as well?
@@itachihyuga7553 why wouldn’t it be?
@@Crafty1617 I think that’s a question you might want to ask Republicans who are trying and in some states have succeeded in the banning of the history of slavery and the truth of how they were treated.
@@itachihyuga7553 can you give a specific instance? I’ve never heard of it.
This is better than history channel.keep it up
Thanks! That really means a lot.
Agree 100%
Couldn’t agree more! So much better. More info and straight to the point , wish the episodes were longer sometimes lol
@@jarid333 - Thanks. I was actually worried that this one was running too long lol
@@TheHistoryUnderground No no JD, it wasnt long enough! You could have gone into commandant Wurtz. (splng??) I believe he was the only one, North or South, convicted of war crimes.
My great great great Uncle Charles was there for a year , he was 85th NY infantry, captured at Plymouth NC. So many of his friends and fellow soldiers died there. He was lucky and made it through to live out the rest of his life here in Western NY on the farm. Thanks for the awesome video.
hard to imagine a lot of these guys had served or went to the military academy together before they starting killing each other and committing atrocities on each other it's sad 😢 and it doesn't appear 156 years later that our country learned anything
Did he say why he was invading a Southern State or was he forced to?
@@tomcockburn6939 For one thing to abolish slavery. I feel like this is a goating question to start a fight though.
@@williamk2257 Maybe you're not that dumb and actually know Lincoln invaded the South to collect taxes, kill people who resisted and to take the land and its resources. Could that be it? If you're just dumb you actually believe Abraham Lincoln and most Northerners cared about Negroes in bondage.
@@tomcockburn6939 put you in the field picking cotton for a week. working for free with no future except to die at a young age by overwork. BTW i am a white conservative TRUMP SUPPORTER from NYS
Thank you for showing this awful piece of history. My great grandfather was imprisoned there, but survived. Then, on his way back home to Michigan, he was on the steamboat Sultana when it exploded. He also survived that. What a lucky man he was.
The Sultana steamboat had more passengers than the Titanic IIRC. HOrrible disaster few know about today.
Blessed was more like it.
@@jackiemack8653 no, 'lucky' works fine.
My great great grandfather would've put many Yankees in camps such as this or in the ground 😉
He was destined to be here.
It's incredible the things we'll do to our own brothers and sisters. We never learn from our mistakes.
Hate is a terrible thing ! It's being taught to our kids now in the form CRT !
@@houliemon1315 Really!? Where? Where is crt being taught?
@@pbowser1030 in schools across America
@@justsomeguy4099 Can you please be more specific? Which schools? Where across America is critical race theory being taught?
Are you talking about invading a people's land, killing their men, raping their women, pillaging and torching their homes? And then write history to make conquered people's out to be subhuman? Like the union did?
My Great-great uncle died in that hell hole on 2 August 1864. Rest easy, sir! Grave marker number 4567 in the Andersonville National Cemetery.
My condolences to you and your family, even at this late date.
Respect!
Thanks for his service,
Sorry for your lost 🙏
May God be at his side forever. RIP Sir.
My gg grand uncle survived Andersonville but his neighbor didn’t and they both vowed to take care of each other’s family. He married his friends daughter.
Just visited this museum a few weeks ago, it's heart breaking but also made me want to see the other side, how did the union treat the Confederate soldiers... those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. Grew up outside of a former Japanese internment camp that we were never taught about in school, there's history to learn from absolutely everywhere if one only knows where to look and cares to.
Good for you look into point lookout in md
The union didn't have resource problems like the south. The south never had a chance to win. It was a charade.
There was a prison camp in Chicago. The prisoners weren't treated all too well there.
@@MyGianthead not true…victory at Gettysburg , recognition by European coupled with Lincoln defeat in 64.
@@ccoop3774 I heard the prison there had scurvings that's when your lips fall off lack of vegetables
I went to Andersonville two years ago, in the heat of a Southwest Georgia summer. Even more sobering than the Andersonville area and the military cemataries there is the US Prisoner of War Museum that is the entrance what was the Andersonville compound. After walking through displays and videos of survivors of POW camps we walked out into the heat to where the front gate of Andersonville once was. Now, I grew up on a NC tobacco farm. I know what heat and humidity is but once I looked at that space and imagined the numbers of men packed in there together with no protection from that sun, humidity, and the always present gnats and flies it hit me like a ton of bricks. I will never forget the things I saw there.
