Andersonville National Historic Site

Andersonville National Historic Site at 496 Cemetery Rd in Andersonville, central Georgia, encompasses two thematically connected areas: the site of Camp Sumter, the largest Confederate prisoner-of-war camp of the American Civil War, and Andersonville National Cemetery, a federally maintained burial ground that remains an active military cemetery today.

Camp Sumter operated from February 1864 to April 1865 — 14 months — and held a peak population of more than 32,000 Union soldiers in conditions that were catastrophically inadequate for the numbers confined. The camp was built for a capacity of 10,000. In the summer of 1864, as many as 100 men died each day from exposure, malnutrition, contaminated water, and disease. By the war's end, approximately 13,000 of the roughly 45,000 Union soldiers imprisoned here had died. The post-war trial and execution of Henry Wirz, the camp's commandant, made Andersonville the first case in American history of a soldier being tried and executed for war crimes.

The National Park Service visitor center houses the National Prisoner of War Museum, a comprehensive exhibition addressing the treatment of American prisoners of war from the Revolutionary War through modern conflicts, using Andersonville as its central case study. Exhibits draw on first-person accounts and original artifacts from multiple conflicts. From the museum, a paved loop road traces the perimeter of the former camp, where earthworks, reconstructed sections of the original stockade wall, and Providence Spring — a natural spring that emerged during a rainstorm in August 1864 — are marked with historical interpretation panels.

Andersonville National Cemetery, adjacent to the camp, contains approximately 20,000 graves including the original Civil War burials and veterans from subsequent conflicts. The site is free to visit. Rangers give programs at 10 AM and 2 PM on weekends.