From Andersonville to Tahiti

A true life story, which no book has presented before, of a poor soldier who plumbed the depths of misery, became a national hero, was punished for his good deeds, and ended as a wealthy man, married to a Polynesian princess. Twelve thousand Union men died in Andersonville prison. Atwater kept a secret list of the 12,000 dead, hidden in his coat lining. He knew that when the war ended, the families of the dead would want to know what happened to their loved ones. When he returned home, a copy was made of the list. The army bureaucrats refused to publish either copy and put Atwater in prison when he kept one copy hidden. Though weak from starvation, malaria, and diphtheria, he was put to hard labor when not in his cell. From this almost fatal low point he rose to unimaginable heights. At the end of his life he was embraced by a Royal family, proprietor of coffee, citrus, and sugar plantations, owner of a fleet of pearl schooners, and, with famous author Robert Louis Stevenson, co-owner of a steamship line. His life was one of astonishing triumphs and setbacks. His most precious possession vanished in the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. His wife's Tahiti home was blown up by German armored cruisers in 1914. His remarkable circle of friends included Red Cross founder Clara Barton, crusading editor Horace Greeley, and litterateur Henry Adams. An 8,000 pound cannon marks Atwater's memorial in Connecticut. His story is no fairy tale, but rests entirely on original documents and old photographs, in a narrative dramatically told.