American Historical Ephemera & Photography

32pp, 5 x 8 in., on lined paper (toning, light soil, generally good condition). A rare firsthand account of the infamous Andersonville POW camp from the point of view of a Confederate prison guard. Chapters numbered 1-7, and titled: "What I Was," "Andersonville Prison," "The Condition when the 3d Ga. Res. reach[ed] Andersonville," "Incidents," "Capt. Wirz and his discipline," "The execution the rioters," and "Food and Water." Undated, but likely ca late 1870s or after.

According to his manuscript, J.L.D. Hillyer arrived at Andersonville  in June 1864 as a seventeen-year old amongst 28,000 prisoners. He found the prison to have "peculiar advantages" suited to the accommodations of large numbers of prisoners, and to have been constructed to allow a small number of troops to guard the prison in safety.  Hillyer's narrative recounts some of the more notable events and individuals of the camp including the shooting death of a prisoner by a "boy" from the 2d Georgia and the notorious Captain Wirz.

In its totality, Hillyer's recollections align with the sentiments of a Southern sympathizer seeking to refute Northern claims of Southern brutality at Andersonville. The last page of the manuscript seems to clearly identify this purpose and provides a clue to the date the manuscript was penned: "Considering the extreme Southern location, the vast throng of prisoners, the crude sanitary arrangements Humanity is to be congratulated that the death rate was so small. And if Mr. Stephens comparison of figures of death rates in northern & southern prisons is to be relied upon, the South deserves the palm for her pluck & her humanity in so well caring for so large a body of prisoners of war against such fearful odds. [signed] J.L.D. Hillyer." The comparison of death rates referred to here is likely The Southern Side; or, Andersonville Prison by Dr. R. Randolph Stevenson, Chief Surgeon of Confederate Military Hospitals. In this book first published in 1876, Stevenson compares the mortality rates in Northern and Southern prisons and provides other data aimed to "erase a dark stain unjustly cast upon the character of the Southern people...." 

[With:] Partial transcription of the handwritten recollections and xerox copies of original document. -- Envelope used ca late 1800s-early 1900s for mailing the recollections to Col. W.J. Green at "Tokay Vineyard" in Fayetteville, North Carolina, bearing handwritten notation "about Andersonville Prison." -- Envelope used in 1959 to mail the recollections from North Carolina book dealer to W.T. Genns Books in Santa Barbara. -- Envelope used to mail the recollections to consignor in 1960.

J.L.D. Hillyer was born and raised in Georgia. HDS locates "J.L. Hillyer" of Co. B, Georgia 3rd Reserves Infantry and indicates he "Served as a guard at Andersonville." The date of enlistment as a private is unknown. After the war Hillyer remained in Georgia, married, and became a minister.

Wharton J. Green (1831-1910) was a 30-year old attorney when he enlisted on 4/18/1861 as a private with Co. F, North Carolina 12th Infantry. HDS indicates that after commissioning into Field & Staff North Carolina Second Battalion Green was listed as a POW at Roanoke Island 2/8/1862, then paroled and exchanged. He was commissioned to serve as aide-de-camp to General Junius Daniels in early 1863, then was wounded and again taken prisoner at Gettysburg. He spent the rest of the war in the Johnson's Island prisoner of war camp. After the war, Green settled at "Tokay Vineyard" near Fayetteville, North Carolina, and served as a two-term US Representative from North Carolina. He was active in Confederate veteran activities serving as the first president of the Society of Confederate Soldiers and Sailors in North Carolina. 

In the tense post-war Reconstruction environment, Northern claims of Southern atrocities as exemplified by Andersonville prison sparked false claims amongst Southern sympathizers that Confederate guards at Andersonville died at the same rate as prisoners. While the death rate of prisoners was approximately 29%, the death rate for prison guards was closer to 10% or less. It was likely as part of this ongoing post-war debate that Hillyer drafted his reminiscences. The connection between Hillyer and Green is unclear, however, it may tie to Green's own experience as a Union POW and Southern retrospectives on the conduct of the war.