Village, southwestern central Georgia, U.S. It was the site of a Confederate military prison in 1864–65 during the American Civil War .
Notorious for its dreadful conditions, it provided only makeshift shelter for the Union prisoners, more than a quarter of whom died. The Andersonville National Cemetery, which includes the prison site, contains the graves of 12,912 Union prisoners who perished there. In 1865 Capt. Henry Wirz, commander of the prison, was tried by a military commission and hanged.