Time: 60 Minutes
Setting: In the classroom
Suggested Age: 5th-11th Grade
Group Size: 30 Students
Objectives: At the end of the activity, the students will be able to:
• Students will use historic photographs to draw their own concusions about the conditions inside Andersonville.
Materials: Provided by teacher – photocopies of the photograph handouts and photograph analysis worksheet worksheet
included with this lesson plan.
Applicable Georgia Performance Standards
High School (United States History)
SSUSH9 The student will identify key events, issues, and individuals relating to the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War.
f. Explain the importance of the growing economic disparity between the North and the South through an
examination of population, functioning railroads, and industrial output.
Middle School (8th Grade GA Studies)
SS8H6 The student will analyze the impact of Civil War and Reconstruction on Georgia
b. State the importance of key events of the Civil War, include Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation,
Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of Georgia’s coast, Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March
to the Sea, and Andersonville.
Elementary School (5th Grade Social Studies – American History)
SS5H1 The student will explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War
c. Identify major battles and campaigns: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March to the
Sea, and Appomattox Courthouse
e. Describe the eff ects of war on the North and South.
This activity corresponds to the Information Processing Skills Matrix as part of the Georgia Performance Standards.
There were very few photographs taken of Andersonville Prison while it was in
operation. Photography in the 1860s was a diffi cult, cumbersome, and expensive process,
especially in the rural parts of the South. However, on August 16, 1865, a photographer
from Macon, Georgia, named A.J. Riddle visited Andersonville to document the site.
When Riddle arrived the prison was at its maximum size, with 33,000 prisoners inside the
stockade. He took eight photographs of the prison. These were all taken from the guard
“pigeon roosts” that surrounded the stockade. He then took two photographs of the
cemetery. For this activity, students will analyze some of Riddle’s photographs in order
to gain a better understanding of what conditions were like in Andersonville.
Andersonville National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Andersonville National Historic Site
Andersonville National Cemetery
Photograph Analysis Activity
