Andersonville Diary, Escape And List Of The Dead

Description

As the war between the Confederate and Union Army raged on, John L. Ransom (1843 – 1919) was one of the many Union soldiers who ended up at a Confederate prison during the American Civil War. To make matters worse, Ransom, the quartermaster at Company A, 9th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, was held at the infamous Confederate prison of Andersonville in Georgia.

As he wrote his remarkable journal of endurance and hope, he not only documented his days spent at the prison, but also offered a detailed, vivid and historically accurate account of life in the prison, including of the many lives lost as prisoners were treated so poorly that not a day went past without death and injury.

Ransom first starts by recounting his capture and his journey to the prison, during which he had tricked one of the guards into giving him his own blanket which, according to the soldier, might have even saved his life on account of the long winter that was to come. Ransom goes on to describe a vivid portrayal of the prison itself, along with all the challenges and life-threatening dangers that it had posed.

The diary was published by Ransom just a few years after the civil war had ended. In the honor of those who have died at the prison, the soldier also included the names of the dead and even a “Recapitulation of the Deaths by State.”

The site of the prison itself is now the Andersonville National Historic Site. Made famous by the Andersonville Diary, as well as the countless deaths and broken lives that the overcrowded prison was responsible for during the war, the site is now an iconic reminder of the many horrors brought by the Civil War. Ransom’s Andersonville Diary is also a reminder that hope can always prevail even when one is set against the most difficult of odds, and survival seems slim.
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