800 Paces to Hell: Andersonville. A Compilation of Known Facts and Persistent Rumors.

800 Paces to Hell: Andersonville. A Compilation of Known Facts and Persistent Rumors. By John Lynn. (Fredericksburg, Va.: Sergeant Kirkland's Museum and Historical Society, c. 1999. Pp. [x], 378. $35.00, ISBN 1-887901-19-1.)

The history of Civil War prisons, as many scholars have lamented, is one of the most neglected subject areas of that conflict, and new examinations of the establishment and operation of the camps always arouse interest. In this pair of studies the authors supply not only a wealth of detail on the histories of two of the most important prisons but a clear example of contrasting methods with which that information may be presented.

Lynn opens 800 Paces to Hell with the charge that histories of Andersonville have frequently been "distorted" because authors seeking to depict daily life in the notorious Confederate military prison have relied on too narrow a selection of narratives penned either by prisoners or by their keepers. Lynn contends that historians often fail to allow for the fact that the accuracy of such accounts may have been tainted by faulty recollection or "just plain lying" that advanced the memoirist's personal agenda. He proposes to rectify this problem through the presentation of direct quotations from accounts of Union and Confederate soldiers and civilians who witnessed firsthand the horrors of Andersonville. The narratives are supplemented by correspondence drawn from the Official Records and address such topics as the establishment and administration of Andersonville, the provision of rations, shelter, and medical care for Union prisoners, and the composition and conduct of the Confederate garrison. He argues that this strategy precludes his "putting meaning into the words the original author did not intend" and allows the reader to "choose the more logical view or at least the one that varies the least from the truth" (p. ix).

Lynn's book is a vast compilation of such recollections, and his method of presentation has its strengths. Readers not intimately familiar with life in the prison camp may be surprised at what they read. One of Andersonville's early commanders, for example, reveals that fifty railroad cars of lumber intended for the construction of prisoner barracks mysteriously vanished after delivery. From the captives themselves we learn that, amid the squalor of the camp, enterprising Yankees amassed small fortunes working as cobblers, repairing watches, selling home-brewed beer, and even operating bakeries and restaurants. The book suffers from significant weaknesses, however; Lynn often offers quotations without clearly establishing the identity or connection to the camp of the person quoted. Although the author's work in the available personal narratives is impressive, he ignores recent scholarship such as William Marvel's Andersonville: The Last Depot (Chapel Hill, 1994). A number of the sources Lynn does rely on are also questionable, such as the highly fanciful and generally discredited memoirs of John McElroy and Ambrose Spencer. The greatest flaw in the work is that--true to his stated aim--Lynn allows the recollections of those prisoners who experienced Andersonville to stand alone. Students seeking an assessment of why conditions in the prison became so horrible will be disappointed at the complete absence of analysis.

This is not the case in George Levy's To Die in Chicago. Levy seeks from the beginning to provide an explanation for the human misery that was so prevalent in the Union's military prison, and by drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary sources he succeeds in that attempt. Levy finds that Camp Douglas was a study in contrasts. In many ways it was the best of all the Union military prisons. The camp--only four miles from the center of Chicago--could be easily reached by rail or water. Relief agencies in the city provided the prison hospital with considerable quantities of medicines and other supplies, meat for prisoners was readily accessible from local packers, and the installation was a favorite target for military and civilian inspectors. A modern plumbing system provided the camp with running water and sanitary latrines. The prisoners had their own bank and barber shop. Yet one out of every seven Confederate prisoners held in Camp Douglas died. Levy convincingly attributes this appalling statistic to the policies formulated at the highest levels of the Union government. For example, Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman, the Union Commissary General of Prisoners, ordered prisoners' rations and issues of clothing and blankets reduced to the bare minimum. When an epidemic of deadly scurvy swept the camp, Hoffman refused to authorize the purchase of additional vegetables to supplement the prisoners' diets and eliminate the disease. Levy contends that these policies--driven by the mutually reinforcing objectives of reducing the expense of maintaining enemy captives and exacting retaliation for alleged offenses committed by southerners against Union prisoners--were faithfully executed by the commanders and guards of the prison. Prisoners were routinely beaten and denied medical care. Camp commanders prescribed the use of deadly force and Draconian punishments for even the most minor offenses: torture, such as hanging captives by their thumbs, was common. The result, Levy concludes, was that "the war continued at Camp Douglas, with the enemy being subdued by any means available" (p. 345). The story of Camp Douglas is not a happy one, but it is a story that George Levy tells very well.

CHARLES W. SANDERS JR. Kansas State University