Back many years ago(1978)I lived in Americus Ga, Andersonville was only about twelve miles away. I would go by there very often. The commander was a Swiss named Wirtz. He was tried and hung after the war. Andersonville has only one small creek running through it, it was used for the only water source and latrine. The union prisoners were run by organized crime rings from large cities that charged the others for water, food, medicine, ect. The southern guards were those unfit for any other duty. Add to that no shelter, minimal supplies, hot Georgia summer, disease, typhoid, bad water, and a cold winter and the result was very bad. FWIW, the ratio of southerners that died in northern prisons was nearly as bad. Andersonville is a very somber place, especially late at night.
rk
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