October 27, 1863
United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton halts the exchange of prisoners of war, causing pow populations to begin a sharp rise.
October 28, 1863
Robert E. Lee recommends that Union prisoners held in Virginia be transferred further south.
November 24, 1863
Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon orders Captain W. S. Winder to meet with Georgia officials and select a place in the state for a new Confederate prisoner of war camp.
December 21, 1863
Captain orders construction of 16.5 acre Camp Sumter to begin near the village of Andersonville in Sumter County, Georgia.
February 25, 1864
The first 500 Union prisoners arrive at Andersonville by rail from Richmond and are housed in the partially completed stockade, lacking sanitary facilities.
February 29, 1964
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Persons takes temporary charge of Camp Sumter.
March 16, 1864
Persons orders troops at Camp Sumter to avoid speaking with prisoners except for official business.
March 20 1964
The 15 foot high rectangular log stockade is completed. The Reserve Corps of Georgia, including mostly boys under age 17 and men over age 50, serves as the main guard force.
March 27, 1864
Captain Heinrich Hartmann ( Henry ) Wirz, takes charge as prison commandant. The commandant is the officer with direct charge over prisoners.
March 31, 1864
Andersonville now hold about 8,000 inmates, and rations, lumber, bedding, and medical supplies are running short.
April 26, 1864
Chief Surgeon Isaiah White notifies Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Moore that 718 of the 2,697 patients in the prison hospital have died due to a lack of supplies and unsanitary conditions.
May 8, 1864
Wirz reports to Confederate authorities that the cramped and filthy stockade now holds 12,213 inmates and should be enlarged.
Mid-May 1864
The population at the camp approaches 20,000.
May 15, 1864
According to charges, Wirz orders a guard to shoot a prisoner, causing his death (specification 8).
May 22, 1864
The inmate hospital, previously located inside the stockade, is relocated southeast of the prison in an oak grove, providing somewhat conditions for the 1,250 patients.
May 25, 1864
Wirz posts a sign stating that a group of prisoners are a mass escape. The sign says that if attempted, cannons will open fire into the prison.
May 26, 1864
A Confederate inspector reports to Richmond that Wirz is doing a good job, but that conditions in the camp are terrible, with water unfit for drinking and bathing.
May 30, 1864
According to charges, Wirz shoots and kills a prisoner (specification 4).
June 13, 1864
According to charges, Wirz shoots and kills a prisoner (specification 3).
June 15, 1864
Chief Surgeon White appoints Union prisoner of war to keep a register of the name, regiment, burial place, and date and cause of death of each inmate who dies at Camp Sumter.
June 17, 1864
Brigadier General and Confederate Commander of Military Prisons John H. Winder takes command of Camp Sumter, relieving Persons.
June 22, 1864
Post Commander Winder sends a message to Major General and Georgia Reserves Commander Howell Cobb urging him to send more men to serve as guards and to not send additional prisoners to the stockade.
June 23, 1864
Georgia Reserves private James Anderson writes President Jefferson Davis that guards in the pigeon roosts (guard stations) are shooting prisoners in the stockade who have not crossed the “deadline.”
June 29, 1864
The six leaders of “the Raiders,” a group of prisoners who robbed and killed fellow inmates, are captured and confined to the stocks until a trial can be arranged.
June 30, 1864
Andersonville is enlarged to 26.5 acres. The camp now holds about 25,000 prisoners.
July 1, 1864
According to charges, Wirz orders hounds to attack a prisoner, causing the prisoner's death (specification 11). Also according to charges, Wirz orders a guard to shoot a prisoner, causing his death (specification 9).
July 8, 1864
According to charges, Wirz shoots and kills a prisoner (specification 2).
July 9, 1864
Winder sends a message to Richmond desperately demanding reinforcements, claiming that the guard force at Camp Sumter is undisciplined and on the verge of desertion.
July 10, 1864
Winder approves the hanging of the six ring leaders of the Raiders prison gang.
