Wednesday
February 18, 2015
John Urshel
Michigan Boys
at
Andersonvlle
The Dewitt Student Center
Kuyper College
3333 East Beltline NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Program begins at 7:30 p.m.
Bring some friends!
Approximately 18 months before the end of the U.S. Civil War, a stockade was built to hold Union Army prisoners captured by Confederate soldiers. The 26.5-acre prison, located deep behind Confederate lines, was designed for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners. At its most crowded, it held more than 32,000 men. Conditions at the camp were horrible due to lack of proper food, contaminated water supply, rampant disease, and very little shelter from the elements. In the prison's 14 months of existence, some 45,000 Union prisoners arrived there. There is a massive cemetery just outside the stockade walls for the nearly 13,000 men that died there.
John Urshel will review the cases of some of the men from Michigan that struggled to survive their months of imprisonment at Andersonville.
Special Announcements:
Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" during a visit to wartime Washington. Editors of the Atlantic Monthly graciously agreed to print here song and she was paid five dollars. This was far and away the most popular song of Union troops.
Jubal Early started for Washington in June of 1864. Of the 14,000 men he had under his command, nearly half were marching barefoot.
Reverend William N. Pendleton became the pastor of the Grace Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia in 1853. He held the position until his death some thirty years later. He asked for a leave of absence when the Civil War broke out. He was elected captain of the Rockbridge Artillery, even though he had no military experience. He named the four cannons in his battery Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Our Next Meeting
Membership fees for the 2014-2015 season will be $20.00.
Checks can be made out to GRCWRT.
Get your membership/renewal form on our
Membership page or at the meeting.
Dues are based on the meeting year, September - June.
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The GRCWRT is in need of a volunteer to take over the duties of treasurer. Please contact our Coordinator, Dan Dunn, if you are interested.
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Refreshments for the February meeting will be provided by
Irene St. Louis and Sue Irvine
Civil War Notes
The Michigan Monument at Andersonville Prison
