The Prison Hospital Third Hospital
This empty field was the site of Andersonville's third and last hospital. There were two previous hospitals within nine months.
It did not take prisoners long to realize that few patients returned.
Knowing that medicines were in short supply, even the sickest men resisted going to the hospital. They preferred to die among friends and regimental comrades.
The third hospital was a cluster of open barracks-like sheds, with a surrounding stockade. Historical maps pinpoint the hospital site.
" Then hospital is a tough place to be in. ...In some cases before a man is fairly dead, he is stripped of everything, coat, pants, shirt, finger rings (if he has any). These the nurses trade to the guards."
John L. Ranston, 9th Michigan Cavalry
April 15, 1864
Prison conditions were so unsanitary that the slightest scratch could provide an entry for deadly microbes. Doctors experimented with local herbs and folk remedies in a desperate attempt to combat rampant infections.
National Park Service
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Ken Moser.