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Florence South Carolina Walking Tour
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Florence Stockade

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

From September 1864 to February 1865, this site was the location of one of the largest prisoner-of-war camps in the country during the Civil War (1861-1865). Called the Florence Stockade, it was a Confederate camp and between 15,000 and 18,000 Union troops were imprisoned here. The camp was rectangle in shape at 1,400 feet long and 735 feet wide, encompassing an area of 23.5 acres. The walls were built using vertical timbers sunk into the ground and each corner had a raised platform for artillery. Confederate guards manned an earthen rampart that surrounded the walls on the outer side. A ditch surrounded the entire camp, which was an open stockade; there was no shelter. Like at all prisons during the war, the troops imprisoned here suffered greatly from the weather, lack of food, disease and poor sanitation. As a result, around 2,800 died. Today, the site features a parking area, a gazebo with interpretive signs, and an interpretive walking trail.

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Built by slaves, Florence Stockade was a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp from September 1864 to February 1865. Up to 18,000 Union troops were imprisoned here and around 2,800 of them died.

Sky, Plant, Natural landscape, Building

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Confederates built Florence Stockade to house most of the prisoners who had been incarcerated at southern prisons, including the notorious Andersonville camp in Georgia. The prisoners were moved here because Union forces, led by General William T. Sherman, had recently captured Atlanta in early September and were making their way to Savannah, Georgia on Sherman's "March to the Sea" campaign. Confederates were concerned that Sherman would attack the Andersonville prison and free the troops there.

The site for the Florence Stockade was a large field surrounded by swamps and pine forests. At the time, Florence was the intersection of three rail lines, so transporting prisoners and supplies there was simple. Around a 1,000 slaves from nearby plantations built the camp from September to November. However, the first 6,000 prisoners arrived on September 15th and were forced to stay in a nearby field. Only 100 soldiers and local guarded them. Some managed to escape but were soon caught. For shelter, the prisoners in the camp were forced to dig burrows and cover them with pine tree branches. Some were able to build tents using material they brought with them.

In January 1865, the prisoners who were the most seriously injured or ill were freed in prisoner exchanges. As the weeks passed, Sherman's army was advancing north into South Carolina after seizing Savannah in late December. They were near Columbia, which is 100 miles west of Florence, by February. As a result, the Confederates had nowhere to send the prisoners at the Florence Stockade and made the decision to free them. The first group was freed on parole (meaning that they could not fight for the Union again) beginning on February 15th. In the coming weeks, all of the prisoners were freed. Those who died at the camp were buried in mass graves at what is now Florence National Cemetery.

The Florence Stockade site was largely forgotten for over a century but was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It opened to the public in 2008.

Sources

"Comfortable Camps: Archaeology of the Confederate Guard Camp at the Florence Stockade." National Cemetery Administration. 2008. https://www.cem.va.gov/pdf/ComfortableCamps.pdf.

"Florence Stockade." Discover South Carolina. Accessed March 2, 2021. https://discoversouthcarolina.com/products/26656.

"Florence Stockade Trail and Memorial Park/Florence National Cemetery." South Carolina History Trail. Accessed March 2, 2021. http://www.schistorytrail.com/property.html?i=130.

National Register Staff. "Confederate States Military Prison at Florence." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. November 28, 1980. http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/florence/S10817721007/S10817721007.pdf.

Rogers, Jamie. "Stockade site now open to public." SC Now. May 31, 2008. Retrieved from the Web Archive on March 2, 2021. https://archive.vn/20080608214401/http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/pee_dee/article/stockade_site_now_open_to_public/7086.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Florence_Stockade

Additional Information