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AN INTERESTING IOWA SOLDIER AT ANDERSONVILLE
In January 1865, Captain Henry Wirz, commandant of
Andersonville Confederate prison, wrote of a suspicious Mrs.
Spaulding (sic? Mrs. Ambrose Spencer?) from Americus whose
husband played a prominent role in a local union meeting. She
came to visit a Georgia federal soldier from nearby Americus
(name or alias Hirst?) who had traveled north at the beginning of
the war, married there, and enlisted in an Iowa regiment. He had
smuggled a letter out by way of a friend among the guards. The
woman had been in the North and brought back the reply as a
family friend. She also came to inquire about buying federal
currency from the prisoners. Wirz allowed her to speak with the
prisoner but declined allowing her to return to him with
provisions. He reportedly had the Georgia prisoner placed in
irons although the man would live to escape from a train while
being evacuated from Andersonville and joined Sherman's army. A
Mary Rawson of nearby Plains also regularly visited a Peter Kean
of the Sixteenth Iowa Infantry at Andersonville. Wirz allowed her
to regularly bring food baskets. Kean may have also have been the
prisoner visited by Mrs. Spaulding/Spencer.
I am researching men who successfully escaped from
Andersonville. The activities of these women encouraged fears
among the prison's administration that local people aided General
Sherman in a conspiracy to organize a prisoner take over of
Andersonville in cooperation with Sherman's troops.
I would be delighted to hear from anyone with information on
escapes from this rebel prison camp. Thanks!
Robert S. Davis, Jr.
P. O. Box 687
Hanceville, AL 35077-0687
Office e-mail:
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Iowa In the Civil War
