Facing a long tenure in Confederate prisons, John Tarsney decided he would take matters in his own hands so pinned his name and regiment on the dead man's clothing and gave his silver watch to a sergeant to keep him quiet.
He got out of Camp Lawton with a new name. he was now John Frantz of the 54th Pennsylvania. He boarded a train with the others to be exchanged and headed north to his freedom. That is one prisoner's story, but there are many others.
During the war, there were some 410,000 Americans captured and of that number, there were 56,000 deaths on both sides.
At Andersonville, 13,000 Union prisoners died in just 13 months.
--Old Secesh
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