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In the year 2007 Gene Estensen returned to visit Andersonville Prison for the third time. This trip was special for him. He was escorting a visitor from Norway. Torbjørn Greipsland, author of "Nordmenn i dødsleirene". This book, with selected chapters in English, tells how the American Civil War touched nearly every Norwegian family. It focuses on the Union soldiers that died at Andersonville, Georgia and some that nearly starved to death there.
Gene and Torbjørn went to Andersonville on Memorial Day, 2007, and there were small American flags placed at each of the approximately 13,000 graves. They sought out the 40 or so graves that Torbjørn had identified as Norwegian immigrant soldiers, mostly from the Midwest. Many were from the "Norwegian Regiment", the 15th Wisconsin Regiment. They placed a small Norwegian flag at each grave, next to the American flag that had been put in place for Memorial Day, and took a picture of each grave.
Upon returning to Norway, Torbjørn wrote an article about each soldier and sent it to the newspaper near that soldier's place of birth in Norway. Thus, the articles began to appear in newspapers across Norway in late 2007, accompanied by small pictures of the gravesites.
It is fitting that these soldiers, mostly new immigrants to America, are still remembered. They fought and died for their new country. It is highly unlikely that their family members ever traveled to the gravesites in a remote area of Georgia.
Please view these pictures of Andersonville Prison taken by Gene Estensen.
Picture 1 is of Torbjørn at the new Visitor's Center at Andersonville. Andersonville is this nations monument to prisoners of war (POWs). The Visitor Center features stories of the POWs of all of our wars in film, pictures, and text.
Picture 2 is the haunting sight at the Center. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one certainly is worth ten thousand. This statue brings us a clear vision of what life was like in this prison, where thousands of Union soldiers died of disease and starvation. Picture 3 shows the statue that greets visitors to the Andersonville cemetery. A friend of mine was moved to tears when he came upon this scene.
Picture 4 is of Gene Estensen at the Minnesota Monument. There is a huge monument to the soldiers of the state of Wisconsin (15th Wisconsin Regiment) too.
Picture 5 is of the location of the prison camp, a reenactment setting.
Picture 6, Picture 7, and Picture 8 show some 13,000 graves. A soldier wrote down the names of the soldiers as they died. A little known nurse by the name of Clara Barton saw to it that a tombstone was erected for each of the dead. She had some flower trees planted at the new cemetery just after the Civil War. Today these trees have become giant Magnolia trees, know for their large white flowers.
Picture 9 is one last look at the statue to the fallen at the entrance to the Andersonville cemetery.
Upon returning to Norway, Torbjørn authored a series of articles about Andersonville for the newspapers of Norway. Article 1 and Article 2 are just two of the series.
