This is a Document Based Question Exercise designed for fourth and fifth grade instruction. Its purpose is to educate students on one of the harshest conditions endured by Union soldiers during the American Civil War.
Why was Andersonville Prison so notorious?
Overview: During the American Civil War, the Confederate forces built a prisoner-of-war camp in the southwestern part of Georgia known as Andersonville Prison, or Camp Sumter. During this exercise you will look through various artifacts and documents which will help you determine why the prison was so notorious. At the end you will write an essay describing why you feel Andersonville Prison was so notorious. Your answers should be based on the information you found in the provided documents.
Directions
- Read Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco or click on the image below to watch a video narration of the book. When finished, go to the Book Backdrop page and answer the provided questions.
- Study each of the documents below in order to gain insight on the Andersonville prison.
- Answer the document analysis questions provided in each documents' webpages.
- When completed, gather your analysis and insight gained from the documents in order to write an essay answering the question: Why was Andersonville Prison so notorious?
- Use the essay resources to help you organize your ideas.
Book Backdrop
![Picture](/uploads/3/0/7/0/30700177/6233331.gif?107)
Get introduced to the time of the Civil War by reading this picture book centered around two young Union soldiers who end up in Andersonville Prison. Go to the Book Backdrop page after reading the book.
Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and Say. New York, NY: Philome.
Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and Say. New York, NY: Philome.
Documents
Document A: More Rebel Barabrities, article from American Presbyterian Newspaper, 1 September 1864 (Printed Material Source)
Document B: Letter from General Grant to General Butler (Political Document)
Document C: Letter to the editor, Macon Daily Telegraph, 21 May 1864 (Personal Document)
Document D: Personal account of Andersonville prisoner, Life and Death in Rebel Prisons. Hartford, pages 55-62 (Personal Document)
Document E: The Personal Experience of Henry Hernbaker Jr, The Horrors of the Andersonville Prison Pen (Personal Document)
Document F: Andersonville prison, Georgia. Group of prisoners. ca. 1864-1865 "Drawing of prisoners among tents, showing starvation, crowding, poor clothing among prisoners." (Visual Source)
Document G: Letter from the Secretary of War Ad Interim, in Answer to a Resolution of the House of April 16, 1866, Transmitting a Summary of the Trial of Henry Wirz, Part 1 pages 2-5 (Public Record Document)
Document H: Civil War POW Camp fatality graph (Graph)
Document I: Andersonville Memorial Dedication (Political Document)
Document J: Andersonville Prison Map (Map)
Document B: Letter from General Grant to General Butler (Political Document)
Document C: Letter to the editor, Macon Daily Telegraph, 21 May 1864 (Personal Document)
Document D: Personal account of Andersonville prisoner, Life and Death in Rebel Prisons. Hartford, pages 55-62 (Personal Document)
Document E: The Personal Experience of Henry Hernbaker Jr, The Horrors of the Andersonville Prison Pen (Personal Document)
Document F: Andersonville prison, Georgia. Group of prisoners. ca. 1864-1865 "Drawing of prisoners among tents, showing starvation, crowding, poor clothing among prisoners." (Visual Source)
Document G: Letter from the Secretary of War Ad Interim, in Answer to a Resolution of the House of April 16, 1866, Transmitting a Summary of the Trial of Henry Wirz, Part 1 pages 2-5 (Public Record Document)
Document H: Civil War POW Camp fatality graph (Graph)
Document I: Andersonville Memorial Dedication (Political Document)
Document J: Andersonville Prison Map (Map)