Andersonville

Andersonville, complete, by John
McElroy

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Title: Andersonville, complete
Author: John McElroy
Release Date: August 22, 2006 [EBook #3072]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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ANDERSONVILLE, COMPLETE ***

Produced by David Widger

ANDERSONVILLE A STORY OF REBEL MILITARY PRISONS
FIFTEEN MONTHS A GUEST OF THE SO-CALLED SOUTHERN
CONFEDERACY

A PRIVATE SOLDIERS EXPERIENCE IN RICHMOND,
ANDERSONVILLE, SAVANNAH, MILLEN BLACKSHEAR AND
FLORENCE
BY JOHN McELROY Late of Co. L. 16th Ill Cav. 1879

TO THE HONORABLE
NOAH H. SWAYNE.
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,
A JURIST OF DISTINGUISHED TALENTS AND EXALTED
CHARACTER; ONE OF THE LAST OF THAT ADMIRABLE
ARRAY OF PURE PATRIOTS AND SAGACIOUS COUNSELORS,
WHO, IN THE YEARS OF THE NATION'S TRIAL, FAITHFULLY
SURROUNDED THE GREAT PRESIDENT, AND, WITH HIM,
BORE THE BURDEN OF THOSE MOMENTOUS DAYS; AND
WHOSE WISDOM AND FAIRNESS HAVE DONE SO MUCH
SINCE TO CONSERVE WHAT WAS THEN WON, THIS BOOK IS
DEDICATED WITH RESPECT AND APPRECIATION,
BY THE AUTHOR.

INTRODUCTION.
The fifth part of a century almost has sped with the flight of time since
the outbreak of the Slaveholder's Rebellion against the United States.
The young men of to-day were then babes in their cradles, or, if more
than that, too young to be appalled by the terror of the times. Those
now graduating from our schools of learning to be teachers of youth
and leaders of public thought, if they are ever prepared to teach the
history of the war for the Union so as to render adequate honor to its
martyrs and heroes, and at the same time impress the obvious moral to
be drawn from it, must derive their knowledge from authors who can
each one say of the thrilling story he is spared to tell: "All of which I

saw, and part of which I was."
The writer is honored with the privilege of introducing to the reader a
volume written by an author who was an actor and a sufferer in the
scenes he has so vividly and faithfully described, and sent forth to the
public by a publisher whose literary contributions in support of the
loyal cause entitle him to the highest appreciation. Both author and
publisher have had an honorable and efficient part in the great struggle,
and are therefore worthy to hand down to the future a record of the
perils encountered and the sufferings endured by patriotic soldiers in
the prisons of the enemy. The publisher, at the beginning of the war,
entered, with zeal and ardor upon the work of raising a company of
men, intending to lead them to the field. Prevented from carrying out
this design, his energies were directed to a more effective service. His
famous "Nasby Letters" exposed the absurd and sophistical
argumentations of rebels and their sympathisers, in such broad,
attractive and admirable burlesque, as to direct against them the "loud,
long laughter of a world!" The unique and telling satire of these papers
became a power and inspiration to our armies in the field and to their
anxious friends at home, more than equal to the might of whole
battalions poured in upon the enemy. An athlete in logic may lay an
error writhing at his feet, and after all it may recover to do great
mischief. But the sharp wit of the humorist drives it before the world's
derision into shame and everlasting contempt. These letters were read
and shouted over gleefully at every camp-fire in the Union Army, and
eagerly devoured by crowds of listeners when mails were opened at
country post-offices. Other humorists were content when they simply
amused the reader, but "Nasby's" jests were arguments--they had a
meaningthey were suggested by the necessities and emergencies of the
Nation's peril, and written to support, with all earnestness, a most
sacred cause.
The author, when very young, engaged in journalistic work, until the
drum of the recruiting officer called him to join the ranks of his
country's defenders. As the reader is told, he was made a prisoner. He
took with him into the terrible prison enclosure not only a brave,
vigorous, youthful spirit, but invaluable habits of mind and thought for

storing up the incidents and experiences of his prison life. As a
journalist he had acquired the habit of noticing and memorizing every
striking or thrilling incident, and the experiences of his prison life were
adapted to enstamp themselves indelibly on both feeling and memory.
He speaks from