Andersonville: 26 Acres of Civil War Hell | History Traveler Episode 87

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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 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).

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.

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.

“With charity to all and malice toward none.” Words we would all do well to remember.

This is the kind of history that needs to be taught to our country. Thank you for the education and tour.

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.

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.

This is better than history channel.keep it up

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 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 😊

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.

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.

It's incredible the things we'll do to our own brothers and sisters. We never learn from our mistakes.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.