Andersonville Prison Camp

Andersonville, or Camp Sumter, as the Union called it, was a gruesome place. It was a prison camp run by the dreaded Henry Wirz. Wirz was a man who did not care about the way his prisoners had to live, and eventually was executed due to inhumane treatment of war prisoners. The prisoners had a town system, with little shacks called shebangs that were built out of anything available to the occupants of the prison. People sold anything they could, such as parts of their food rations, or tobacco. There was no sanitation, and the prisoners tried their best to wash themselves with sand. The bodies of dead and dying men were littered about, picked up by a wagon every morning. The very same wagon would bring back the bread for the prisoners, which was their only food other than small rations of uncooked beans or meat. Many people in Andersonville were desperate for a better lifestyle, and would go crazy waiting to get wood (to make a fire with) and take clothes off of dead men, either to make their shebangs warmer or to wear them themselves. Prisoners would have almost no chance of escape, as the guards were very smart and knew the tactics prisoners would use to attempt and escape.
Some healthy prisoners would help the dying ones.
Image from: http://www.nps.gov/ande/forteachers/classrooms/lp-medicalwebquest.htm