Wheeler Family - Andersonville

This was found on 22 October 2022, documenting on the NPS.gov the imprisonment of Barney Wheeler. Barney was Lydia Fisher's last husband. I have read in the testimony of Lydia Fisher, that he was a drinker of alcohol. He worked as a cook in town.

Apparently he was asked by the town of Sycamore to leave the vicinity. I believe that he was never seen in the area again.

The notation regarding Barney Wheeler reads as follows:

Held at Andersonville and survived.

Prisoner Location
Andersonville

Location: Illinois [I believe that this was his home state.]

The Website for Andersonville is:https://www.nps.gov/ande/learn/historyculture/camp_sumter.htm

The official name of Andersonville Prison was Camp Sumter in honor of the county it was located in. The prisoners had been moved from nearby Richmond Virginia. 

The prison covers 16.5 acres.

The camp was opened in February o 1864. 400 prisoners arrived daily.

 Andersonville 's size was enlarged to 26.5 acres due to overpopulation. At one time the camp held 33,000 prisoners. The camp was opened in February 1864. 400 prisoners arrived daily.

45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned at Andersonville. 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding or exposure.

The "deadline" was then area closest to the outer fence. The area was the 19 feet inside the wall. If a prison stepped over the line, the guards were allowed to shoot the prisoner.

I have read that the Confederates did not have enough food, clothing and medical care for the their own soldiers, the prisoners were lower in priority that the Confederates.

As General Sherman's Union forces occupied Atlanta on 2 September 1864, the prisoners were moved into South Carolina and Coastal Georgia. [Watch Gone with the Wind for a filming of the escape from Atlanta.]

Captain Henry Wirz was tried and found guilty by a military tribunal. He was hanged in Washing, D.C. on November 10, 1865       

Clara Barton and Dorence Atwater [a former prisoner at  Andersonville] worked to identify and mark the graves of the Union dead, transforming the grounds into a cemetery. Only 460 union soldiers out of the 'dead' population were marked as "unknown Union Soldier".

Andersonville was sold to the Woman's Relief Corps [WRC] which was the national auxiliary of the GAR [Grand Army of the Republic.]

In 1910 the WRC donated the site to the people of the United States, administers by the War Department and its successor, the Department of the Army. It was designated a national historic site by Congress in October 1970. It  has been administered by the National Park Service since 1971.

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