Episode 53: Father Henry Clavreul at Andersonville

While at Andersonville Prison Camp, Father Henry Clavreul, a Catholic Priest, ministered to the Union Soldiers captured on battlefields across the south. From 15 July to 20 August 1864, Father Clavreul and one other Priest, were the only religious men with authorization to enter the overcrowded camp to render aid. He lasted only 36 days among the sick and dying before he came down with an illness that forced him to depart the camp for Savannah.

Sources for this episode:

Clavreul, Henry. Diary of Rev. H. Clavreul. With Names of the Dying Federal Soldiers to Whom he Ministered at Andersonville, Ga., During July and August 1864, edited by George Robbins. The Connecticut Association of Ex-Prisoners of War, 1910. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu54239966&seq=5.

Ainsworth Fred C. and Kirkley, Joseph W. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. ser. 2, vol. 7. Government Printing Office, 1899. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079575266&view=1up&seq=3.

Transcript

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An incident which might have proved decisive with no other results, however, but a momentary excitement occurred in the early part of the month of August, a thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain and violent wind amounting to a hurricane torn down a part of the stockade enclosure. Leaving a gap a few hundred feet wide, I saw thousands of men pressing on towards the gap near the deadline. It was a moment of awful suspense. The guards outside stood with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. The battery in front, ready to open at the command. All seemed to wait for somebody to lead on, but no one took the initiative and hardly an passed that the stockade had resumed its dead appearance. hi, my name is Bill Coghlan and host the first person Civil War podcast. While the generals of both sides get most of the recognition, the Civil War was fought by the men in the ranks, and they told their stories during and after the war. Follow me as I reveal what these men and civilians witnessed in the battles, and in this episode, the prison camps of the Civil War. Episode 53 is entitled Father Onri Kla at Andersonville and relies on his book. Diary of Reverend h Clare with names of the dying federal soldiers to whom he ministered at Andersonville Georgia during July and August, 1864. And published in 1910 by the Connecticut Association of Ex-Prisoners of War. On Ri. Peter Cla was born on four January, 1835, somewhere in France, and ordained a priest in the Catholic church on 19 March, 1859 that same year, Augustine Veau, the Vicar Apostolic of Florida, traveled to France to recruit priests to serve in that state. In September of 1860, father CLA was one of six who volunteered and immigrated to Florida, but did not become a naturalized citizen. At the beginning of the war, father Clal was assigned to Fernandina, Florida on Amelia Island, administered to the Catholic population. This island sits at the mouth of the St. Mary's River and was of strategic importance to both the Confederacy and the Union. The Confederates occupied Fort Clinch, located on Amelia Island at the beginning of the war, but was seized by the Union in March of 1862 as part of the Anaconda plan. Up to the time I was called to Andersonville. My experience with the Army have been confined to the Confederates first in Fernandina, Florida. When early in November, 1861, 2000 men Infantry and Cavalry Garrison, that place I was there when the city surrendered to the US Naval forces after a short and desultory resistance, reprehensible acts. It is true occurred, which cannot be questioned in Fernandina and at St. Mary's where both Catholic churches were ransacked in fernandina. Among other valuables. I lost a chalice. Donated to me by a brother priest when I left France in September, 1860. As a result of the looting vicar, apostolic Vero withdrew the clergy from the region and sent them to Savannah, which included Father Clare, who was still in Fernandina. Leaving Fernandina a few weeks later. I was thanks to the courtesy of the federal officer in command at Jacksonville, enabled to cross the lines. At the time, skirmishing was rife between the contending armies on the railroad line between Jacksonville and Lake City. In Savannah Wilston charge of the Orphan Boys. I visited the Confederate soldiers stationed at Thunderbolt. And outlying posts, and at the forts on the Savannah River. As battles rage across the country, men from both sides were eventually captured. Rather than keeping prisoners of war for extended periods of time, both sides eventually agreed upon a system of prisoner exchanges known as the Dicks Hill cartel, which began in July of 1862. Signed during the Peninsula campaign between