![]() He has until the end of April to dig out as much as he can. He's been able to raise another $17,000.ĭePratter is hoping to raise additional funds to pay for ground-penetrating radar to avoid the utility pipes that crisscross the site. The developer has given DePratter $25,000, which has been matched by the city, to start his dig. One hole contained crudely made bricks the prisoners fashioned by hand, which they stacked to offer protection from the wind and rain. But when hundreds started escaping into the surrounding countryside, they were shifted to the mental hospital's grounds, which are surrounded by a 10-foot brick wall.Īs the researchers dig and sift the reddish earth, they uncover buttons, combs, remnants of clothing and utensils presumably used by the prisoners. The officers, however, were held in Richmond, Va., then Macon, Ga., before being sent to Savannah and Charleston, S.C.Īfter a yellow fever outbreak in Charleston, they were brought to Columbia, where they were put in an open field dubbed "Camp Sorghum" on the western side of the Congaree River across from Columbia. The enlisted men were sent to the notorious prison at Andersonville, Ga., where 12,000 Union soldiers died of illness and privation. Officers were useful for prisoner exchanges, so they were shuttled from site to site as the war progressed. The site was sold to a developer for $15 million last summer, amid hopes it becomes an urban campus of shops and apartments and possibly a minor league baseball field.Ĭhief archaeologist Chester DePratter said researchers are digging through soil to locate the holes - the largest being 7 feet long, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep - as well as whatever possessions the officers may have left behind. ![]() ![]() The researchers have been given four months to excavate a small portion of the 165-acre grounds of the former South Carolina State Hospital to find the remnants of what was once known as "Camp Asylum." Conditions at the camp, which held 1,500 Union Army officers during the winter of 1864-65, were so dire that soldiers dug and lived in holes in the ground, which provided shelter against the cold. (AP) - Racing against time, South Carolina archeologists are digging to uncover the remnants of a Civil War-era prisoner-of-war camp before the site in downtown Columbia is cleared to make room for a mixed-use development. ![]()
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