Really wish that the POW Museum would've been open while I was there. Definitely hope to go back someday.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I hope you can. It's not large but you leave with even more of an understanding of how bad a human being can treat an "enemy" prisoner of war. If you can make it through the Vietnam exibits without a tear in your eye, you need to check your pulse.
Near Americus Georgia
Lol welcome to Georgia...
July-August are the worst months
There is no way to really understand what it was like for the men imprisoned there. Horrific. Between you and The History Guy I'm always learning something new. Thanks.
Thanks! I appreciate that. I wouldn't mind getting together with him and collaborating on some videos one of these days.
Then look up Hellmira!
I was doing a civil war study group, and we would take turns holding it at each other's houses.
One day we were at my friend's house and andersonville was the topic. My friend happened to be Jewish and her grandmother was an holocaust survivor. She walked past the table and thought we were learning about the holocaust because of the pictures of emaciated soldiers... we then explained that it was this POW camp. The grandmother said "I can smell this picture...the death, the sickness, I can still feel the hunger" it was really intense...
One gets an idea from the plaque the union soldiers placed there: "With malice toward none and charity for all."
The POWs witnessed that the guards were given the same amount of food as they were, as directed by law in the Conderacy. The guards died in almost equal measure to the prisoners. *That* is why they carried no malice.
@@CalebDiT Negative. Not true at all. The guards did Not have the same ration AND had the means and pay to seek food outside of normal rations.
I had 2 relatives that were held in Andersonville. One is buried there, the other left very sick and didn't live much longer after being released. It was a horrible place. Hell on earth, and not many people know of it's existence. Such a tragic place and story.
My 3rd great grandfather, James Ira Gillespie, was taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamauga and then held at Andersonville. He survived, having lost an eye, and came home to Kentucky to conceive his last child of 13 total, my 2nd great grandmother 😊
This, Sir, is the history I'll be teaching my son. This is so much more impactful than any "history" lesson he'd learn in school. I'm so very grateful for the time and energy you put into your videos and give parents like myself the means to teach our children the true history of our great nation!
🙏🏼
Bravo! I read the very comprehensive book on Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor (hope I recalled the spelling of the author's name correctly) when I was in middle school-a brilliant work of scholarship and writing. Of course, I would assume you will also teach them about Camp Douglas?
Andersonville is a must read for both you and your son.
@@wrmlm37 I've started my own lessons for him and am beyond grateful for the reference and idea to teach him this part of our history. It's been difficult to determine what's appropriate for his age bc he's only 4...but he thrives on every history and science lesson I put together for him and your channel has been an invaluable resource. I sincerely can't thank you enough.
@@debmoadd yes all sides of history must be taught. This video is absolutely heartbreaking 💔 but its also a good way to show how all of our POW are treated. Its horrific what humans do to each other.
From a few generations back, my Great Uncle Charlie Howe died at Andersonville. This is the first video I've seen of the place, thank you for filming it. It truly was Hell on Earth.
Glad that I could share it. Pretty awful place indeed.
Rip uncle charlie
I visited Andersonville several years ago in the July and it was 107 degrees, no breeze to speak of and the sky was nearly cloudless. This really cemented for me the savage conditions the prisoners endured.
nd it could very easily rain all day the next day to create swamp like conditions then have the sun come back out to bake again
Super hot down there. I worked outside in the lowcountry
Yea that’s insane ! I can’t imagine 107 degree weather with no shade what’s so ever.
@@mr.honesty5115 I live in Arizona for 15 yrs. Our high temps would get up to 120 degrees at times, usually 114 to 117. My husband loved it & I got use to it pretty quickly. Worst time was during the monsoon season (July to September), although we didn't get alot of rain, but the humidity was horrible 😫!!!!!
Thank you for a very interesting story.
My great great uncles were at Andersonville. One survived and one died. My husband and I went to visit my uncle, Hubbard (Hubbert on his stone) Blaylock- grave number 3176. It meant the world to me as I am adopted and I didn’t know much about my past. He was the first person I have been able to be connected to that is an actual blood relative of mine. It was an emotional experience knowing what happened to him and also finally having a piece of my birth history right in front of me. My hubs and I are planning to go to the actual campsite in a few weeks as it was closed due to New Years. Watching your video brought back those feelings again of sadness and of joy. Thank you for posting this video.
What a lovely story Ashley. God bless you.
My wife's 3rd great grandfather died in that prison on Oct. 15, 1864. Her great aunt did all of the genealogy work had his name documented.