July 20, 1864
According to charges, Wirz orders some prisoners to be put into a chain-gang, causing the death of one prisoner (specification 7).
Sketch of Andersonville prisoners in chaing-gang.
July 25, 1864
Winder writes to Richmond, urging that 20,000 prisoners at Andersonville should be moved immediately to other locations. The camp population at the time is about 29,000.
July 27, 1864
Fearing an attack on Camp Sumter by Union cavalry forces, Winder orders construction of Star Fort southwest of the stockade....According to charges, Wirz orders a guard to shoot a prisoner, causing his death (specification 12).
July 28, 1864
CSA Secretary of War James A. Seddon orders that no more prisoners be sent to Camp Sumter, but new prisoners captured at the Battle of Atlanta arrive at the stockade.
July 31, 1864
Well over 6,000 of the 30,000 prisoners are sick with scurvy, gangrene, and dysentery. Prisoners are dying at a rate of about 100 per day.
August 3, 1864
According to charges, Wirz beats a prisoner with a revolver causing his death (specification 13).
August 4- 20, 1864
Wirz is not in Andersonville during this period of time.
August 10, 1864
Confederate Agent of Exchange Judge Robert Ould notifies Union authorities that the South will unilaterally release a number of prisoners of war from Camp Sumter if transportation is provided to take them home. It will be two weeks before the US Government responds.
August 13, 1864
A new source of fresh water appears near a washed out portion of the stockade wall. The prisoners call the new spring “Providence Spring.”
August 20, 1864
According to charges, Wirz orders a guard to shoot a prisoner, causing his death (specification 10).
August 21, 1864
Union Brigadier General T. Seymour, appointed by the War Department to investigate military prison conditions in the South, recommends against initiating a prisoner exchange.
August 24, 1864
Union Major General and Agent of Exchange Benjamin Butler informs the CSA that the United States refuses to exchange Southern prisoners of war because of allegations that the Confederacy mistreats captured Negro soldiers, and refuses to include them in prisoner exchanges.
August 31, 1864
Prisoner of war George W. Gray and guard Nazareth Allen observe that an inmate has died while confined in the stocks under the order of Wirz.
Early September 1864
Wirz, according to tthe testimony of George Gray, shoots and kills Union soldier and prisoner William Stewart. This murder is recounting in more detail than any other at the trial.
September 5, 1864
The mass transfer of Union prisoners begins from Andersonville to other camps in South Carolina and Georgia. The inmate population at Camp Sumter will drop to 5,000 by October.
September 15, 1864
Conditions in Andersonville begin to slowly improve with better barracks and a better privy situation.
September 24, 1864
Wirz writes to Winder in an attempt to rebut the reports of horrible prison conditions made by a CSA inspector.
October 8, 1864
Camp Sumter Commander John Winder is transferred and replaced by Colonel George Gibbs, Captain J. H. Wright, and Dr. Randolph Stevenson.
October 19, 1864
Dr. Joseph Jones, a Confederate pathologist assigned to Camp Sumter, reports to Surgeon General Samuel Moore that the prisoner death rate at Andersonville of nearly 25% was due mainly to dysentery, scurvy, and gangrene, caused by poor rations, lack of medicine, and unsanitary water.
November 30, 1864
The prisoner of war population drops to about 1,500. Escapes are a frequent occurrence.
January 24, 1865
CSA Adjutant General Samuel Cooper orders the release all prisoners held in irons, as Federal authorities agree to do the same.
February 1, 1865
According to charges, Wirz puts a prisoner in the stocks, leading to his death (specification 6).
February 6, 1865
Brigadier General John Winder dies of a heart attack and is succeeded by Major General Gideon J. Pillow as Commander of Confederate Military Prisons.
March 15, 1865
In accordance with an agreement between Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate Agent of Exchange Judge Robert Ould, prisoner exchanges resume. Henry Wirz hhparoles Camp Sumter prisoners for exchange at an agreed location in Mississippi.
