Camp Oglethorpe Prison was located near Macon, Georgia. It was used to confine Union military officers during the last full year of the Civil War, 1864. The officers survived well. No ill-treatment was noted by the over 1,600 officers confined at Macon. Only one officer was shot and killed by a Confederate sentinel for crossing the dead line. The camp was located south of Macon on a sandy incline formerly used as the county fair grounds. Shelter was provided for the Union prisoners as well as water and wood for heating. The old Floral Hall, a one-story frame building located in the center of the fair ground, was used to house 200 men. A stockade 16 feet high and similar in construction to the Andersonville stockade, surrounded the enclosure.
A raid on Macon in late July by General George Stoneman's cavalry persuaded Confederate authorities to remove prisoners from Macon to Charleston and Savannah. By the end of September 1864 the prison virtually ceased operation.
Image: Camp Oglethorpe and Old Fairgrounds 1854
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