Remembering Andersonville
The Raiders
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Statues in Andersonville
The Raiders
Andersonville National Cemetary
Henry Wirz - Warden of Andersonville

The raiders were cruel, selfish, bullies.

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The raiders, as they were named by the prisoners in Andersonville, were a large group of Union soldiers who would beat other prisoners senseless for shirts, coats, pants, food, money, whatever they think they could use. The Confederates and the Raiders would trade back and forth, Raiders would trade brass buttons to Confederates for food and whiskey. The group of raiders was run by six ring leaders, before they were hung the group would start to attack new prisoners who were just entering Andersonville. A sailor (one of the ring leaders) would talk the new prisoners into going over toward a corner in the stockade claiming it didn't stink so bad there, and would convince prisoners they needed a good place to shave, or he would offer them food, when he got the prisoners over into the raiders group they would club the new prisoners and grab whatever they could. Many deaths in Andersonville resulted from the group.       
     One day a man other prisoners called "Limber Jim," spoke up about the raiders, and created a small police force to try to stop them. Wirz, doing the ONLY good thing he had done, sent his Confederates in to get the six ring leaders of the raiders. Wirz allowed the prisoners to give the six raider ring leaders a fair trial, with a jury, and found the six ring leaders guilty. A week later they were hung.
 

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The six Ring Leaders were:
 

William Collins - Private, 88th Penna.Inf., Co.K ; born in England in 1835; enlisted at Philadelphia Oct 3, 1861; fought at Gettysburg; captured Rapidon, VA and interred in a Richmond prison; sent to Andersonville March 4, 1864

Charles Curtis - Private, 5th RI Heavy Art; born in Canada; 5'5"tall; enlisted at Providence, RI July 27, 1863; captured Croatan, NC May 5, 1864

Patrick Delaney - Private, 83rd Penna Inf.; born in Ireland; drafted at Reading, PA September 1863 

Andrew Muir - United States Navy; born in Dublin, Ireland; captured June 3, 1864, while aboard the U.S.S. Water Witch in Albemarle Sound, NC; sent to Andersonville June 7, 1864

John Sarsfield - Private, 144th NY Inf.; born in Ireland 1841; cobbler by profession; enlisted at Brooklyn, NY September 1, 1863; captured in the Wilderness May 5, 1864; interred at Belle Isle and Andersonville prisons

John Sullivan - Private, 76th NY Inf.; born in Ireland; 5'3"tall; enlisted at Rochester, NY September 1, 1863 at the age of 27 

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The six ring leaders graves are far away from the other prisoners' graves; they deserved no respect for what they had done to other prisoners.

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