This was the most melancholy place I have ever been . The spirits of all who were there, from both sides, are still exuding sadness and horror
how bout Gettysburg?
@@martinedwards4522 Gettysburg is very unsettling to be at. Most of the people died quickly there at least. Andersonville was a slow death.
So was Camp Douglas in chichago Illinois for the Confederate soldier!! And there was no excuse for it. The North had plenty.
Felt the same on the uss arizona😮
I had a 1st cousin, 4 times removed, Christian P. Bartshe, who died in Andersonville prison on May 23, 1864 at about 22-23 years of age. It must have been horrible. How can man be so inhumane to others. Thank you for this video.
My 3rd great grandfather died their also Oct 1 1864. Richard Kirton was 35 from Iowa. What a horrible way to die.
You must keep in mind, the yankee soldiers came down south to kill the confederate soldiers, and force Abe Lincoln's will on the southerners. Hence, the war of northern aggression.
@@1946luke So slavery and inhumane treatment of prisoners was ok then?
My great grandfather barely survived this atrocity. He credited his survival to beinhg able to survive drinking very little water, and my father, who died 2 years ago at almost 95, never drank much water. Thought it wasn't healthy. My great grandfather did recover his health although he was always thin, and had about 13 children, the youngest of whom was my grandfather.
My Great Great Grandfather, John B. Weymer was here from November 1863 until exchanged sometime in'64. He wrote a brief memoir sometime after the War and told of a prayer meeting held by the prisoners and of an ensuing rainstorm thereafter that created the Providence Spring.
God bless him!
He, and his band of brothers were the true heroes!😎
The book “Diary of a Dead Man” by Ira Pettit is perhaps the best primary source of a young Union soldier’s journey from his home in rural upstate NY through Virginia and into Andersonville. I’ve read literally hundreds of Civil War books, and this one is the most poignant and informative.
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up.
Thank you for the recommendation
@Andrew Sloan What prompted this question? No one seemed to be taking sides in this thread.
Thank You! I was hoping to find that book through these comments!!!
Make Tmrw better then today!👍👊🏻🙏🏼
ty! i’m definitely going to check it out!
One of my Great great grandfather's is Payson Wolfe. He was one of the few native american soldiers that made it out, but he was permanently disabled from his treatment there.
Great video sad that this history is not taught in schools anymore, some do not even know who fought in the Civil War. Thank you for this lesson.
Sad, what man can do to another man.
Very much so.
I know what you mean John Reinburg especially since I one of my 4x great uncles named George Washington Shriver who served in the Union army is buried at Andersonville prison and he is buried there because he was captured on New Year’s Day 1864 in rectorstown Virginia
Yes but these where our fellow Americans....your neighbor or relative. I t was the worst!! God in heaven how did this go so far?
jay barrows I know what you mean but But my ancestor he was a person trying to free African Americans from slavery
Jesco Nevada well let me ask you this like I know the north was against slavery but do you think that the northern states that had slaves like Missouri Kentucky and Maryland had the same right under god to have slaves
Seems it may have been preferable to die in battle...
THIS is why we need to preserve monuments and reminders of what war can do.
As traumatic as it must have been, imagine how those men must have emerged from that experience. You would definitely have a unique value for life.
JuliaWills , me too.
Beach3Girl I completely agree with you on that and just saying but I am really proud of what the American battlefield trust is doing because they are preserving battlefields of war and they are bringing the war to classrooms and that is sort of helping people remind themselves of what war can do
Certainly this historic site and the monuments contained therein need to be preserved. Unlike men, all monuments are not created equal and some should be moved to dedicated war cemeteries and museums.
The lesson we need to learn is old politicians send young man to die from both sides. We need to lock the politicians in a room and demand they compromise or they live in that room the rest of their life trying to find an agreement.
The part I find that's also moving is the graveyard. Almost 14,000 graves and the Union Nurse kept records on who was buried where in her little black book. about 900 are still marked un-known.
The best option for a war is not to have it.
No telling how many times I’ve watched this. It moves me with such emotion for the men who suffered here! And fills me again with Praise to God for Providence Springs! 🙌🙌🙌 God is so good! Been reading first hand accounts. It came after 3 days of prayer meetings, one man who was a non-believer, became a believer, dedicated his life to ministry. So good!
🙏🏼
The music you chose for this is absolutely perfect. Keep up the great work, and thank you for going places we can’t go right now-it’s wonderful learning through your journeys.
🙏🏼
Thank you for your important work.
