Surviving Andersonville

This is a documentary work offering a first-person account of a Union soldier’s daily adversity while a prisoner of war from 20 September 1863 to 4 June 1865. In 1891, while a patient at the Leavenworth National Home, Irish immigrant Edward Glennan began to write down his experiences in vivid detail, describing the months of malnutrition, exposure, disease and self-doubt. The first six months Glennan was incarcerated at Libby and Danville prisons in Virginia.
On 20 March 1864, Glennan entered Camp Sumter, located near Andersonville, Georgia. He reminisced about the events of his eight-month captivity at Andersonville, such as the hanging of the Raider Six, escape tunnels, gambling, trading, ration wagons, and disease. Afflicted with scurvy, Glennan nearly lost his ability to walk. To increase his chances for survival, he skillfully befriended other prisoners, sharing resources acquired through trade, theft and trickery. His friends left him either by parole or death. On 14 November 1864, Glennan was transported from Andersonville to Camp Parole in Maryland; there he remained until his discharge on 4 June 1865.

David A. Ranzan is the University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.

Ed Glennan. Edited by David A. Ranzan
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 224
Bibliographic Info: 22 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7361-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0576-0
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface  1

Introduction by David A. Ranzan  5

One. September 1863 to March 1864  13

Two. March to October 1864  84

Three. October to June 1865  150

Chapter Notes  197

Bibliography  209

Index  213