The water the prisoners drank.
It was my fortune to be stationed at
Andersonville almost from the first establishment of the prison until the removal to
Millen, Georgia, or Camp Lawton, and I unhesitatingly pronounce the statement that “the prisoners had to drink the water which conveyed the offal of three camps and two large bakeries or kitchens off before it reached them,” utterly false.
The guards drank of the same water that quenched the prisoners' thirst, cooked their food with the same water, the same large stream or creek flowing through the encampment of guards and stockade, or prison-pen, as Northern writers sneeringly call it. The camps of the guards all faced the stream, while their sinks were far off in the rear, and orders were most strict not to muddy the water, much less defile it in any way. As to the offal of the bakeries, these being presided over by prisoners on parole, and who did the cooking for the entire prison, I cannot believe they would pollute the water their brother prisoners had to drink.
As rapidly as they could the prisoners dug wells; in all some two hundred were dug, and purer, sweeter, colder water I never drank.
Being on the staff of
Captain Wirz, I had free access to the prison at all times day or night, and whenever I wished to quench my thirst, I went inside the prison and drank from one of these wells.
