Andersonville: The Southern Perspective Paperback - 2002

From the publisher

"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?