His son Sidney was selected to find a suitable location for a new prison to relieve the overcrowding at Libby and Bell Isle prisons in Richmond. Sidney selected Andersonville because it was near a railroad and he had information that the location had a "large supply of beautiful water,"
The general's nephew, Richard Winder was given command of the prison's construction.
General Winder died at the Confederate military prison in Florence, South Carolina, of a heart attack in 1865.
Had he not died, very likely he would have had to stand trial for Andersonville. "In all probability, the responsibility for conditions at Andersonville should fall on the Winder's shoulders as much as on Captain Wirz."
--Old Secesh
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