In May 1864, Robert Kellogg and other members of the 16th Connecticut Infantry—all of them captured the previous month in North Carolina, where they had been on garrison duty—arrived by train in Sumter County, Georgia, where they were marched to the prison camp in which they would be held for the foreseeable future. As they approached, Kellogg surmised that the camp consisted of some 15 acres of open ground, all of it surrounded by a “high stockade of hewed pine logs … [which were] closely guarded by numerous sentinels, who stood in elevated boxes.” Then the gate opened, and the scene that met their eyes “almost froze our blood with horror, and made our hearts fail within us.” Before them, noted Kellogg, were thousands of prisoners, “forms that had once been active and erect;—stalwart men, now nothing but mere walking skeletons, covered with filth and vermin.” “God protect us!” cried one of Kellogg’s companions as they entered. “Can this be hell?” asked another.

Kellogg and his comrades were among the approximately 45,000 Union soldiers who would spend time in captivity at Camp Sumter Military Prison, more popularly known by the name of the nearest town: Andersonville. The prison would earn the distinction of being the war’s deadliest, with nearly 30 percent of its captives dying as a result of its notoriously harsh conditions. In this issue’s lead feature (“Andersonville,” page 30), we offer a visual history of the camp, telling its story through photos and illustrations of—and by—people with firsthand knowledge of the place about which one survivor said, “Since the day I was born, I never saw such misery.” Want to share your thoughts about this or other articles in this issue? Send your emails to [email protected].