My first stop for the day is the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park. I have actually been to several mound sites, like Cahokia. I didn’t realize that the Mississippian civilization stretched all the way to Georgia. Archaeologists know that the town was abandoned as early as 1100 CE, but they do not know why. They also know that the descendants of these people eventually became known as the Muscogee or Creek Indians.
By the time I finished going through the museum it was time to watch the movie and learn about Andersonville National Historic Site. What I learned was not good. It was a Confederate prisoner of war camp. Basically the land was turned into a huge outdoor jail. Prisoners had to make due with what they came in with to make tents. At the beginning of the war there were prisoner exchanges, so the North and South would exchange prisoners. The problem was these soldiers returned to duty and the North felt they prolonged the war, so they put a halt to them. As the war drug on, food supplies became scarce as the men were away at war and could not till the fields and the North raided into the South burning fields and destroying what crops were planted. At the same time, camps like Andersonville became more and more crowded as they reached and exceeded double the capacity that they were supposed to hold. Rations became scarce for the guards, let alone the prisoners. There was a water supply, but as more and more prisoners joined the camp it became dirty and was insufficient for the amount of people shoved together. Thousands died and were buried in unmarked graves on the grounds until the war finally ended and they were freed. Sadly, this was normal for prisoner of war camps on both the Union and Confederate side. However, Andersonville was the largest Confederate POW camp and got the reputation as one of the worst. After the war ended, Captain Henry Wirz was tried for war crimes and executed. The only good thing to come from Andersonville is that it sparked the formation of the Red Cross. One of the prisoners was Dorence Atwater, and after the war he returned to Andersonville with Clara Barton. Atwater had kept a secret list of the nearly 13,000 POWs that died at Andersonville and where they were buried. Barton was already known as the “Angel of the Battlefield” for her help with the wounded after battle and with her work of gathering medical supplies. When she visited Andersonville she helped Atwater identify all of the graves put grave markers on them. Afterwards, she traveled to Europe and helped found an international medical disaster organization which would eventually become the American Red Cross that we know of today. It is amazing how one event can change a person’s life forever, and continue to impact people today.
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |