National Prisoner of War Museum

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Flickr is now limiting the number of photos I can have so these will age out in a year or so.

click photo to enlarge		 While in Georgia visiting the Jimmy Carter National Historic site we decided to also go to Andersonville to the National Prisoner of War Museum. During the Civil War this was actually a prison where the northern prisoners of war were kept. As I am writing this for the first time it occured to me why was this called the CIVIL war. There was nothing polite or well mannered or civil about this war. OK I digress.....  On the grounds are the Camp Sumter or Andersonville Prision, the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum. The prison was made in February 1864 and served to April 1865.

click photo to enlarge		 The site was commanded by Captain Henry Wirz, who was tried and executed after the war for war crimes. It was overcrowded to four times its capacity, with an inadequate water supply, inadequate food rations, and unsanitary conditions. Of the approximately 45,000 Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter during the war, nearly 13,000 died. The chief causes of death were scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery. Maybe if you lived near here you might learn about things like this in school but I never did living in Cleveland. 1/3 of the people at this prison died in prison. It was a very sombering site and I learned a lot about the history of the US here.

click photo to enlarge