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Andersonville, Georgia, Providence Spring at Andersonville Civil War Prison Camp, vintage postcards photos

Andersonville, Georgia Providence Spring in Prison Park vintage postcard photo

A vintage postcard picturing the shelter built over Providence Spring located on the grounds of the former Andersonville Confederate Prison Camp at Andersonville, near Americus, Georgia. The summer of 1864 was very hot and dry which caused a severe shortage of drinking water for the thousands of Union soldiers held prisoner at the Andersonville prison camp. At this point, about 100 soldiers were dying each day as a result of rampant disease and malnutrition. Sanitation was very poor due to the large number of prisoners in the small enclosed area and the lack of water. During August of 1864, a strong thunderstorm came which helped to flush sewage downstream. Soldiers who were held prisoner at Andersonville state that a lightning bolt struck at the western wall causing a spring to erupt and provide an abundant supply of fresh drinking water. Many of these soldiers believed that God had intervened to provide them with the water thus the name, Providence Spring. After the war had ended, many of the former soldiers held prisoner at Andersonville would return to the site of the spring to drink again of the water and to state their thanks for the water supply which many credited with having saved their life. The Woman's Relief Corps (W. R. C.) auxillary division of the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) Union veterans organization funded the building of the structure over the spring seen in this vintage postcard view. The Providence Spring building was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1901 with many former Union soldiers in attendance. The spring continues to flow today and is a part of the restored Andersonville Prison historical site. This postcard view is from about 1910. See the additional views below.

Andersonville, Georgia, Providence Springs, Andersonville Prison Park, vintage postcard, photo

Another vintage postcard view of Providence Springs, in Prison Park, Andersonville, Georgia.

Providence Spring, Confederate Prison Camp at Andersonville, Georgia, vintage postcard, historic photo

Another view of Providence Spring, probably from about the 1930's.

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