Andersonville Boy

The Andersonville Boy is an above life-size bronze statue representing the Connecticut Civil War soldiers imprisoned under inhumane conditions in the infamous Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. The statue “portrays a Union soldier with dejected but unconquered mien.” Dedicated in 1907, it is a contemporary second casting of a statue that stands in the National Cemetery in Andersonville, Georgia, where so many Union soldiers were buried. 

The monument was proposed by George Q. Whitney and sculpted by Bela Pratt, a native of Connecticut. A committee was appointed to submit an appropriate design for the memorial to the legislature. The committee chose a prominent Andersonville location in May 1906. Pratt’s model was approved and cast in September 1907. On October 14th, 1907, a group of Connecticut veterans and officials went to Georgia by train to witness the unveiling. At the same time, a second cast was made and placed on the grounds of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. 

The Hartford version is accompanied by radiating benches that form a small garden of memory and repose. The plan for the pedestal and benches was designed by R.C. Sturgis, architect, of Boston, Massachusetts. The statue was cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company, Mount Vernon, New York.