Providence Spring is part of the Andersonville Historical Site. During the civil war, this area served as a Confederate prison, housing captured Union soldiers. As I walk around, I'm able to read a number of informational plaques describing the layout and conditions of this site. From my reading, the prison was rampant with death and disease. At it's height, the prison incarcerated over thirty thousand Union troops.
Through food shortages and water contaminated by a poorly placed latrine, the prisoners were desperate to escape this living hell. As the story goes, a lightning bolt struck a hillside near the creek and up rushed a stream of pure water. It was a welcomed site and probably seen by some as a miracle to provide them some relief. The prison was liberated in 1865 with the prisoners inside being described as "human skeletons amid hellish scenes of desolation". The spring however was celebrated having a stone structure built around it to memorialize the symbol of hope it was for those that suffered here.
The structure remains and water pours from a hole in the wall at the back of it. Outside the structure another spigot releases the spring water into a series of pools before it finally empties into the overgrown creek below. I walk around the site a bit and can only imagine the horrific lifestyle the prisoners must have endured here.
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