The Commandant's Perspective

From these heights near headquarters, Capt. Henry A. Wirz could observe everything within the prison walls. Envision the white post perimeter as the stockade; 30,000 human beings within that area; the din of all those voices, the groans from the hospital, the shouts of the guards, the smell of unwashed clothes and bodies.

Today's landscape of quiet grass softens for us the images of Andersonville. Wirz, the prison commandant, did not have that luxury.

National Park Service

Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.

Original page, with additional info, here.

Photo credit: Ken Moser.