Category: Blackshear Prison, Blackshear, Georgia

Categories: Confederate American Civil War Camps for Union POWs

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Blackshear Prison was a temporary prisoner of war camp located in Blackshear, Georgia, during the American Civil War.

During Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's 1864 "March to the Sea," Confederate officials hastily made plans to evacuate a number of existing POW camps and relocate their occupants farther from the Federal army. As Blackshear is deep in southeast Georgia in a pine forest, it was thought to be a safe place for this relocation. The new prison was simply an open camp in a remote place, surrounded by a guardline, including some heavy artillery pieces. The first shipment of 600 prisoners arrived at Blackshear Prison via train on November 16 from Savannah. Within a few weeks, the population had swelled to nearly 5,000. As Sherman approached the coastline, most of the prisoners were further evacuated to Charleston, South Carolina, and other places. By December, the "corral" at Blackshear was empty of Union prisoners. Approximately 27 Union soldiers were buried in Blackshear until the close of the war, when they were reinterred at Beaufort National Cemetery, Beaufort, South Carolina. Their names are unknown. SOURCE: Black Shear Prison

American Civil War POW Camps

Lessel Long 20 Feb 1838 Randolph, Indiana, United States - 30 May 1915

John Ransom 20 Mar 1843 Conneaut, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States - 23 Sep 1919

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