BLACKSHEAR, Ga. – A historical marker sits shaded by trees on the shoulder of Georgia 203, where city outskirts fade to full country.
The marker is the only indication that 5,000 Union prisoners of war and their 700 Confederate guards once bedded down on land that slopes down gently to what was once a free flowing creek. The creek has dried up and trees cover most of the 35-acre site.
But local and state officials think there’s evidence in the ground and they want an archaeological study done to find it. The county owns 2.7 acres of the site and two separate owners the rest.
Barry Brown, a historical tourism specialist for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, said being fully undeveloped, the grounds are in the best possible condition for a study.
Tommy Lowmon, who directs in tourism development for Blackshear, says from all accounts the land is pretty much as it was – except for some farming and volunteer trees – since the POWs were moved after a two-month stay.