Major General John a Dix from the Union and Confederate major General DH Hill. This agreement meant captured soldiers would only stay within enemy prisons for a brief time. One who experienced this system of prisoner exchange was Corporal John R. McBride of the 33rd Indiana. By his own account. He was captured in early March, 1863 at the Battle of Thompson Station in Tennessee, but just one month later was exchanged in Virginia and reconstituted to his regiment and the Western Theater. By April of 1864, the agreement for prisoner exchanges broke down. Despite this grand campaigns in Georgia and Virginia were underway and now captured soldiers and officers on both sides, were now held permanently in prisoner of war camps, both North and south. At Camp Sumter or Andersonville Prison, so named after the local town, the camp, with an intended capacity of 10,000 enlisted men became overwhelmed well beyond its intended capacity. Which was noted by Captain Walter Bowie of the Inspector General Department from Richmond on nine, May, 1864. Who estimated that 12,180 prisoners were currently at Andersonville. The prison is composed of an area of ground 16 and one half acres and extent situated on two opposing banks or sides of a stream of water, which furnishes ample supply of water for drinking and bathing purposes. This area is enclosed by a stockade made of heavy pint posts placed vertically in the ground to a depth of five feet and rising 17 feet above it. This enclosure is entered by two strong gates. The space enclosed is in the form of a parallelogram approaching very nearly a square. On each side of the enclosure upon the top of the stockade so as to overlook the interior. Our arranged eight century boxes or platforms, which are about 40 yards distant from each other. The location of the prison ground is elevated and dry. Accept that portion bordering immediately on the stream of water and comprising about one fourth of the whole space enclosed by the stockade, which is wet and marshy, and its present condition is all together unfit for an encampment. So that the prisoners really occupy only about 12 acres. The space, therefore allotted to each man is seven by six feet. Despite this limited space captured, union soldiers continued to arrive as evidenced by the correspondence with the Confederate military prisons from across the south and orders issued from that department. General orders number 45. Agitant and Inspector General's office, Richmond, May 2nd, 1864 prisoners captured south of Richmond will be sent direct to Andersonville Sumter County, Georgia by order s Cooper Adant and Inspector General. Captain Gibbs commander of presence in Macon on June 5th, 1864. The Yankee major of a Negro regiment who was captured at the Battle of Ocean Pond, Florida is and I think very properly confined with Negro prisoners at Andersonville. I would like to obtain permission to send to the same place Lieutenant JO Lad of company E 35th US Negro Regiment, who is now a prisoner here, who also was captured in Florida? Brigadier General John Winder, commander of Prisons, Andersonville, July 26th, 1864 to General S Cooper. There are 29,400 prisoners. 2,650 troops, 500 Negroes and other laborers, and not a ration at the post. There is great danger in this state of things. I have ordered that at least 10 days. Rations should be kept on hand, but it has never been done. From 1862 onward. Father remained in Savannah, but eventually he received a new assignment to minister at Andersonville. It was in July, 1864 that I left Savannah for Andersonville. Being sent there to help the venerable father Wheelin, who had been ministering to the prisoners since March. Their number kept increasing, owing the advance of the federals towards Georgia being estimated at the time at 30,000. Father wheen was already an old man over 60 years of age. He assisted the prisoners not only by his administrations as a priest, but also by material help through his influence among the Catholics of Georgia. As for me, unknown and without influence. I could only weep over the miseries. I hourly witnessed. While officially sent to Andersonville by Augustine Varrow, now Bishop of Savannah, father Clare still had to seek permission from the Confederate soldiers manning the camp to minister to the prisoners. The only officers I saw were general winder in command of the stockade prison and the unfortunate major words. It was from the latter. I got written permission to visit daily the prisoners. Father Cla lived in a small wooden hut about one mile away from the prison camp. And began his ministry within Andersonville on 15 July, 1864. After a restless night spent in our hut on bunks and a hurried breakfast, five o'clock found us every morning at the entrance of the stockade where we remained the whole long day till sundown with one hour of recess at midday. A common occurrence as the campaigns unfolded was the arrival of more prisoners to the stockade entrance. Father was seeing with his own eyes the gradual overcrowding of Andersonville. A stir was occasionally felt when, for instance, long files of federal soldiers captured on the battlefields, which were then being fought in Tennessee and northern Georgia. Were marched into the prison. All lies for the moment. Turn in that direction. 