John Levi Maile

Born in 1844, John Levi Maile is known for Prison Life in Andersonville, a memoir drawn from his own experience as a Union soldier held in Confederate prisons during the American Civil War. The book centers on the brutal conditions at Andersonville and gives special attention to the story of Providence Spring, which he presented as a moment of relief and faith in the middle of extreme hardship.

Available catalog records identify him as "John Levi, 1844-" and Project Gutenberg describes the work as a firsthand historical account by a veteran prisoner. That background gives his writing its direct, personal quality: he was not retelling the story from a distance, but recalling events he believed mattered deeply.

For listeners interested in Civil War memoirs, Maile's work stands out for its mix of eyewitness detail, endurance, and spiritual reflection. Even when describing suffering, he writes with the sense that memory should serve both history and moral witness.