Providence Spring

[Illinois Rebel]

Hello All,

I am doing some research on Andersonville Prison for an article and require some help. Would anyone know the exact date that the Spring welled forth? History has it early August of 1864. However, I need an exact date to tie an I'd artifact in with the day.

I'll explain all of this as soon as I get confirmation.

I appreciate the participation and comments.

Respectfully,

Michael Collins

[Hank Trent]

Re: Providence Spring

Finding specific dates is easy. Figuring out which ones are right is the hard part. :)

Here's what I found in some quick looking. August 13, the morning after the big storm the day before, seems like one chronology that shows up a lot.

However, some diaries place the storm a few days or more before the spring. The Ransom diary, which has hard dates but is often thought to have been a post-war recollection written to appear like a diary, lists Aug. 13 for the spring, but places the storm on Aug. 5, and implies that Aug. 12 was sunny.

John McElroy places the two events as far apart as any, putting the storm "one afternoon--early in August" and the spring "toward the end of August."

Former prisoner Francis C. Curtis, speaking post-war, placed the storm on August 11 and connected the spring to it, without saying how long afterwards.

John Worrell Northrop writes on Aug. 20 "For nine days I have been prevented from making usual notes. Little passed I care to recall..." and then on Aug. 21 writes "Rainy" and on Aug. 23 mentions, without implying it happened that day, "During a terrific storm a spring burst out on the north of the swamp close to the dead line on the west side... and now flows profusely... A board spout is made conveying the water from this spring..." But his diary is also highly rewritten postwar and is more like a series of essays loosely tied to dates.

The NPS site says August 9 for both: "The WRC built the Providence Spring House in 1901 to mark the site where, on August 9, 1864, a spring burst forth during a heavy summer rainstorm-an occurrence many prisoners attributed to divine providence."

It would make sense for the storm and the spring to become closer together as time passed and the rough edges of the story got smoothed away, to tie together the cause and effect and make it all sound more logical. Some accounts even imply that prisoners saw a bolt of lightning strike the spot of the spring during the storm and it occurred immediately, which seems to be the version the NPS story is relying on. So I wouldn't necessarily reject the reports that say the spring appeared several days after the storm.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Michael Comer]

Re: Providence Spring

You might want to contact Andersonville directly and discuss the date discrepancies with them. I would think they would have the most information at hand to help you.

[Illinois Rebel]

Re: Providence Spring

Thank you Hank for the excellent overview. I too found two dates; August 9th and August 15th. I contacted Andersonville as suggested by Michael and was told the 9th. However, the dates varied by account.

I have a Federal Canteen that was carried by a 16th Iowa soldier who was captured on July 22nd on Leggetts Hill. According to his diary, he drew water from the Spring with the Canteen. I will post photos for those interested.

Thank you for the replies, they were greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

Michael Collins

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Providence Spring

Mr. Collins-

If at all possible, I would be interested in hearing more about the 16th Iowa diary that you have, or any transcriptions of said document if one might be available.