The Deadliest Prison in American History Killed 13,000 Union Soldiers

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Did you know that the deadliest prison in American history wasn't run by criminals, but by Confederate soldiers who turned torture into a science?

[00:00:08]Welcome to Andersonville prison in Georgia, where 45,000 Union soldiers were crammed into 26 acres of hell. No shelter, no clean water, no mercy.

[00:00:18]Confederate forces designed this camp to kill slowly. They marked a line 20 feet from the fence and shot anyone who crossed it. They called it the deadline for good reason. 13,000 men died in just 14 [music] months. The lucky ones died from disease. The desperate turned to cannibalism, fighting over scraps like wild animals. Guards watched as prisoners drank from the same stream they used as a toilet. When men begged [music] for medical care, they were ignored. When they collapsed from starvation, they were left to rot.

[00:00:50][music] The camp's commandant, Henry Wirz, orchestrated every detail of this mass murder. Survivors testified that the suffering wasn't accidental. It was calculated. After the war, Wirz became the only Confederate [music] executed for war crimes. But for 13,000 Union soldiers, justice [music] came too late.