his brought the total number of deaths since capture to about sixty-three or approximately one out of seven. Near the end of July, the increasing number of deaths, and overall prison conditions led to the circulation of a petition to the United States Government. The petitioner begged President Lincoln to take some action to effect either parole or exchange for the men at Andersonville. The petition was signed by more than one-hundred sergeants who were in charge of detachments and who had presumably polled their men. From the 7th Tennessee, Sergeants John M. Rhodes of Co. A and Rufus G. Barker of Co. H signed. The Confederate authorities released a delegation of prisoners to take the petition to Washington. Though it gained much sympathy for the prisoners among the Northern press and citizenry, the government never acted on it. August began with terrible rainstorms which drenched the unprotected prisoners. Two pleasant side effects, however, were that the downpours washed some of the filth from the camp and one especially hard rain revealed a spring of fresh water which had been covered up in the building of the stockade. This spring was especially welcome since the one sluggish stream flowing through the camp was by this time extremely polluted. The spring would afterward be called "Providence Spring" and would be remembered fondly by the men from West Tennessee. This "miracle" was considered by many men to be the answer to prayer and is thought to be the beginning of a fifty year preaching career for twenty year old John B. Hayes of Decatur County. By the end of August 1864, the camp held about 32,000 men. New prisoners arrived almost continuously from General Sherman's army after Sherman had entered Georgia. They brought the good news that the Union was winning battles in Tennessee and northern Georgia. The camp, however, was experiencing its most disasterous month. Nearly 3000 men died, or an average of almost 100 per day. By the e...
