The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-07-02
TOBEAUTIFY APRISON
ANDERSONVILLE TO BE PUT I'M
PERFECT REPAIR.
Providence Well" Still Runs-Men and
Women Who Do Honor to the
Memory of the Brave Boys Who Died
There, 81

Memory of the Brave Boys Who Died
There. 81
The romantic and historic side Of the
old Andersonville prison, in which SO
many brave union troops were con-
fined during the civil war, is being
rapidly restored and beautifed through
the efforts of the Woman's Relief corps,
aided by the advisory board, compris-
ing a number of the leading members
OF the Grand Army of the Republic res
ident in Georgia, says the Boston Tran
script. The site of Andersonville pris-
on occupies a lofty plateau lying be-
! tween the more fertile regions of
southwest Georgia and the pine barrens
Of the southern portion, constituting
the most desolate features of that por-
ton of the south. A rough stockade of
pitch-pine slabs surrounded the en-
campment, and inside that palisade
was what had been marked as the
dead line" across which no man
might set his foot without meeting a
discharge from the rifles of the con-
federate sentinels posted at convent
~N1 IL Nhio' IL q DCCh iCIl " bhO
survivors and other patriotic citizens
to attempt to upbuild a monument
there that will last for all time as a
reminder of what were the sufferings
of the men imprisoned in Andersonville
during the troublesome times of the
war. Not far distant from the con-
fines of the old prison grounds is the
| National oanoo+oru which ic undar the
SUPPLEMENTARY of Col. Thomas
Frame, who has kept the grounds
where the heroes of the union lie bur-
led, many of them in unknown graves,
in a good state of preservation, and
who is now associated with Capt.
James P. Averill, department comman-
der of the Grand Army of the Republic
of the department Of Georgia, and Maj.
W. w. De Haven Of Macon, Ga, as an
advisory board of managers of the An
Jacksonville prison property committee
of the Woman's Relief corps of the de-
partment. The beginning of the i'm
provements which are now in progress
was begun at the meeting of the Grand
Army in st. Paul, Mimi, in 1886, when
Capt. Averill recommended the pur-
chase of an additional tract of fourteen
and one-half acres, so as to take in
all the old forts attached to the prison
grounds, which had been left out when
the original lot was purchased by the
United States government. At the
meeting in Buffaso last September it
was decided that The business of look
ing after the grounds should be turned
over to the Women's Relief Corps and
the board above mentioned, with Mrs.
Elizabeth Williams of Boston as chair
man, was appointed with the gentle
men mentioned as an advisory commit
tee to assist the ladies in the work. A
handsome wire fence has been erected
around the entire tract of lightweight
and t~wo-tenths acres, included in the
grounds, and plans have been made for
the principal lodge, which will be occu-
pied as caretaker by an old veteran of
the union armies n a member of the
Grand Army. The huilding will be a
two-story residence of nine rooms, and
will be erected at a cost of $1,700. 1t
will be completed this spring and will
be sufficiently capacious to give accom-
modations to visitors. 1t will be near
the northwest gate, which is construct
ed at the entrance of the beautiful
driveway between the National ceme-
terry and the old prison grounds, and
the caretaker will be paid a small sal
airy and given his quarters rent free for
looking after the building and directing
visitors to the principal points of in
terest within the prison grounds. AL
though the poor captives dug up the
very roots of the tall pines that sighed
and shivered above their environments
during those terrible days and used
them for irewood, the different wells
dug throughout the grounds are still
easily located, each by a little copse of
shrubbery and underground left even
after the United States government had
cleared off the grounds most of the
underground and every one of those
wells will be preserved by the board of
managers. They are usually from ten
to twelve feet in depth and were dug in
the hard soil of that barren region dur
ing the hot summer months for the
sake of affording water to the suffering
prisoners. In this connection it is we'll
to note that the famous providence
Spring." which was discovered by a
federal prisoner, who had been reduced
to the last extremity, while in search
of water and which is reputed to have
gushed up from the margin of the little,
uncertain stream traversing the en-
campment, will be protected by an ele-
CANT marble basin and an appropriate
monument placed above it. When it
was first discovered, being near the
dead line" the prisoners braved death
from the bullets of the confederate
guards for the sake of a cooling
draught from this grateful fountain.
The tiny stream had been drunken dry
by the men in their search for water
and when the soldier reported that he
had discovered a spring of refreshing
water there was a general rush to the
spot and it is said hat the confederate
sentinels, thinking that the prisoners
meditated a bold attempt at escape,
shot into the crowd and killed several
of the unfortunate men before the mis-
take was discovered.