John L. Ransom joined the Union Army in 1862, serving as brigade quartermaster of the Ninth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. A year later, the 20-year-old soldier was captured in Tennessee and interned at the notorious Georgia prison camp, Andersonville. Ransom's harrowing firsthand account of Civil War prison life constitutes a valuable historical record — a true story not only of cruelty, death, and deprivations but also of acts of courage and kindness that ensured the young soldier's survival and preserved his faith in humanity.
