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The website for the offical Friends of the Florence Stockade website:
http://home.att.net/~florencestockade/friends.htm
Here is a short history of the Florence Stockade taken from the Friends of the Florence Stockade website.
The Florence Prison Stockade was in operation for approximately 5 months during the time period of Sept 1864 through Feb 1865. During this time, as many as 15 - 18,000 Union soldiers were held captive. Of these, approximately 2,802 Union soldiers died; most of whom are buried as unknowns in the Florence National Cemetery.
The idea of building a stockade at Florence, SC began when General Sherman, after capturing Atlanta, posed a great threat towards liberating the Union soldiers held captive at Andersonville and other southern Georgia stockades. It was determined that the prisoners had to be moved out of the path of Sherman's advancing troops. Florence was chosen by Confederate authorities for the site of a new stockade due to the fact that there were three railroads that centered in the town, which would ease the operation of transporting and receiving prisoners.
Major General Samuel Jones ordered Major Frederick F. Warley, who had been recently exchanged from a Northern prison camp, to construct a stockade in Florence. Work began with approximately 1,000 slaves being assigned to the project from the local area.
At Andersonville in late August and early September 1864, thousands of Union prisoners were told by Captain Wirz that they would all be paroled, except for those who could not walk and were unable to travel. The talk of parole was merely a way to keep the prisoners under control and a way of trying to prevent escape during their relocation. The prisoners being relocated were divided into three groups. One group was sent to Savannah, GA, another to Charleston, SC and the last group went directly to Florence, SC. Left behind at Andersonville were those who could not walk and who would be no threat if liberated. Many of these died off rapidly.
Most of the prisoners that were sent to Savannah would eventually find themselves back at Andersonville after being held captive in various prisons in Georgia. Although, some of these did end up at Florence. Those that arrived in Charleston were mainly held at the Charleston Race Course, which today is known as Hampton Park. Some were also held in the jailyard of the Charleston City Jail and the Workhouse. All of these were holding areas for the prisoners until the building of the stockade at Florence could be completed. Most, if not all, of the Enlisted prisoners at Charleston were sent to Florence.
During the construction of the stockade, there was a rapidly deteriorating situation in Charleston due to the spread of such diseases as Small Pox & Yellow Fever. Due to this situation, 5 to 6,000 of the prisoners were sent to Florence before the completion of the stockade, arriving in Florence on the 14th of September. Since the stockade was far from complete when the prisoners began to arrive, they were gathered into a field close to the train tracks. Being assembled in an open field made the possibility of escape a reality and was of great concern to Major Warley, not to mention the fact that the prisoners were "in a state of mutiny" and could cause major problems in the surrounding area; including the possible destruction of the railroads. Warley requested assistance from Major General Roswell S. Ripley, the commander at Charleston, to help with the situation. Due to the imminent danger involved, Warley couldn't wait and sent out trains to the surrounding community to gather every available man to assist in the completion of the stockade. The prisoners were finally moved into the stockade on the first Sunday of October 1864.
The design of the stockade was much like that of Andersonville. Upright un-hewn timbers were sunk about 5 feet into the ground encasing about 23 1/2 acres; six of which were swamp. The walls of the stockade were roughly 1,400 by 725 feet and approximately 12 - 16 feet tall. Like Andersonville, a stream (Pie Branch) ran through the center of the stockade. This stream was slightly larger than the one at Andersonville, but still proved to be inadequate.
One major difference in the design changes between Andersonville and Florence is that a deep trench was dug around the Florence Stockade to eliminate prisoners from trying to tunnel out. The soil from the trench was then pushed up against the outer walls of the stockade, which provided a platform for the guards to man their posts and also added stability to the log walls. Some accounts also state that there was an inner trench or furrow, as well as a row of boards, used for the deadline.
An additional difference, in comparing Andersonville to Florence, was that the trees previously within the boundaries of the walls had recently been cut, leaving many stumps behind, which were used as firewood. There were also several smaller trees left inside, which were put to the same use. Also, wood was supplied to the stockade, although in small amounts. This wood was gathered during the winter months by a prisoner wood squad.
Major Warley had been wounded prior to his imprisonment and the building of the Florence Stockade. His wounds began to bother him and he requested to be relieved of his duties at the stockade, being replaced by Colonel George P. Harrison, Jr. of the 32nd GA by the 20th of September, with Lt. James Barrett of the 5th GA in command of the interior of the stockade. Harrison became known for his fair treatment of prisoners. While, on the other hand, Barrett was known for being the most brutal. Many accounts state that Lt. Barrett was far more brutal than Capt. Wirz.
By October 12th of 1864 there were 12,362 prisoners at the stockade, with a death rate of between 20 & 30 per day. At this time, three-fourths of the prisoners were without blankets, and quite a few were close to being naked. Luckily, a supply of goods and clothes were delivered to the stockade from the Sanitary Commission about the middle of October.
Around the first of November, another supply of clothes arrived at the stockade from the Sanitary Commission. These items were dispersed to the prisoners who were in most need of them. Also, around this time, the northwest corner of the stockade was separated from the main part for the construction of a hospital, which consisted of rude barracks.
The prisoners totaled 11,424 for November, and towards the end of the month, orders came to make out parole rolls for the most severely sick and wounded prisoners. Any prisoner wishing to be paroled had to undergo an inspection to determine if his case was severe enough to be paroled.
On December 6, 1864, public criticism led to the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel John F. Iverson as the commander of the stockade. During the first half of December the prisoners who were selected for parole were sent by rail to Charleston where they would stay for a few days before boarding the flag-of-truce boats. After their parole, they were shipped to Camp Parole, Annapolis, Maryland. Due to these paroles the number of prisoners had decreased to 7,538 with the death rate decreasing to 6 per day for January 1865.
Brigadier General John H. Winder, commander of all of the Southern prisons east of the Mississippi, was at Florence when he died of a heart attack in front of the Sutler Tent on February 6th, 1865. Due to an inadequate water supply and its close proximity to Federal cavalry, Winder had been trying to close the stockade at Florence. After Winder's death, Colonel Henry Forno made preparations to have the prisoners relocated. Sherman had cut the last railroad link to southwest Georgia, so it was decided to have the prisoners relocated to North Carolina. After much discussion about what to do with the prisoners, all able-bodied prisoners were sent to Greensboro, where they would be paroled and sent to Camp Parole, Annapolis, MD. Most of the sick and wounded prisoners were sent to N. E. Ferry at Wilmington to be paroled as well. By the end of February 1865, the stockade was empty.
Capt. Wirz was later hung for war crimes related to Andersonville, but Lt. Barrett escaped this same fate by fleeing to Germany where he married and remained many years. He would die later of natural causes in 1910 at Augusta, GA.
The Florence Stockade has not received the same notoriety as Andersonville, but the conditions were very much the same. In fact, by many accounts, Florence was worse. It must also be realized that most of the prisoners at Florence had already survived a hard summer at Andersonville and now faced going through the winter with little to no clothing or shelter. |
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