Historic Treasure of the Week - November 14, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - November 14, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
One of the treasurers in the Civil War collection of the Vigo County Historical Society is a wooden gavel made from wood taken from Andersonville Prison. The gavel was presented to Mary J. White, president of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, by George S. Morton, Assistant Adjutant General G.A.R., in 1927. Her daughter, Mrs. Frederick Black, presented the gavel and the story of Andersonville written by Morton to the Society in 1981.
His account reads, "The pine in this gavel is part of the stockade of the Andersonville Prison. The oak is from a tree that grew on the grounds.
"Following are a few facts about this Confederate Military Prison. A tract of land (16-1/2 acres) near the village of Andersonville (Georgia) was cleared of trees and enclosed in a stockade. Prisoners began to arrive in February 1864 before it was completed, and in May their number amounted to 12,000. In June the stockade was enlarged to include 26-1/2 acres and in August the number of prisoners exceeded 32,000.
"No shelter has been provided for the inmates. The first arrivals made rude sheds from the debris of the stockade and others made tents of blankets and other available pieces of cloth or dug pits in the ground. Owing to the slender resources of the Confederacy the prisoners were frequently short of food and even when this was sufficient in quantity it was of poor quality and poorly prepared on account of the lack of cooking utensils.
"The water supply became polluted under the congested conditions and in seven months about a third of them died, suffering greatly from hunger, exposure and disease. This was during summer of 1864.
"During the war 49,485 prisoners were received at Andersonville Prison and of these 13,000 died. Andersonville has been made a national cemetery."
Visitors may view the gavel and this account in the D.A.R. Military Room in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 South Sixth Street. Open hours are 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday through Friday.