Friends of Linwood Township History

Friends of Linwood History 

One of the stories from Linwood's history is that of Sanford Broadbent. Well educated from Massachusetts, he joined the Union Army, digging ditches and cutting trees to make bridges ahead of the Union Army. He was a strong man who used to walk to Anoka refusing rides since he could walk faster, even while carrying 100 pounds of supplies. It is his his Army service in the Civil War that defines that man. He was captured by the South and sent to Andersonville Prison. 

FROM HIS DIARY:

Thursday October 13, 1864 “We come in and drew rations for the last time to get through about a week. We drew a pint of meal a pint and a half of beans ½ po (?) of beef ½ tablespoonful of salt.”
October 23. 1864 “ I have chills that reject that I have lived this story. My health still is weak but is good as usual. 
Wednesday Nov 2, 1864  “A good many died last night as it is raining quite hard. I was cold and chilly too. “
Tuesday Nov 22 , 1864 “not a thing to eat all day “
When he finally was released Dec 2 1864 he weighed 100 pounds.

At its peak in August, the stockade at Andersonville housed over 33,000 Union soldiers in utter squalor. By August, starvation and disease were rampant, and the dead during that month alone totaled 2,994. The creek that ran through the compound became fetid, contributing to an epidemic-level rise in dysentery cases. Many prisoners lived in makeshift lean-to structures. Others had no shelter at all, clawing holes in the ground for whatever cover was possible. Prisoners stole from one another and fought over morsels of food. Organized gangs terrorized the camp.

The rations consisted of eight ounces of corn bread (the cob being ground with the kernel), and generally sour, two ounces of condemned pork, offensive in appearance and smell. Occasionally, about twice a week, two tablespoons of rice, and in place of the pork the same amount (two tablespoonfuls) of molasses were given us about twice a month. The clothing of the men was miserable in the extreme. Very few had shoes of any kind, not two thousand had coats and pants, and those were late comers. More than one-half were indecently exposed, and many were naked.”

Sanford, Mary and his family homesteaded in Linwood. He served his community and taught his children to serve. Life was not easy for the new settlers, but they were made of stern stuff.