Well I mean you could have still visited that spot…. I wouldn’t imagine many people would be there anyways lol
It’s just horrible the way humans treated one another. Humanity really needs an overhaul. Sad. Thank you for sharing this piece of history with us. 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Glad that you enjoyed it :)
a short man got me a free mc cafe hot coffee today . Even though it a one cup it was thought and effort that counted. he a drunk. it a cold wind blowing here in new zealand so ahh was gratefull.
Hello from Macon, GA! Wife and I are history buffs and love your videos. Know it's not easy to make them but we sure do appreciate them! Thanks for all your hard work!
Awesome! Thank you! That means more to me than know.
My grandmother's sister did a lot of genealogy. She showed me some letters of relatives at that time. They were concerned about one of the family who had been captured by the South and had survived Andersonville prison camp and come back home. He was never the same. His health had been devastated. He survived the war but died in 1867. Not sure what unit he had been assigned in the Union Army. But the family lived in Pennsylvania at that time. Pretty horrible place. The prisoners even ate their own clothes including shoes and belts. I did read that the officers in charge were hanged for crimes against humanity. Very sad chapter in American history.
I was extremely sadden by the filthy water situation, the men were skin and bones. Provence Springs was a wonderful gift for all. Thank you again for you dedication to history.
Providence Springs were a blessing until the dying men too weak to move away from the water befouled it with dysentery and the like. It kept people alive for a day or two though
So sad, but something that we should never forget. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
I’m from middle Georgia and when I was in 8th grade we took a “field trip” to Andersonville. I remember pulling up in the school bus and seeing nothing but green gas and white tombstones. When you visit Andersonville you can’t help but feel strange and eerie “energy”.
"Green gas"????
@@historyman4629 *grass
@@LupeWilde21 Thanks for clearing that up. I thought you really meant "green gas!"
Same type of energy in the battlefields at Gettysburg..😪😪
Most definitely a dark vibe remains.
You can feel it.
When I was enduring OCS (US Army’s Officer Candidate School, Ft. Benning, GA), we were bused to Andersonville as part of the Curriculum. It was sobering to see & understand the horrors that went on there ~ the ground was like Gettysburg or Antietam or Shiloh… Ghosts remain on those hallowed grounds!🇺🇸
The shame of it is there is a site where a man asks Americans about the civil war and they have no clue. A disgrace indeed!
Reaches down and grabs something inside, and rings out your guts. The things men have done to one another. We don't deserve even one of God's blessings and yet we receive. So glad you keep this knowledge alive. It needs teaching everyday.
Lol a real life Karen.
I'll leave your belief in god alone, but why would we not deserve blessings for things other people did? Your "just" god sure seems to like to punish people for things others did.
A just and all-powerful god would not let innocent people suffer in this way.
@@gregbors8364 If you knew the Bible, then you wouldn't let your ignorance spew onto the internet! Lucifer had so much pride that he wanted to rule heaven, so God casted him out of heaven and told him that he can be ruler over Hell. But, Lucifer told God that it wouldn't be fair because he would interfere with his people. God promised Lucifer that he would give people "FREE WILL". He would allow people to choose their own destiny! God will not break his promise to Lucifer, and that's why he will not interfere with the evil that people do! It's up to you on what destiny you choose!
@@kimberlycampbell8355 Maybe you’re right, maybe I’m not familiar with that part of the Bible. Please cite the chapter and verse which you are paraphrasing here.
It is unimaginable the cruelty that man is capable of, the conditions these men were in was well beyond appalling. Horror presented as respectfully to those that were there as possible. Thank you for another well documented historical account. Be safe and take care.
@Jill Atherton Throughout history the cycle continues. Yes, we must strive to do better.
Thanks. It definitely highlights the darker side of humanity. And also what we are capable of overcoming.
Man's inhumanity to man. Powerful and haunting. Glad that the site was preserved so that the story could be told. Great one JD.
Much appreciated!
My wife and I visited here on a trip to Americus, GA about 15 years ago. It's definitely one of those places where you can sense that many tragedies took place here.
Great video. I went there in 2019 and was the only one there visiting. The national cemetery was quite somber being there alone.
We were by ourselves on the day that we were there as well. Pretty haunting place.
Like Gettysburg., Pa......😭🙏
I was there maybe 40 years ago and I was the only one there. It is very somber.
J.D., I learn more from you than I ever did in a history class! This has been one of my favorite place. I sure thank you for all your hard work!
Ha! Glad to hear that the channel is proving useful to you. Thanks!
