John Ransom's Andersonville Diary

By: John Ransom

Narrated by: David Thorn

An extraordinary day-to-day documentary of the Civil War's most infamous Confederate prison, Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville. Where 13,000 wretched Union prisoners died within barely 14 months, under conditions which bear witness to man's inhumanity to man. And, one man's undaunted spirit to survive, to tell the dreadful tale! The diary mirrors Ransom's changing attitudes from the moody early staccato sentences when he is first captured to the resigned and eventually cheerful prose when the war draws to a close.

There was little shelter but makeshift tents; little in the way of blankets, warm clothing, or even shoes; and a scarcity of food and fresh water. Often they were forced to sleep on the muddy ground in very crowded conditions. While the deplorable conditions bear witness to man's inhumanity to man, they also are witness to one man's undaunted spirit to survive to tell the dreadful tale.

Author John Ransom, a Union soldier captured by the Confederate Army, ended up in the Andersonville prison. He had been a printer from Michigan, and he returned there after the war. Little else is known about his life except through his diary of his prison experience.

Public Domain (P)2004 Alcazar AudioWorks