Pigeon-Roosts

Pigeon-Roosts. . , Sentry boxes or "pigeon-roosts" were mounted every 100 feet along the top of the stockade. The guards there had orders to shoot any prisoner who crossed the deadline. Otherwise they had little control over conditions inside., Perched above the camp, the guards themselves became prisoners of tedium and anxiety, always fearful of prisoner uprising or Union cavalry attack. After a while the noise, the stench, and the view across acres of ragged men and shelters have numbed the senses., The guards also suffered from many of the same health problems as the prisoners, resulting in a high death rate in that group as well., "Each of the guards faced the vast mass of prisoners and was ordered to closely watch the dead line before and below him half way to his comrade on his right and left." , John L. Maile, 8th Michigan Infantry, May 22, 1864 , , (captions) , (center) The guards, mostly old men and young boys from the Georgia Reserve Corps, were reluctant witnesses to the misery at Andersonville. More seasoned troops were sent to stop Sherman's drive toward Atlanta., (right) Local townspeople sometimes came to gawk at the prisoners.