The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-15
ANDERsONYiLLE TODAY.
Present State of the Old Stockade
Prison Ground.

ID orrors OF the Rebel Mana emenE-The
Famous Providence Spring Found by e
Federal Standardization Commons
West Street Gates to Go Upon the
Grounds.
| Correspondence of the Boston Trans
cript.
| EAtlanta, Ca, Feb. 10-The romantic
and historic site of the old Andersonville
prison, in which SO many brave Union
troops were confined during the Civil
War, is being rapidly restored and beauti-
lied through the efforts of the Women S
Relief. Corps, aided by the advisory board,
comprising number of the leading
members Of the Grand Army of the Re-
public resident in Georgia.
The site of Audersonville prison occu-
pies a lofty plateau lying between the
more fertile regions of Southwest Georgia
and the pine barrens Of the southern por
ton, constituting the most desolate feat
ures of that portion Of the South. Origi-
nally the native forest included within
the prison precincts was composed of
stunted black jack oaks and gaunt and
stalwart pines that overshadowed a soil
of sterile sands through which the waters
of the 1neagre streams percolated slowly
during the wet seasons, but became al
most, if not quite entirely, dry during
the heat of summer.
A rough stockade of pitohpine slabs
surrounded the encampment, and inside
that palisade was what had been marked
as the ''dead line, across which no man
might set his foot without meeting dis
charge from the rifles of the Confederate
sentinels posted at convenient intervals.
1t was place of imprisonment suf-
ficiently dismal and dreary to appall the
stoutest heart, and yet there were men
incarcerated there who never lost hope,
and who are still living to attest to the
horrors Of life in that terrible place.
Some were shot down during their des-
perate attempts to make their escape from
captivity, but many more died from the
scanty rations and the horrors incident
TO imprisonment in such a place. There
were q few who were fortunate enough to
escape, and thousands who were liberated
by the rescuers of the advancing army af-
ter the capture of Atlanta.
1t has been left to the survivors and
other patriotic citizens 10 attempt to up
build monument there that will last for
all time as q reminder of what were the
sufferings of the men imprisoned in An
Jacksonville during the troublous times of
the war. Not far distant from the con-
fines of the old prison grounds is the Ma
tonal Cemetery, which is under the su-
perintendency OF Colonel Thomas Frame,
who has kept tho grounds where the he
roes of the Union lie buried many of
them in unknown graves, in good state
of preservation, and who is now asso
ciated with Captain James =. Averill,
department. commander of the Grand
Army Of the Republic, Of the department
of Georgia, and Major W. W. DeHaven
of Macon, Ga, as an advisory board of
the board of managers OF the Anderson
vile Prison property comuitreo of the
Womens Relief Corps OF The department.
AS ex-officio mem hers of the same COM
nittee are Colonel John S. Goblin OF Leb-
anon, Pa, communicating CHIEF of the
Grand Army of the Republic; Mrs. Sarah
j. Martin OF Brookfield Mo-, national
president of the Women's Relief Corps;
Charles K. Darling, commander n-chief
of the Sons of Veterans, and Charles Z.
Sheriff, commander tx Prisoners of War
Association.
The board of managers of Anderson
vile Prison property consists of Mrs.
Elizabeth A Turner, chairman, Boston,
Mass. Annie Wittenmeyer, Saratoga,
Pa; ANNA R., Wallace, Chicago. Iii.
Margaret Il. Wilkins. Wilmington, ILL.,,
and Sarah J. Winans, Toledo, o.
The beginning ofj the improvements
which are now in progress, intended to
tn q Tnp nf fhn CnfYa-. fr,rs
of Union prisoners, WAS begun at the
meeting of the Grand Army in ST. Paul,
Mimi. In 1896, when Captain Averill rec
commended the purchase of an additional
tract of fourteen and one-half acres, so as
to take in allathe old forts attached to the
prison grounds, which had been left out
when the original lot was purchased by
the United States government.
He was instructed to make the pur-
chase, and did so, adding some of the
most historic surroundings to the lot al
ready purchased, and making it possible
to almost re-estab lish the old outlines of
the prison grounds. AT the nesting in
Buffalo last September it was decided
that the business Of looking after the
grounds should be turned over to the
Women's Relief Corps, and the board
above mentioned, with Mrs. Lizabsth
Williams, of Boston, as chairman, was
appointed, with the gentlemen mentioned
as an advisory cOmm1Gtee TO fsslSt the Ia
dies in the work.
Captain Averill has devoted % great
deal of time and attention to the work of
improvement on the old prison grounds,
and he has SO far succeeded that hand
some wire fence has been erected around
the entire trace Of So 30 acres, included
in the grounds, and plans have been made
for the principal lodge, which will be oc-
oupied BY William W. Williams as care
taker, an old veteran Of the Union armies
and a 1nembe of the Grand Army.
The building will be two-story resi-
dence of nine rooms, and will be erected
ut q cost of $500. 1t will be completed
by April 1, and will be sufficiently capa-
cious to give accommodations to visitors.
1t will be near the northwest gate,
which is constructed at the entrance of
the beautiful driveway between the Ma
tionaI Cemetery and the old prison
grounds, and the caretaker will be paid
q small salary, and given his quarters
rent free for looking after the building
and directing visitors to the principal
points Of interest within the prison
grounds.
Although 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