Civil War POW camp in rural Georgia uncovered by archaeologists
Long-forgotten Camp Lawton housed Union prisoners
- Amanda Morrow
Archaeologists have uncovered one of the most significant Civil War discoveries in decades near Millen, Ga.
A Georgia Southern University archaeological team excavated numerous Civil War artifacts from the Confederacy's Camp Lawton, a prisoner of war camp in southeast Georgia that housed some 10,000 Union prisoners over a six-week period in late 1864.
Until now, the short-lived site has been of little interest to scholars. The camp's exact location was unknown, and archaeologists thought the possibility of finding anything significant was slim.
But experts are now calling the unexpected findings "one of the most exciting and intriguing Civil War discoveries of the modern era."