500 men, sometimes more formed in ranks at the railroad station, a half mile from the stockade. And from there were marched to the prison guards with loaded muskets on both sides of the ranks and near the stockade, a battery of six guns was stationed on a slight eminence. A telling sign from Father Clarel that the conditions of Andersonville had already greatly deteriorated were the expressions of the soldiers as they entered the camp. The military bearing of the men with uniforms still brilliant and spotless, was in strong contrast with the wretchedness of the place where they were soon to be confined. A sudden change was noticeable on their countenance. The moment they stepped inside as if they realized the horrors of the situation. They were often followed by hundreds of their companions. More unfortunate still, who because of their wounds had to be carried from the train, unable as they were to walk or even stand. For the soldiers kept within Andersonville. Each day was a struggle for survival. Witnessed by Father cla. The food consisted of unbolted corn meal and cow peas with now and then vegetables sent by the country. People of the neighborhood, as most of the prisoners suffered from scurvy, sore gums, and loose teeth. They could not eat the course food, and thus numbers of them died with their allowance of cornbread nearby. Starvation, however, was not the only cause of the terrible mortality, which in these eight weeks must have carried off some 8,000 victims. Exposure to the inclemency of the weather was another, the stockade being entirely bare, and besides with not a tent under which to find shelter, the clothes the prisoners had on when they arrived soon became mere rags. Thousands were met without a shred of clothing. Stark naked who were busy burrowing in the ground to find protection against the rain or the scorching rays of a midsummer sun. To the scurvy was added, the diarrhea and the middle of the stockade between the banks slightly. Inclining was a branch of running water. The ground trotted by thousands had soon become boggy, making it impossible for many among the sick to extricate themselves from the mire. When Father CLA rule was not at the stockade entrance, he was likely with the soldiers held in the hospital. Just as a warning to the audience, this account contains descriptions of the dead and dying. The hospital was a mile from the stockade. It had tents, but no floor. Only the bare ground. There, it was that most of the cases, not utterly hopeless, were carried. The removal took place generally in the four noon after the morning inspection made by the surgeons near the entrance of the stockade. At the entrance of the hospital there stood a wooden shed 50 by 30 feet. Called the Dead House, where the bodies of those who died within the past 24 hours were laid on the bare ground. I walked the narrow aisle of the dismal room. Where lay in four rows, 120 corpses. The shreds of clothing found on them at the time they died, thrown over their emaciated bodies. In front of this shed were the wagons drawn by four mules to carry a mile away the dead to be buried in shallow trenches. Not a day past that I did not meet the gruesome sight of these wagons. Piled with bodies, head, feet, or arms dangling from the vehicle, transporting them to their final rest. What kept the prisoners inside the stockade was a light rail fence known as the deadline. It was approximately 20 feet from the interior stockade wall and crossing. It meant instant death from the Confederate centuries. While the deadline kept the possibility of escape to a minimum, father CLA rule did witness a potential mass escape from the prison. An incident which might have proved decisive with no other results, however, but a momentary excitement occurred in the early part of the month of August, a thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain and violent wind amounting to a hurricane torn down a part of the stockade enclosure. Leaving a gap a few hundred feet wide, I saw thousands of men pressing on towards the gap near the deadline. It was a moment of awful suspense. The guards outside stood with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. The battery in front, ready to open at the command. All seemed to wait for somebody to lead on, but no one took the initiative and hardly an passed that the stockade had resumed its dead appearance. Knowledge