Thomas O’Dea, an Irish immigrant from Boston, was a Union soldier captured during the Civil War in May 1864. He was 16 years old. When he arrived at Andersonville, Georgia, an enclosure designed to house 10,000 prisoners held 35,000. In 1865 he was released: badly emaciated, with only ragged trousers and broken shoes to his name. He was one of the lucky ones.

The word “Andersonville” is synonymous with the horrific POW camps, both Southern and Northern, of the Civil War. During the 15 months Andersonville operated, more than 13,000 prisoners died from starvation, disease, and exposure. Captain Henry Wirz, the Swiss-German-born commander who kept a pack of dogs to attack prisoners, was the only Confederate soldier convicted and executed for war crimes.

14 years after his release, O’Dea saw a photograph that implied Andersonville was orderly and clean. He vowed to depict the prison he had known. Working nights after his day job as a bricklayer, he spent six years to complete a massive, 9-foot-wide drawing. Surrounding the main scene of the prison in August 1864—its deadliest month—are 19 vignettes of life in the prison. The drawing became an immediate sensation. In 1887, O’Dea ordered 10,000 lithograph copies, selling them for $5, with a reduced rate for Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) posts. A copy at the Andersonville site itself was removed after Southern objection.

Historian Lorien Foote said, "The suffering of prisoners did more to inhibit postwar reconciliation than any other episode of the war."

Subscribe on Substack

Links:

• National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville Historic Site - National Parks Service

  
  

• Gallery of close-up images of O'Dea's lithograph

  
  

• Andersonville Irish Spotlight: Thomas O’Dea, The Clare Emigrant Who Immortalised Andersonville in Art - Damian Shiels, Irish in the American Civil War, August 23, 2022

  
  

• O’Dea’s Famous Picture of Andersonville Prison - Paul Perrault, Malta, NY Town Historian (2008 - 2023)

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

Too many emails? To receive a weekly recap instead, please subscribe on my Substack blog. Instructions for turning on the weekly summary can be found here.

Have something you’d like me to consider for inclusion? Please feel free to leave a comment!