World of Lost Spirits

When the inner gates swung open, new prisoners had their first vision of life inside, where the noise, stench, and crowd of emaciated men desperate for news could be overwhelming. New arrivals were known as "fresh fish," and anything of value, including money, buttons, and clothing, might be conned or stolen from them. Worse still was the sight of other prisoners, whose skeletal forms and lifeless eyes let a new prisoner foresee his own fate. On October 9, 1864, W.B. Smith of the 14th Illinois Infantry recalled men crying, "Is this hell?" as they saw gaunt, soot-begrimed figures in filthy tatters stalking about the pen like a world of lost spirits. Directly ahead stretched "Market Street," the only defined path through the jumble of shelters, where food wagons stopped, prisoners bartered, and prison merchants set up stalls in a pathetic parody of a commercial street. In August 1864, rations were issued to 33,000 prisoners.

Andersonville, Georgia · United States