Well said! His students are so lucky to have a teacher who actually goes out and sees the places that he teaches about in his classes. Yes, reading is good for the mind but life is meant to be lived and not just read about it. Keep up the good work J. D.!
despite the dark past, it looks quite peaceful and beautiful now. hopefully, those who suffered and died there have found peace.
Thank you for this post. I just found out that my great great great grandfather, Truman Jackson, 95tjh Regiment, Ohio Infantry, was held at Andersonville until it was liberated by the Union Army. He was one of nearly 2,000 people killed in the explosion of the Sultana as he was returning to Ohio.
I have always found the explosion of the Sultana to be the saddest part of the war. Heartfelt thanks to your Great Great Great Grandfather for his service.
My great grandfather and his brother spent 2 years, including 2 absolutely miserable winters, in Rock Island Prison. Family says when he came home he was permanently scarred from the experience.
We have heard about Andersonville from many different sources. How about a video on Rock Island Prison? There's quite a few other Northern prisons that were horrific, like Camp Douglas, Elmira, Point Lookout and Alton.
My heart goes out to those men from either side that suffered so much at the hands of their captors.
My great-great grandfather was taken prisoner after being shot during Pickett's charge and spent the remainder of the war at Point Lookout. He survived and lived to an advanced age for the time. I've been to the area of Lookout and read the history of the camp. Been to Andersonville and walked it. Both were sections of Hell on Earth but I have found few places that I can imagine as horrible as Andersonville.
Definitely hope to get to some of those places as well.
Thank you sir for bringing out the POW camps for Confederate soldiers. To me this is bias toward the North when both were equally as bad with 1 exception
. The North had plenty of everything and the Southern Soldiers and people were all starving not Just he northern in pow!!
I've been to Andersonville many years ago (mid 1990s). It's one of those places that even after that many years you can still FEEL the emotions that are trapped there from so many being imprisoned there. You walk onto the grounds and it just rolls over you the suffering that happened, but at the same time it feels almost like it's holy ground.
I'm quite sure there are spirits there
That is a fact....
My first time watching. I’ve visited Andersonville twice and have read about it but I learned some new things today. Andersonville has a heaviness that still hangs over it. Great job.
Thanks! Appreciate that. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already to catch the new stuff when it comes out.
My 4th great grandfather was a prisoner in Andersonville (Died of starvation). My Dad love researching our family tree (Been his hobby for 40 years now). Once I found out about Andersonville, I was about 13 and that made me fascinated with the Civil War.
ahh found out about it reading a Edge book- - made upp books about a breed in union army passing through the worst spots off fraddical war.
I told a cousin about your programme on the Alton Prison. Then she shared a family story. A wife and mother had to endure her husband and two sons joining the Union Army. All three ended up at Andersonville but later in the war. They survived Andersonville. But on their way home they had the misfortune to be on a steamboat called the Sultana on the way home. There were known issues with the ship's boilers and it was vastly overloaded. During the journey there was an explosion on April 27, 1865 which is still the greatest maritime disaster ever in the US. Meant for 377 people, there were over 2,000 troops going home from the prison camps and 86 crew.
Outside of Memphis, there was an explosion and fire. 1,800 men died including the father and sons. I can't imagine her horror at first learning they were alive and free from Andersonville and then to learn about their deaths due to the explosion of the Sultana. This was an event that is lost in history except for military historians and genealogists.
Sooo sad. Gosh.. :(
Wow the suffering was heart wrenching. One thing about forgiveness it frees the forgiven and the person thats forgiving.
Thanks for you great Comment!!
One of my relatives on my mom’s fathers side was held at Andersonville. Thank you for going there so I could view it myself. I actually have copies of his record of when he arrived and fortunately left.
Wow !! I have learned more from these videos than my entire Public Schools education, this is so much better !!
Thank You !!
You're very welcome! Feel free to share the channel out wherever you can :)
A very powerful story. Thank you. Fighting is only the beginning of the hell brought to full weight by the POW stories. Ending on a note of redemption is a wonderful touch. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate that. I was hoping that everything would come together in a semi-coherent way for this one :)
I have a ancestor who was a pow in Andersonville. He died there. I have his diary that he kept and wrote in daily.
That’s an incredible item to possess of one of your ancestors! I can only imagine what is written in it.
