Andersonville Heroes

Working at a museum affords one the interesting opportunity to tell untold stories, or rather, unearth stories that have been forgotten –this is one.

In the Museum’s collections is a newspaper clipping dated May 30, 1865 from the Chicago Tribune with the headline “The Andersonville Martyrs: List of Illinois Troops Who Starved in Prison at Andersonville, Ga., from March 7, 1864 to January 1, 1865.”

“Prison” is a loose term –Andersonville was a 26.5 acre walled camp with minimal shelter, contaminated water, and rampant disease. 45,000 Union prisoners were held there; 12,920 died and were buried in a cemetery just outside its walls.

I was surprised to see in the article the names of nine men from Bureau