Andersonville Raiders : Yankee Versus Yankee in the Civil War’s Most Notorious Prison Camp

It was the most witnessed execution in US history. On the evening of July 11, 1864, six men were marched into Andersonville Prison, surrounded by a cordon of guards, the prison commandant, and a Roman Catholic priest. The six men were handed over to a small execution squad, and while more than 26,000 Union prisoners looked on, the six were executed by hanging. The six, part of a larger group known as the Raiders, were killed, not by their Rebel enemies but by their fellow prisoners, for the crimes of robbing and assaulting their own comrades. Who were these six men? Were they really guilty of the crimes they were accused of? Were they really, as some prisoners alleged, murderers? What role did their Confederate captors play in their trial and execution? What brought about their downfall? Relying on military records, diaries, memoirs written within five years of the prison closing, and the recently discovered trial transcript, author Gary Morgan has discovered a version of events that is markedly different from the version told in later day "memoirs" and repeated in the history books. Here, for the first time in a century and a half, is the real story of the Andersonville Raiders. "In July 1864, six Union soldiers were hanged at Andersonville, a Civil War prison camp notorious then and now for its harsh conditions. But the hanged men's crimes had nothing to do with the war against the Confederacy; they weren't spies or saboteurs. They were the leaders of a gang-known as The Raiders-who terrorized their fellow Union prisoners in the hell of Andersonville. By June 1864, prisoners had had enough, and camp commandant Henry Wirz (executed after the war) sanctioned the formation of a quasi-police force, the Regulators, with permission to arrest, try, and punish offenders. In less than two weeks, the Raiders were broken up and arrested and hanged. Andersonville is one of the most notorious aspects of the Civil War, and this is one instance in which brother-against-brother chivalry did not prevail, not even amongst inmates from the same side. Gary Morgan has dug deep into the historical record to tell this story, which is at once dramatic and historically important."-- Provided by publisher Dedication 4 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 1 The Raiders in History 14 2 The Trial Transcript? 23 3 Beyond John McElroy 29 4 Patrick Delaney 48 5 “Curtis” 60 6 William Collins 83 7 J. Sarsfield 97 8 “Rickson” 110 9 “Munn” 130 10 Other Alleged Raiders 138 11 “Dowd” 156 12 A Clearer Picture 163 Appendix A: The Transcript of the Raiders’ Trial 176 Appendix B: Published Diaries and Memoirs of Andersonville 1865–1870 192 Appendix C: Interview with Leroy L. Key 216 Selected Bibliography 220 Index 226 About the Author 236