@@smooshiebear80 it's actually just a copy. I'm guessing it was in bad shape and a relative years ago copied it. I haven't even read it. My folks are just now telling me about it. Looking forward to reading it
@@johnnywhitepride8540 you should share what he wrote this is so inhumane it breaks my heart 💔
Now ! That history's, if you had that printed you could make a lot of income . Know I would be interested in buying a book 📖.
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I Have my great great grandfathers journal from when he was to bunked up in the stockade here in forest city MN in 1862/1863. The whole Indian uprising started when his neighbors were murdered by dakota braves. Very interesting time period.
My 2 times great grandfather, William Sands of Ohio, was a prisoner at Andersonville who survived, some how. Thank you for this video.
Great you're doing these documentaries. So we never forget. Thank you.
🙏🏼
Thank you for this video! My 3x great grandfather was a prisoner at Andersonville I can’t imagine what he went through during that time
Excellent video. I've done a lot of research into Andersonville as I have a relic from there that I may give to the museum eventually. I was lucky enough to be able to visit years ago. A very sobering experience.
Oh wow! Interesting. Thanks for the kind words.
What a profound statement for suffering prisoners to make! “With Charity For All And Malice To None.” God Is Good!
Amen to that.
Lincoln made that statement shortly before his death.
You explain this part of history very well Sir. This is what all Americans should learn about as far as our history. You've definitely got a new subscriber
I appreciate that!
Sad thing is we are headed in the same direction again unless we learn to forgive each other and live in peace with one another.
That’s the truth. 80 years after this was WWII and the Holocaust. Here were are in the early 2020’s 80 years after WWII. This century is still young and there is no doubt we’ve got some sorrowful years ahead!
Well said friend. Too much division these days. They always have to construct a Villain out of nothing.
@@122Music1 Who is they?
You are very much correct. Once again we have some who think they can subjugate Americans to tyranny
To just roll over and give away our Freedoms. Patriots have long since forgiven. The hopeful tyrants today hate Union and Confederate alike. 'Dont Tread on Me.'
@@122Music1 I absolutely agree!! Those that divide, are the ones full of hate. And that's exactly what THEY do
Thank you for this clip. I have letters from my ancestors who fought for the Union. One letter talks about one relative who was taken to Andersonville. I am writing a book using these letters, so this will help on context when discussing that relative.
You sir are an amazing historian. I truly love listening to you. The civil war and WWII fascinate me.
Thanks! I really appreciate that. 🙂
This is so significant,and educational.I was so impressed by this video.Thank you for your efforts. Andersonville, the movie was an eye opener to say the least.
I live 45 mins away from Andersonville. We go every Memorial Day to plant flags. They really don't teach you about the bad stuff but it's definitely a history one could never forget.
I read the book when I was young, it still haunts me fifty years later!
Thank you for doing this. I grew up going here on field trips, and during history weekends. Now my grandparents are buried there.
My mama is buried there. She passed before my daddy. Hes still living. When he passes away, he will be stacked on top of her. Daddy is a Vietnam war veteran and a retired career Army officer.
I have learnt more about American history since watching your films than in the whole of my life. My favorite American
When I was in the Army, I went on an Warrant Officer Staff Ride to Andersonville to witness failure of leadership firsthand. It’s a sad yet breathtaking exhibit.
@MVia history is always written by the victors!!!
The North illegally invaded the south. Each of the southern states had a legal right to leave the union. The war resulted from the North refusing them that right.
@Checkmate Chess Channel How can he be a traitor? the south seceded before he was even inaugurated, after that he was opposing people who claimed to be a sovereign nation seperate from the US government and who had fired on and killed Unites states soldiers?
By the time the CSA had been defeated and the CSA returned to US control he was already dead.
By definition you cant be a traitor to a foreign nation.
Thank you for your service...🕊👍♥️
@@lindanwfirefighter4973 Lol!! You history revisionists are always so comical... There were legal ways to try and secede from the Union, Unfortunately the low intelligence leaders of the Southern rebellion, who's sole purpose was to keep human beings as slaves, decided to attack Fort Sumter.. a legal installation of the U.S. Government. And in return got their azzes whupped... lol Personally I think every southern leader including Jefferson Davis and General Lee should've been hung for being traitors to the United States... especially Lee and any officers who had already sworn their allegiance to the United States of America...
Wow my mother was born and raised not far from there and she also said that when she went there the spring was very powerful and spoke just like you did by also saying it was what touched her the most. Thanks for posting this and keep up the good work.
Both sides had such atrocious camps for POW's, but Andersonville is the best known because history is written by the victors. Many on both sides suffered, but none should be forgotten. A well done video, thank you.
