Photo: Crisis At Andersonville (<i>interpretive plaque inside Camp Lawton Museum</i>)

Photographer: Cosmos Mariner
Taken: May 11, 2017
Caption: Crisis At Andersonville (interpretive plaque inside Camp Lawton Museum)
Additional Description: In late 1863, when Virginia was in serious danger of being overrun, prisoners were moved to Georgia in large numbers. The largest stockade was Andersonville, known as Camp Sumter. By the summer of 1864, after only 6 months of operation, Andersonville was vastly overcrowded. Over 32,000 prisoners were confined to a space originally designed to hold 10,000. With rations in short supply, no shelter, and poor sanitary facilities, deaths were inevitable.

In order to reduce the overcrowding at Camp Sumter, Brigadier General John Henry Winder, who was responsible for all Confederate prisons, requested permission to construct another prison in Georgia. A site about 5 miles north of the train station in Millen was selected. The layout was very similar to Andersonville in that it had a stream running through it. On August 14, 1864, Winder received permission to begin construction and to visit plantation owners in both Georgia and Florida to hire slaves to do the labor. If Winder faced opposition from the landowners, he had the authority to impress (i.e., seizing people or property for public service). Not everyone was pleased about construction of a prison camp in the area.
Submitted: February 23, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Database Locator Identification Number: p417297
File Size: 3.889 Megabytes

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