I visited my Great, great grandfather, Wesley Marken’s gravestone at Andersonville, GA. Myriad thoughts have gone through my head in the last 24 hours. Suffice it to say, the experience was awesome. I found myself quite emotional as I arrived at the museum. As I explained to the museum attendants that I was there to visit my relative’s grave, they began spouting historical trivia that could only be described as rewarding as they took so much glee and satisfaction in sharing their knowledge. They reminded me so much of my nephew Scott Bitner. He is a fine teacher and loves history. I knew he would be keenly interested.
Some of the things that left an impression on me were;
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- the horrific conditions that the POW endured, virtually no water for 33,000 men, limited rations, little to no protection from the elements, loneliness, desperation, fear, little to look forward to. It was described by POWs as hell on earth and living death.
- historically, I learned that the camp was opened in 1864 in February. By August the Confederates figured that it was not a good idea and moved most prisoners elsewhere.
- The last 4000 were left to die as they were not strong enough to move. My gggrandfather was one of those. He was hospitalized Oct 13 and died that day. Men did not want to be separated from their comrades and would rather die with friends than in the hospital.
- Why would my gggrandfather leave his wife, family, and a 2 year, 9 month old son, to join a regiment in the Union army, when the war was clearly being won by the Union. Gettysburg was over, battles were taking place more in the south than the north, Washington was safe. Did he want to provide for his family financially? Was it an older brother that had died and he wanted revenge? Was he strongly opposed to the reunification of the States? Was he led to believe that he would be posted to protect the rail line in Baltimore, and therefore safe from injury or death? The emancipation proclamation had already been signed into law. Was he a strong believer in freedom for all?
I find it interesting that there were soldiers on both maternal and fraternal sides of my family. My grandfather’s grandfather fought in the Civil War. My father’s great grandfather most likely came over from Salzburg, Austria to fight as a Hessian in the Revolutionary War. My father was in the military in WWI. I was in the Army during the Vietnam Conflict.
I met a really nice young girl at a Chili’s in Milledgeville, GA today and we were talking about this. I told her that I had been attracted to the Army in 1967 because their motto was, “Join the Army, see the world”. She laughed and remarked, you missed the “join the Army” part and only saw the “see the world” part. I laughed out loud because it was so true. So, thank you Mechea. You made a difference in my life today.