Exactly!
Very true.
Amen to that.
@Feather West it's always came down to money and power
@Feather West Never seen such irrational hatred? Coming from the same people screaming “BUILD THE WALL!”? How cute....
I have a great amount of empathy for these men.
The South did not invite them down to our home for a kindly visit.
War is indeed hell.
Is that an odd way to justify this?
@@elliotdavisonman4
No sir, my grand dad was sent to Elmira.
I have every reason to have contempt. I pray to forgive quite often.
Yet if the North had not defeated the south, today what would the USA be. Still slavery, ore injustice, KKK, etc....Trumptards
War is hell.
Yep, they should’ve left the south alone. Also, if the south would’ve won (and almost did), this country wouldn’t be as screwed up as it is today. Could care less who agrees or doesn’t.
I really enjoy your episodes. There’s nothing like seeing the actual areas where our ancestors lived and died. I have a GGuncle buried at Andersonville. His brother was exchanged. I can’t imagine having to leave your brother there knowing what he was facing.
As an Andersonville prisoner descendant I've been enjoying this. Thank you for this, I hope to make the trek there someday to pay my respects to my 2nd Great Grandfather and those the many that were there.
I had 2 who were there as well. Awful place.
I visited Andersonville in August 1997, and it was powerful to be there and learn about it. I would guess it takes a minimum of 3 days to see everything there. I would love to go back again.
There's plenty to see there. I've got a few more videos coming up in the next few episodes.
The Spring Memorial was so inspirational & so emotional.
Thank you JD for ending this video with it.
I put it on my Pinterest Board History-We should never forget.
One of my great great uncles died there ,God Bless him and all the others ,there was also a cousin of theirs who died in Salisbury,his wife died one year later ,so sad ,they had a young daughter 😔😔,thank you for this ❤️🇺🇸💪🏼
Great video..seen the movie Andersonville but actually seeing the place brings chills..can’t imagine the hell those men went through. Love your videos.
Thanks. I need to see that movie one of these days.
I was just wondering if there was a movie, and you answered my question. Have to look this up.
MiJacFan1 Definitely a good movie
Don't forget the Union Prisoner of War Camp in Elmira, NY. It was nicknamed Hellmira by the prisoners of war held there. Prison camps on both sides of the Civil War were brutal places of death and disease.
How about Alton?
ruclips.net/video/CeCSyGYFg30/видео.html
Indeed…. The nationalists don’t like to bring up the the northern camps… let’s not forget Camp Douglas, Chicago, an "extermination camp," described by a visiting group of northern doctors on an inspection tour. The Confederate POWs were purposely starved, denied medicine, and left to freeze from the elements without winter clothing as the camp policy while surrounded by a country with an abundance of food and medicine. Wirz, who commanded at Andersonville, was hanged as a scapegoat to cover for the duplicity of Union officials. Union prisoners came forth to speak for Wirz to say that he had done all he could for them but had scant resources to offer. Consequently, they were not allowed to testify on his behalf.
The POW suffering of Andersonville, aka Camp Sumter, should be understood to be the direct result of the Union war policies. These were a blockade of southern ports depriving the people of imported medicine, the vast destruction of food and livestock in the South by the Union Army, and Grant's suspension of the prisoner exchange, which would have sent the inmates home. As a result, the guards and POWs had the same rations and lack of medicine, and the civilians outside the stockade had even less. But they all died together in alarming numbers.
The victors get to write the history..
@@gregorybaltzer2736 every single time but then again how unimportant is that? As mentioned above, the North during the Civil War most decidedly was "not without sin."
Thanks, I needed to see this, I need to be more forgiving. My Great Grandfather escaped from Andersonville, his name was Callaway Stanley
I had two who were there. And yes, we would all do well to forgive more.
Wow! Escaping was a rarity from there.
My great, great grandmother's first husband died there. His best friend survived and brought her the word of his death after the war was over. So sad.
I'm just amazed my 2x grandfather survived that place.
My 2nd great grandfather was there and survived, only because his brother was captured and found him there starving and sick. His brother foraged for both of them until their release. I would not be here if my great grandfather had not survived. He was a hard worker, but sickly all his life.
Love your video. As a Yankee and Veteran VFW Ross-Pearson Post, Rockford, IL it makes sad to see what happened to these men. They didn't join to die. No one does. The dead and permanently maimed soldiers fought the good fight and the right fight.