April 9, 1865
Robert E. Lee surrenders the army of northern Virginia. The war, for all practical purposes, is over.
April 26, 1865
John Wilkes Booth is shot to death by Boston Corbett, a former Union prisoner of war at Camp Sumter.
End of April, 1865
Among the few remaining prisoners of war too sick to be exchanged, the last of the 12,912 inmates to die at Camp Sumter is buried. Andersonville is closed.
May 7, 1865
Henry Wirz is arrested at Andersonville by U. S. Captain N. E. Noyes under orders of Major General James H. Wilson, on charges of murdering Union prisoners of war. Wirz claims he is exempt from prosecution under the terms of surrender.
May 8, 1865
Wirz writes U. S. Major General James H. Wilson claiming he had done nothing wrong and asks for safe conduct. He says he hopes to return to Switzerland with his family.
May 12, 1865
Camp Sumter commander George C. Gibbs writes U. S. General E. M. McCook to say that Wirz, and not he, had direct control over prisoners. Gibbs says that he never had direct contact with the inmates.
May 31, 1865
Assistant Adjutant General E. D. Townsend directs Major General C. C. Auger to take charge of Wirz. Wirz is confined in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D. C., awaiting his trial.
August 21, 1865
The Special Military Commission meets for the first time.
August 23, 1865
Henry Wirz is brought to trial before the Special Military Commission, a panel of 8 high ranking U. S. Army officers. The Commission’s president is Major General Lew Wallace. Wirz is charged with murdering and conspiring to murder prisoners of war at Andersonville.
August 27, 1865
Wirz, sends a letter to the New York News. He claims that he did not mistreat prisoners and that the conditions at Andersonville were beyond his control.
September 20, 1865
Andersonville area native Ambrose Spencer testifies at the trial of Henry Wirz. He says that food was available in Andersonville area, but that Wirz refused to allow local produce to be fed to the inmates.
September 22, 1865
Prosecution witness George Gray provides the most damaging evidence against Wirz, describing in detail Wirz's shooting of a prisoner named William Stewart.
October 19, 1865
Felix de la Baume presents testimony against Wirz, testifying that he saw Wirz murder a prisoner.
October 21, 1865
A Harper’s Weekly story on the trial reports that compelling testimony points to the guilt and near certain conviction of Wirz.
October 22, 1865
Judge Advocate Colonel N. P. Chipman introduces evidence and testimony to the Special Military Commission trying Henry Wirz concerning the killing of prisoners, presenting former Andersonville inmates who swear under oath that they saw Wirz commit murder and order others to do so.
October 24, 1865
The trial of Henry Wirz ends.
October 26, 1865
Louis Schade, defense attorney for Henry Wirz, pleads to President Andrew Johnson not to execute his client. He points to improper procedures in the trial and argues that the Military Commission excluded potentially exculpatory testimony.
October 31, 1865
Judge Advocate General J. Holt announces the verdict of the Special Military Commission. Wirz is found guilty of murdering and conspiring to murder Union prisoners. He is sentenced to death by hanging. The findings and sentence are sent to President Andrew Johnson for his review.
November 6, 1865
Henry Wirz writes President Andrew Johnson asking for either an executive pardon or an immediate execution.
November 9, 1865
President Andrew Johnson authorizes the execution of Henry Wirz.
November 10, 1865
Wirz is hanged at 10:32 a.m. He proclaims his innocence to the end. At the execution, Union soldiers chant, "Remember Andersonville."
November 11, 1865
Wirz is buried at the Arsenal Grounds near Washington, D. C., next to the grave of one of the recently executed Lincoln assassination conspirators, George Atzerodt.
November 21, 1865
Felix de la Baume, a prosecution witness in the Wirz trial and self-proclaimed survivor of Andersonville prison, is discovered to be Felix Oeser, a Union deserter. who almost certainly fabricated his testimony.
October 1970
Andersonville is designated a National Historic Site by Congress.
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