VISUAL ACTIVITYThe Dead Line, by Robert Sneden, Andersonville Prison, 1864 Union soldier Robert Sneden arrived at Andersonville in February 1864. Soon the sixteen-and-a-half acres were crammed with 33,000 Union prisoners. Sneden sketched this scene of a man being shot by a guard while trying to take part of a fence (the “dead line” that prisoners could not cross) for firewood. More than 13,000 prisoners perished at Andersonville.READING THE IMAGE: What does the painting suggest were among the hazards to the health of the prisoners at Andersonville?CONNECTIONS: How might the state of the Confederate economy have affected conditions at Andersonville?

Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, USA/Bridgeman Images.