Andersonville Research

A sobering couple of days in Andersonville, however we stayed down the road in Americus, GA and we were met with a surprise upon our arrival.  My old partner in RPD -- Fred Chidsey also stopped in town on the same day and they were staying in the same hotel. What are the chances of that happening?  A great reunion!  We met with former Americus Police Chief Mark Gerbino for a couple of good days.

Emily, Fred, Mike and Ann

We conducted five hours of research at Andersonville with a very knowledgeable and interesting researcher. We had some hopeful moments but in the end we did not identify the prisoner (Thomas) that we were looking for.

There are 460 unknown soldiers buried at Andersonville, which is likely that Thomas is one of them. 

 This place is sacred ground for the 13,000 prisoners that died here over the 14 months that it was in operation.  They built (??) the prison on open ground (no shelter, prisoners had to provide their own shelter with a shirt, jacket or personally dug hole).

In the basin of the two slopes, a trickle of a creek flows through for prisoner use – washing, drinking, and bathing. Today, this is the warning:

On a lighter note, the girls are enjoying this historical pilgrimage, even though Funia does not want to get out of the air-conditioned car very often.