You made an assertion about Andersonville.
From the military records, this is the POW data for 1861-1865:
There were 22,576 deaths among the 126,950 Union captives held in Confederate prisons.
There were 26,436 Confederates out of 220,000 Confederate captives in the north who died in the northern prisons.
More southerners died while in union prisons than Union soldiers did in Southern prisons.
Please do not post unless you know for a fact what you think you know.
There were 26,436 Confederates out of 220,000 Confederate captives in the north who died in the northern prisons.
Let's consider a few things when discussing the issue of POWs in the Civil War:
1) The Confederates were consistently short on supplies. In the latter years, they couldn't even reliably get their own soldiers enough shoes. What makes us think they're going to be able to lavishly pour goodies upon enemy POWs?
2) The Union could have rescued many of its soldiers in POW camps if it hadn't stopped prisoner exchanges halfway through the war.
3) Being in a POW camp, belonging to EITHER side, would not have been a fun experience. Both sides didn't have enough resources or personnel to "waste" supplying and guarding enemy prisoners. There were some Northern POW camps that were every bit as bad as Andersonville - and it wasn't because the Northerners were evil, genocidal monsters. The same, however, holds true for the Southerners.
I don't think you meant to do so, but your numbers show that a Confederate POW had a higher chance of survival than a Federal POW?
Anyhow, thanks for the info.
(And for the record I would have hanged/hung every UNION POW camp commander that abused his charges too.)