Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1868-04-25
AndePsonvile.

The following interesting account of
recent visit to the Prison, Pen at An
dersonville is from a letter written by
lady now at the South.
We reached this place yesterday noon,
from Macon. After dinner we started
out to visit that horrible place, the stock
ade where so many thousands of our
brave soldiers suffered, and too many,
alas of them were buried.
On our way to the stockade we cross
small running stream, which we could
almost leap across, anc yet it was the
only one which gave drink to our thirs-
ty ones. At the moment L remarked,
show clear aud pure the water is, but
was ren,nded of the many purposes to
which it was put, as it ran through the
outer enclosure fist, where the troops
doing guard duty were stationated, and
where all the refuse of their kitchens,
or rather cooking, was thrown: in whie h
they washed their cloths; and then our
men were obliged to drink it. y 81
y on will have some idea of the en-
closure from having seen the Elnira
prison, thouhg this is much stronger and
higher. II covers thirty-fye acres Of
ground, and atone time there were thlr-
ty-three thousand men imprisoned
which, of course, necessitated their
crowding together so closely that from
distance they looked like q sea of blue
moving two and fre. But you have no
ideas CT the ways they devised ,to-not
be comfortable-but live. The ground
would remind you of an old cemetery
where the bodies had been disinterred,
the appearance being caused by the hole
which they dug to lie in. And what
would you say to their building houses
two and three stories highland yet
they did-under. the ground. At inter
walls are holes ike wells dug deep in the
ground they are FIVE or six fees iii di-
ameter and so oevenly excavated that it
| is hard to believe that the only tools us
ed were plates, sticks and their hands.
| We measured one, and it was twenty
four feet in depth and from the bottom
of it branched off avenues leading to
their rooms and this they had to do
to have room to lie down. The means
of decending was by sticks driven IN
1 lllC SlNiS VI lIlC SiidiG IISIS ttiib bhNiN'
When the first prisoners came here 1T
was covered with trees, but not even
small root is left in the earth now. Al
ter the trees were used the prisoners
suffered for fuel, while the eye commands
whole forests of pine only just outside,
which they could have If their keeper
had not been a fiend.
From the stockade we went to the
cemetery. The one which was tirst lald
out is to be entirely replaced by a. very
beautiful one which is already being rap
ildv advanced. 1t will be second Cen
trial Park, with its broad avenues and
artificial lakes, fit resting place for our
fallen at Andersonville. The present one
is very pretty and s:mple-but the work
was not well done, and already shows
signs of decay. The dead lie as they
were first buried. Long trenches were
dug each day, and they were brought
and Mroeols IL without coffins or cloth
inc. The head boards are arranged one
after the other as closely as they can be
placed, all nicely painted white, with
name, regiment and company upon 1t,
thoug it is quite impossible that the