Fact1: group of Union soldiers being captured to surrender at Cold Harbor, Fact2: Antietam explains grim realities of daily existence in camp, Fact3: watch tower to trade contradicts rules of camp, Fact4: compelled by need and in macabre type of game in next watch tower shoot him dead, Fact5: most escapees In are in camp very short time
Output: The film begins with a group of Union soldiers being captured and forced to surrender at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864. They are transported to prisonerofwar Camp Sumter, near Andersonville, Georgia. When they enter, they discover a former comrade, named Dick Potter, who was captured at Antietam, who explains the grim realities of daily existence in the camp – primarily the lack of shelter, clean water, and regular food supplies. He also states the danger of a rogue group of Union soldiers, called the Raiders, who hoard the camps meager rations, and lure unsuspecting fresh fish – newly captured soldiers – into their area of the camp, to attack and rob them. With every ablebodied man required for fighting, young teenagers and old men are used as guards. At one watch tower, manned by two young guards, a Union soldier offers money for some corn. He is instructed to step over the dead line fence and approach the watch tower to trade, which contradicts the rules of the camp. But reluctantly, compelled by need, the soldier steps over the line, and in a macabre type of game the soldiers in the next watch tower shoot him dead. As the story unfolds, the unit captured at the beginning of the film ally with some inmates, and help them by working on their tunnel under the stockade wall. Eventually it is complete, but one man tries to inform the guards, in hope of receiving a reward. He is captured and TT meaning tunnel traitor is cut into his forehead as a warning. The escape is attempted one night, and all goes well until the last man is spotted and shot, and the dogs are unleashed. In a very short time, most escapees are back in the camp and placed in standing stocks as punishment. The situation with the Raiders eventually becomes unbearable, as group after group of new prisoners are targeted upon arrival. Night raids are made, with possessions being taken from tents and prisoners injured or killed by the Raiders. After a banjo is stolen, one man fights to get it back but is badly beaten. Things progressively get worse until finally one man decides he has seen enough of the vultures out to rob and murder the new boys. He rallies support from the disparate groups, and within minutes hundreds of his comrades are charging the Raiders camp. A massive and deadly riot ensues. In the end the Raiders are beaten, stolen goods are redistributed to their owners, but many want them all hanged outright. But upon the insistence of a few, a request for a legitimate trial is made to Captain Wirz, the Confederate commander of the prison camp. A trial is held, with a jury made up of new internees, which ultimately results in the six ringleaders being found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. After the executions life becomes relatively peaceful, but the cold reality of starvation, and lack of sanitation or medical care, begins to set in as emaciation, dysentery, scurvy, and fever take their toll, causing many to die. As the film ends, an announcement is made by Wirz that all prisoners are to be exchanged – the surviving Federal soldiers leave the camp, filing past their dead comrades on the way to the trains. Against a view of the presentday Andersonville National Cemetery, the movies end coda reads: