Kelly has arranged to meet historian Tim Orr at the dekap History Center she's
searching for information on the battle that Isaiah fought in and what happened
to him after he was taken prisoner well thank you so much Tim for meeting with
me just to get you caught up I found that my three-times great-grandfather
Isaiah Rose was captured in the Battle of Decatur and that was just curious to
know if you really knew anything to help the Battle of Decatur was a part of much
larger military operation called the Atlanta Campaign by 1864 three years of
fighting had crushed the morale of the northern states casting doubt on
Lincoln's re-election in need of a decisive victory
General Sherman of the Union Army launched a major assault on the key
Confederate hub of Atlanta known as the Atlanta Campaign Isaiah robes his
regiment acted in the Battle of Decatur one of a series of bloody battles that
raged for over four months but in early September the Union Army captured the
city inflicting a devastating defeat on the Confederates all right see Decatur
on the map I do Decatur all right this is where the
battle action of July 22nd took place okay the battle was kind of an important
one because it was a fight over a supply line that was supplying the Union Army
okay one single Brigade which I say is a part of yes giving that task of
defending this this area he was six miles away from the front at this point
he thought it was light duty but in fact the Confederates kind of proved him and
his comrades wrong on the afternoon of July 22nd sent a force of cavalry the
horsemen of their army several thousand in fact from the city around south and
they came up behind the Union lines and there the Confederates came out of the
woods encircled them and it was probably no contest there the Union soldiers
either had to retreat or surrender okay I have the battle report of the
63rd Ohio which was Isaiah roses regimen discusses the action at the Battle of
Decatur okay awesome so the enemy attacked on all sides of the very
superior force and after two hours of hard fighting
we were finally driven out of the town ten killed 44 wounded and 31 missing he
was probably one of the 31 yes almost certainly they stood their ground and
ultimately those Union soldiers that fell as casualties killed wounded or
captured I think made an incredible sacrifice and taking on the brunt of
everything to actually help supply the big huge battle going on absolutely and
it's a high possibility is Atlanta had not fallen Lincoln would not have been
reelected the Confederacy might have won the Civil War that's huge
epically yeah okay so he's taken prisoner so how do I find out which camp
my three-times great-grandfather Isaiah went to well we can search for that
online okay I say outros let's see what comes
up okay there we go Isaiah Rose side of the union if federal
prisoners of war combined at Andersonville Georgia mm-hmm 1864 16-5
so Andersonville Georgia that's where is that where camp was yes indeed actually
the largest prisoner of war camp in the Confederacy over 45,000 stayed there
during 14 months of activity 45,000 people were there mm-hmm
Wow okay well we have an original document let's give that a whirl and see
what comes up view original document all right so what
I'm noticing Isaiah Rose private company F 63rd Ohio the Tim so the column died
escaped paroled exchanged or released I'm noticing everybody else has like
exchanged released his columns to see volumes miscellaneous records how do you
find out what happened or what those miscellaneous records are I'll tell you
what I'll remain here and see what I can find as to is the rest of his military
career okay I think you might want to go to Andersonville which is a National
Historic Site and see if you can determine a little bit about his prison
experience yeah well all right well I'll see you soon
I love that Tim told me that the unsung story you know for the Battle of Decatur
you know I grew up playing basketball and sports and everything and I think
that everybody always remembers the Michael Jordan's but nobody remembers
the people passing the ball it's the kind of a notice sacrifices that Isaiah
and his Brigade made that make the big victories even possible I am a little
hesitant about going to Andersonville military prison because how sad is that
that all these thousands of people suffered after fighting for our freedom
to find out about Isaiah's experience as a prisoner of war Kelley is visiting the
location of the camp where he was held the Andersonville Historic Site and
Cemetery
today most of the camps original structures are gone but park ranger
Chris Barr is here to tell Kelly what the camp looked like when Isaiah was a
prisoner I'm Kelly hey I'm Chris I've been looking into my three-times
great-grandfather Isaiah Rose and he was taken to here Andersonville Prison I was
just curious what does that mean like what are the conditions of a military
prison in the Civil War I'd be happy happy to help you out with
all of that because this would have been the main entry point for most prisoners
coming in here and our gates are reconstructed on the original spot so
but if you'd like let's maybe walk through the very gates that he didn't
listen explore this place all right and so as he walked in here you know he'd be
looking out across this across this valley and just see a sea of humanity
out here when prisoner said it looked like an anthill that had been stirred up
Andersonville Prison camp was a large fenced-in stockade completely open to
the elements no housing was provided Isaiah rose and his fellow POWs
were left to create their own makeshift tents for shelter from the blazing heat
and winter Frost's with a space for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners the camp
became home to more than 45,000 making it a breeding ground for violence
starvation and disease Confederate military prison policy was simply open
the gates turn the prisoners in close the gates and you're on your own on the
inside oh my gosh Kelly I have a first-person account from a from a
prisoner named Robert H Kellogg and this is his description of what the place
looked like when he arrived in May of 1864 when which is two months before my
three-times-great-grandfather got there exactly that seems still gonna be pretty
similar okay as we entered the place a spectacle met our eyes that almost froze
our blood with horror before us were forms that had once been active in erect
Stuart men now nothing but mere walking skeletons covered with filth and vermin
many of our men in the heat and intensity of their feeling exclaimed
with earnestness can this be hell Wow this is a photograph of a prisoner
who was held here at Andersonville and this is what he's talking about my
walking skeleton this is what oh my gosh you can see his pelvic bone like I mean
you could see
I don't even I don't have words right now
I cannot imagine in the center of the hole was a swamp occupying about three
or four acres of the narrowed limits and a part of this marshy place had been
used by the prisoners as a sink excrement covered the ground the scent
arising from which was suffocating like what is that what is this that's like
where they wash a hand to face what the sinks are is that's kind of the civil
war-era term for the latrines they're using the restroom at a downstream end
of the creek and then of course on the upstream end of the creek it's where
they're having to get their drinking water from oh my god like dysentery like
there's so much stuff going on there dysentery diarrhea as well as diseases
related to nutrition but a lot of it stems from that water of the forty five
thousand men that walked through those gates you came through just under 13,000
of them died here they're making this really the deadliest place in the civil
war obviously I'm here so I know Isaiah survived this but what happened
like whenever the war ended like what how did happened Eva there just open the
doors and people left or like how did that happen if you just take a second
and tell me what that document says across the top their record of escaped
prisoners of war USA I've escaped way true Isaiah Rose oh my gosh he escaped
Isaiah Rose private F 63rd Ohio escaped Savannah Georgia
December 1st 64 okay I don't get it why does it all of a sudden mention Savannah
in all likelihood what happened was he escaped in transit to another prison
they had started to evacuate prisoners to other places around and Savannah was
one of the places that they were taking prisoners - like where did he go like if
he escaped like where what happens afterwards and the circumstances of his
escape you know we don't know for all we know you know he he he joined up with
runaway slaves for all we know he hid in the swamp somewhere we just don't know
all right well I guess that means I need to go back to Tim
and Lina thank you so much for all of this this has been incredible thank you
for visiting with us today all right have a good one you too
I think the most powerful thing about Isaiah roses character was the fact that
he never gave up so many people died in the 14 months here at Andersonville
still he persevere and he pushed through and survived this horrible circumstance
you