While most people interested in Civil War history have heard of the horrible conditions at the prison camp located in Andersonville, Georgia, at Camp Sumter, it is a little known fact that the Union troops held there received the same medical care and rations as the Confederate soldiers in the field. Union soldiers were imprisoned at Andersonville starting in 1864. Following several failed attempts at negotiating prisoner exchanges, over 15,000 men, Confederate and Union, died in the course of one year. While there has been much written about Andersonville, this book presents seldom-seen documentation from the Confederates who ran the camp, as well as discussions by contemporary historians.

"Among the most disturbing scenes found in American history are the stark images of Union soldiers newly released from Andersonville. Those gaunt, malnourished prisoners of war--now displayed for all posterity as if they were living skeletons in a carnival sideshow--continue to evoke feelings of utter shock, profound sadness, and bitter regret." --from the Prologue, "Andersonville Revisited"Andersonville is remembered for several reasons, among them, the total of 12,912 Union prisoners and 250 Confederate guards who died there between February, 1864 and April, 1865. No other American POW camp received as much publicity as Andersonville, with the U.S. Department of War even circulating photographs of emaciated prisoners, which were reprinted in history texts. Seldom did there appear a mention of the fact that Union soldiers imprisoned there received the same medical care and rations as Confederate soldiers in the field.While there has been much written about Andersonville, this book presents seldom-seen documentation from Confederates familiar with the camp, as well as discussions by contemporary historians. This book is an effort to clarify the troubling questions that remain about the camp: How could this tragedy have happened? And who was to blame?