Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons — Vol. II

Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons — Vol. II by John McElroy continues his firsthand account of life inside the infamous Confederate prison camp. In this volume McElroy provides further harrowing details of the starvation disease and brutality that characterized the experience of Union prisoners. He recounts the prisoners’ desperate attempts to survive their ingenuity in securing food and water and the friendships that formed in the face of immense suffering. His descriptions of the camp’s conditions expose the failures of Confederate authorities and the cruelty of commandant Henry Wirz who would later face trial for war crimes.McElroy also expands his narrative beyond Andersonville discussing the experiences of Union captives in other Confederate prison camps and examining the broader political and military context surrounding prisoner exchanges. His account serves as both a personal memoir and a historical indictment of the mistreatment of POWs during the Civil War. Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons — Vol. II remains a powerful and detailed testimony to the endurance and suffering of those held in captivity during one of America’s darkest conflicts.