Officials Want Confederate POW Camp in Georgia Preserved

From the Feb. 4, 2013, Jacksonville (Fl) Times Union by Terry Dickson.

The camp, located near Blackshear, Georgia, was used for only two months after Andersonville was evacuated.

There is a historic marker about it on Georgia Highway 203, the only indication that 5,000 Union prisoners and 700 Confederate guards once occupied the 35 acre site.  The county owns 2.7 acres and the rest owned by private citizens.

Back in 1864, General William Sherman and his Army were cutting a wide swath of destruction across Georgia, but Confederate commanders were unable to figure out his objective or route.  the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp was closed and Union prisoners sent elsewhere.  Some 5,000 moved to Thomasville and 10,000 to Millen at what is now Magnolia Springs State Park

The Thomasville prison site is preserved and within the last two years, archaeologists, scientists and students have been scouring tbe Millen site.  But nothing has been done at Blackshear where records indicate that some of the Union soldiers are buried on the grounds.

Recovering the Past.  --Old Secesh