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Collection Reference Number GLC06999.38
From Archive Folder Photographs and documents relating to Andersonville Prison 
Title Descriptions of A. J. Riddle's photographs
Date ca.1880
Author Goss, Warren (fl. ca. 1864-1880)  
Document Type Miscellany
Content Description Notes, with autograph corrections, containing detailed descriptions of nine Riddle photographs. 9 p. His numbers correspond to those in this collection as follows: #1 (item #1), #2 (items #2-3), #3 (item #4), #4 (item #5), #5 (items #6-7), #6 (items #8-9), #7 (items #10-12), #8 (item #13), and #9 (item #14).
Subjects Civil War  Military History  Union Forces  Confederate States of America  Prison Camp  Atrocity  Prisoner of War  
People Riddle, A. J. (1828-1897)  Goss, Warren (fl. ca. 1864-1880)  
Place written s.l.
Theme The American Civil War
Sub-collection Papers and Images of the American Civil War
Additional Information Archive Folder information: Collection of 41 items primarily concerning Andersonville Prison, although other Southern prisons, such as Castle Thunder and Libby Prison (both located in Richmond, Va.), are also briefly documented here. Andersonville Prison, located in Andersonville, Ga., housed Union enlisted troops incarcerated by Confederate forces, and operated from 25 February 1864 to late April 1865. Officially designated as Camp Sumter, it held more than 33,000 prisoners, while its cemetery provided graves for 12,000, although actual death toll may have been much higher. Notorious for its unsavory living conditions, the average amount of space per man ranged from approximately 40.5 square feet to just over 33 square feet, with no sanitation and no shelter. Captain Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville, was tried, convicted, and executed upon the close of the prison in 1865. Confederate Military Photographer Andrew Jackson Riddle, of Macon, Ga., arrived at Andersonville on 16 August 1864 to photograph General John Winder and Captain Henry Wirz. While at prison headquarters, he attempted to document the prison conditions, and these images attest to the harshness and brutality of life at Andersonville. He was aided by Warren L. Goss, a Union prisoner from Massachusetts, whose typewritten notes and manuscript maps survive in the latter portion of this collection. The images contained here include both Riddle's work, as well as images attributed to the studios of Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady. The Riddle photographs also appear in several versions here, and some bear artistic embellishment with either ink or paint. These alterations may date from the period when the photographs were owned by the Century Co., and were perhaps used as a source for illustrations. Many of these photographs bear ownership stamps of that company, as well as cropping marks and other notations.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945