Under the Old Flag: January 2012

Last week, I visited Andersonville National Hist oric Site, a very interesting and harrowing place. The original prison decayed to nothing long ago, but recreations of some of the walls, a gate and the "shebangs", the improvised tent structures, give a general idea of what the prison would have looked like without the throngs of people and general human misery. Attached to the site is a national cemetery, where the more than 13,000 United States prisoners who died during their incarceration were buried.

The site has particular significance to me because of the history of the regiment of my third great grandfather, Stephen Hilborn Avery. His regiment, the 22nd Michigan Infantry, suffered terrible losses at the Battle of Chickamauga. While Stephen Avery somehow managed to make it through, many others in his company and regiment were captured by Confederate soldiers and ended up in Andersonville. There are 18 soldiers from his company, Co. K., listed as prisoner, of which ten are buried in the cemetery. You can find a database of Andersonville prisoners here on the National Parks website.

Prisoners in Andersonville from 22nd Michigan Inf., Co. K:

James Acker