Andersonville Raiders Civil War

Andersonville Raiders

Andersonville Prison was known by many as "The Hell on Earth." Although the prison was only built to hold 10,000 prisoners, over 30,000 prisoners were packed in there. This caused a shortage in food and water. Because of this, a band of thieves and thugs began to form. They were known as the "Andersonville Raiders." The Raiders performed a plethora of heartless actions while being held at the prison.

Very few of the inmates at the prison were raiders. Less than 500 of the tens of thousands inmates took part in the Raiders activities (Roberts 39). The Raiders had many different names including "Delancy's Raiders," "Sarsfield Raiders" and "Curtis Raiders." Some of the Raiders' favorite targets included old men, sick men and new inmates. Most of the Raiders would look for old or sick men who could not fight back and the Raiders would rob them after beating them up.

This a picture of one of the survivors of Anderson...

English: The execution of Henry Wirz, commandant o...

Andersonville prisoners and tents, southwest view ...

Furthermore, the Raiders befriended new inmates and promised them food and shelter. When the new inmates trusted the Raiders, the Raiders would beat them up and then rob them (Roberts 40). Not many of the inmates at Andersonville Prison were Raiders.

The inmates did not fight back because of fear of the Raiders. If an inmate fought back, the Raiders ganged up on him and beat him up. Many of the inmates died while trying to protect their belongings. Most of the time, the Raiders would operate at night and that resulted in many inmates staying awake. In addition, the means of communication for the Raiders was to whistle. Unsurprisingly, if an inmate heard a whistle, he would not sleep at night because he knew the Raiders are looking for victims (Bruno). Finally the inmates decided to do something about the Raiders. Because many of the...