of the conditions within Andersonville. Were not confined to the surrounding area, but managed to spread even outside the state of Georgia. In a letter to the commander of the Confederate Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, Union, Brigadier General HW Wessels, himself, a prisoner of war in Charleston, requested supplies to be sent to the prison camps as especially Andersonville. It is respectfully submitted to your consideration that the proximity of these places to Hilton Head and the abundance of supplies there, especially in charge of the sanitary commission. That is the US Sanitary Commission will permit important relief to be given particularly to the sick. I therefore request your permission for the sanitary commission to send whatever may be deemed advisable by its agents by Savannah, if proper on accounts of more convenient transportation, and that one of its agents or an officer from this place may be designated and permitted to proceed with these supplies to superintendent, their distribution. This request was ultimately denied and the prisoners at Andersonville had to rely on the scant supplies given to them, as well as the Ministry of Father Clare and his fellow priest. The crowded condition of the place in which they were confined, the food insufficient and loathsome their clothing and rags, their exposure to the weather, the suffering, which all this entailed rarely elicited from them a word of anger. They seem to look upon their misfortunes as a visitation from the Almighty to this may be ascribe the success of our spiritual administrations, not only with the Catholics, but with men of the various denominations and those who profess none. They saw, besides that the two priests ever within their midst we're the only clergymen who have volunteered to them their services. The religious work among the prisoners found expression in the throngs of individuals. We met here and there bowed down in the attitude of prayer or listening to a comrade who was reading from the Bible or addressing to them words of exhortation. Being near the sick, dead, and dying. Finally took its toll on Father Clav rule. In late August, he contracted an unknown illness and was forced to depart Andersonville. On the 20th day of August. That is 36 days. After my arrival at Andersonville, I was taken sick with continued vomiting. Father wheen decided that I should leave, and so I took the train back to Savannah. Wills, the heroic old priest retraced his steps back to the stockade. I spent that day and following night on board the train wholly unconscious, recovering my senses, only when on arrival at Savannah, they dragged me from under the car seat where I was lying. On September 24th, 1864, I resumed at Savannah, my administrations among the 10,000 prisoners who. But a few days before have been brought from the Andersonville stockade. By early September, 1864, the Union Army under major General William T. Sherman had captured Atlanta Andersonville. Approximately 120 miles to the south, was no longer a viable location to house prisoners of war. And those who were well enough were transported to prison camps away from Sherman's Army, which included Savannah. The Union Army liberated Andersonville Prison in May of 1865, which still held prisoners within the stockade. Andersonville. Prison has become synonymous with intense suffering the survivors of that place formed associations after the war for the benefit of their members, but also to record as much of the history of the prison camp as possible. George Robbins, a prisoner at Andersonville and a member of the Connecticut Association of Ex-Prisoners of War. Contacted Father CLA Rule in 1908 to provide an account of his time at Andersonville. George Robbins received a copy of Father Clav Rule's Diary and hundreds of names. I take from my diary written at the stockade at Andersonville, the names of federal prisoners to who I administered the sacraments of penance and extreme unction from July 15 to August, 2018, 64. Organized by day, name, age, and state or country of origin are the names of hundreds of men who died, and at least 14 who received baptism by Father Clare while in the stockade at Andersonville. Thank you for listening to the 53rd episode. The link to Father Clare's book is now available on the podcast website, first person Civil War podcast.com. On Facebook, Instagram, x and LinkedIn. This week you will find a picture of Father CLA sometime after the war. Please like, follow and subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use as it helps to grow the audience. And in two weeks time, Sergeant Edwin c Bennett of Company G 22nd, Massachusetts provides next episode's first person account at the battle. Of Malvern Hill, my name is Bill Coghlan, and thank you for listening to First Person Civil War Podcast.