Andersonville Prison, Georgia, Northwest View of Stockade
Artist
Andrew Jackson Riddle
(American, 1829 - 1897)
CultureAmerican
DateAugust 17, 1864
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 3 1/8 × 4 3/4 in. (7.9 × 12.1 cm)
Overall, Support: 6 5/16 × 8 in. (16 × 20.3 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 1/16 × 20 in. (40.8 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 6 5/16 × 8 in. (16 × 20.3 cm)
Overall, Mat: 16 1/16 × 20 in. (40.8 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange
Object number98.32.271
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionThe David L. Hack Civil War Photography Collection. A photograph of Andersonville Prison, Georgia. Appears to be an uneven field filled with crowded tents. A fence runs horizontally in the background. "North-west view of Stockade. Showing the Dead Line. Thirty-three Thousand Prisoners in Bastile at the time it was taken. August 17th 1864."This is from _Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War_(Hack Collection No. 2].Label TextA.J. Riddle American (1828-1897) Andersonville Prison, Georgia, North-west View of Stockade, August 17, 1864 Albumen print on A.J. Riddle mount 98.32.271 In January of 1864, slaves from local farms were pressed to fell trees and dig ditches for construction of the prison stockade. The stockade enclosure was approximately 1,010 feet long and 780 feet wide. The walls of the stockade were constructed of pine logs cut on site, hewn square, and set vertically in a wall trench dug roughly five feet deep. According to historical accounts, the poles were hewn to a thickness of eight to twelve inches, and "matched so well on the inner line of the palisades as to give no glimpse of the outer world." By mid-June work was begun to enlarge the prison with the walls extended 610 feet to the north and encompassing an area of roughly ten acres. The total prison area now covered twenty-six and a half acres. The extension was built in about fourteen days by a crew of Union prisoners consisting of one hundred whites and thirty African Americans. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 01/2006Exhibition History"Civil War Photographs from the David L. Hack Collection and Civil War Redux: Pinhole Photographs by Willie Anne Wright," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, February 3 - October 29, 2006; Cape Fear Museum, Wilmington, NC, February 15 - May 28, 2007; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, July 26 - September 21, 2008
