Andersonville is by far the most notorious Civil War prisons. It was mostly known for horrible conditions and the cruel treatment of prisoners. Andersonville was located in what is now Andersonville, Georgia.
http://www.bestplaces.net/city/georgia/andersonville
If you were to visit Andersonville, the things you would see would be quite gruesome Many of the prisoners there were very thin because of the small amount of food they were fed. Many of them also became very sick. The cause of this was the contaminated water supply from the creek that ran through the prison. While there were wells at the prison, they were were closed when prisoners to use to escape, hiding in them in the day and attempting to flee at night.
Prisoners at Andersonville
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Union-Soldiers-Held-as-Prisoners-of-War-at-Andersonville-Prison-Camp
Although conditions at Andersonville were horrible, prisoners did not do much to help their case. They polluted their own water source by urinating and defecating in it. When asked to get firewood, they would try to escape, so the guards of the prison no longer let them get firewood to keep warm. They also robbed each other and formed gangs, causing unneeded violence in the prison.
Henry Wirz was the Commander of Andersonville prison. Neither the guards nor the prisoners liked or respected him, which was one of the reasons the prison turned out to be so horrible. After the Civil War was over, Wirz was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. Wirz was one of the few Confederates executed because of war crimes.
Henry Wirz
http://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/wirz-henry-photos.htm
People often say conditions Andersonville were as awful as the Holocaust. Andersonville was liberated three months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
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