The movie Andersonville was good, but didn't take in the full account of how terrible that place was. I've heard of the ghost stories of Andersonville, many of which were interesting. Great video, keep it up!
@1776 I found most of mine through google (here's one for example: seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2016/02/haunted-andersonville-prison.html )
I think there's a few ghost hunter type youtube videos out there too that did episodes at Andersonville.
I need to see that movie. Thanks for watching!
FANTASTIC!!! I have always wanted to visit Andersonville. Absolutely wonderful job. I love the part of Providence springs.
Glad you enjoyed it! Pretty impactful place.
I live about 40 miles north of Andersonville and go there quite often to see things that I might have missed before, yes some of those dug out holes were escape tunnels that have collapse over the years.There are rumored stories of ghosts of the dead soldiers walking up and down the highway in front of the cemetery late at night also
I live in a small town called Ellerslie outside of Columbus. My son got out of the Army in May and I took him down there for his first visit. I also took him to the grand opening of the infantry museum on Ft Benning. He loved it, I loved it, and I even take my grandkids there at least once a year. Did you ever try eating at that restaurant by Andersonville called Yoders ? It’s ran by the Amish and they have a small store where they sell all sorts of things including jams and stuff.
@@geoffreyrose3327 yes all the time good food too
I drove through Andersonville once going to southern Georgia to make a delivery, it was just as a chilling experience as the several times I drove through Gettysburg, knowing the history of both places.
Thank you for showing providence spring! I had the same realization when I visited. Well done.
Thanks for watching!
Worked as a seasonal Park Ranger there in the Summer of 1981. (Had a way smaller visitor center at that time than today, where it's also the site of the National POW Museum...awesome visit) This was a VERY good video to give those that don't know about an infamous chapter of our Civil War a basic overview. Well done Sir. Perhaps it will stimulate those to delve further. Fascinating history. Sooooo many stories.
That really does mean a lot. Thank you for that 🙏🏼
I do love the memorials to the union states. The cemetery is huge, it’s beautiful and sad at the same time. Glad I found you.
Thanks!
I grew up a few minutes drive from "Bloody Creek", the bloodiest battle ever fought at Antietam, in Sharpsburg MD. I can not fathom the sheer terror that was first and foremost for every soul on that battlefield.
I remember my dad loading us kids in the car to go to Andersonville for a history lesson, I was only 6 and didn't understand the horrors he explained .That's been 54 years ago and alot of books ,movies that I can fully appreciate those lessons.
They were all Americans. Your show is so great. I appreciate it so much. I feel like a student of yours.
Thanks!
I’m sorry but your incorrect. There never was a COUNTRY called America. It is a union of smaller countries that shared a few things on a federal level. Each state was an independent country. What the northern states did was illegal. My mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother was driven out of the south and came here to Canada. She was forced to leave because of the absolute terrible retribution that was done to them after the war. One wasn’t an American you were a Texan or a Virginian. A New Yorker or someone from Pennsylvania. It was not a civil war but rather a war of Northern Aggression. Even the lie that that the war was over slavery is easily refuted. See only the slaves in the south were set free. Not the slaves in the North. The states that fought for the North were allowed to keep their slaves. That’s not taught in school because that would show that slavery wasn’t the reason for the war. It was just an excuse that was created long after the war ended.
@@lindanwfirefighter4973 Boo!! Boo!!
@@lindanwfirefighter4973 That's largely true. Calling Confederate officers traitors is really an attempt to strip them of their honor. In that day one was more loyal to his State than the Union. The culture was still very much Colonial just like the States that negotiated in the Continental Congresses. Those States did not want to relinquish their individual authority to a centralized government. That is the reason we have a Federalist system today; attempts by the Democrats to steal power delegated to the States, under the Constitution, notwithstanding.
@@michaelbee2165 Exactly! And they are using Antifa to riots, burn, assault, murder and worst of all: Stripping statues in an attempt to erase history that the left doesn’t want taught.
MacKinlay Kantor wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning historical novel titled "Andersonville" which depicts what life was like in this camp. The book was published in 1955, and I first read it as a teenager in the 60s. I have read it at least twice more since then, and I still have my original copy. Anyone who likes to read Civil War material might try to get a copy of this excellent book.
Job well done on this video!
I've visited a few civil war sites. It never ceases to amaze me, how this event in history has not taught us to be kind to each other.
Unfortunately the history of the Civil War is often surgarcoated, tampered with, or outright not taught in certain parts of the country and there are people in power who are trying to ensure that Civil War history will be forgotten