Camp Lawton or the Millen Prison was a stockade which held Union soldiers who been taken as prisoners-of-war during the American Civil War . Located beside the Augusta and Savannah Railroad right-of-way five miles north of what was then Millen Junction (now Millen ) in Burke County (since 1905 in Jenkins County ), the new prison facility was modeled after Camp Sumter . It opened in October 1864 but had to be evacuated within six weeks, due to the advance of Sherman's army through Georgia . With an area of 42 acres (17 ha) and holding over 10,000 of a planned 40,000 men, it was said to be the largest prison in the world at that time.
15-690: Millen may refer to: Geography [ edit ] Millen, Georgia , a city Millen Township, Michigan Millen, West Virginia , an unincorporated community Millen (Belgium) , a village in the municipality of Riemst Millen (Germany) , a village in the municipality of Selfkant Millen Range , a mountain range in Antarctica People [ edit ] Millen (surname) Millen Brand (1906–1980), American writer and poet Millen Matende (born 1982), Zimbabwean long-distance runner Other uses [ edit ] Millen House ,
30-719: A historic house on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, United States Millen High School , Millen, Georgia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Millen . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Millen&oldid=983810909 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with given-name-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
45-535: A number of years at the park, serving as a partner in revealing and interpreting the history of Camp Lawton. Camp Lawton was established during the Civil War in the fall of 1864 by the Confederate Army to house Union prisoners of war. The Magnolia Springs site was selected to take advantage of the abundant water supply. Built by slave labor and a group of Union prisoners of pine timber harvested on site,
60-505: A possible location for the southwest corner of the prison stockade. In 2010 Georgia Southern University undertook archaeological investigations to "ground truth" the results of the GPR survey. In August of that year several Georgia Southern archaeology students uncovered the stockade and around 200 Civil War artifacts. The students had used watercolors by an imprisoned private to locate the site. A fence has been erected to keep people away from
75-550: A total area of 3.6 square miles (9.3 km ), of which 0.02 square miles (0.06 km ), or 0.67%, are water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 2,966 people, 1,113 households, and 563 families residing in the city. The Jenkins County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. The district has 119 full-time teachers and over 1,754 students. Camp Lawton (Georgia) The area of Magnolia Springs State Park that now comprises
90-406: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Millen, Georgia Millen is a city, and the county seat of Jenkins County , Georgia , United States. The population was 3,120 at the 2010 census , down from 3,492 at the 2000 census. The city is intersected by U.S. Route 25 and State Route 17 . Millen was first settled in 1835 along
105-456: The Civil War , a site for a prisoner-of-war camp to house Union soldiers was chosen about five miles from Millen's Junction. Camp Lawton included a hospital, fort and officer housing and had about 8,600 prisoners confined there on 14 November 1864, according to a detailed camp map made by a former prisoner. It was built in what is today Magnolia Springs State Park , because the location
120-724: The Thirty-third Mass. Infantry Regiment, November 23, 1881, p. 239.) Chaplain Thomas M. Stevenson wrote, "God will certainly visit the authors' of this crime with his terrible lightning." (History of the Seventy-eighth Regiment O.V.V.I., Zanesville, Hugh Dunne, 1865, pp. 316-317.) Research using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) conducted in December 2009 by the Lamar Institute of Technology revealed
135-614: The border of what was then Burke and Screven counties. It was originally named "79" due to its approximate distance in miles from the coastal city of Savannah . Planters cultivated cotton as a commodity crop. In 1854, the Central of Georgia Railway and the Georgia Railroad connected at 79. The town became known as "Millen's Junction" after McPherson B. Millen, the superintendent of the Central of Georgia Railway. During
150-512: The center of the city, entering from the west as Winthrope Avenue and leaving to the south as Masonic Street. SR-17 leads northwest 35 miles (56 km) to Louisville and southeast 77 miles (124 km) to Savannah . State Route 21 bypasses Millen to the northeast, ending at US 25 at the northern city limit. SR-21 leads east 20 miles (32 km) to Sylvania . According to the United States Census Bureau , Millen has
165-610: The day-use area was used as the prison. The park still houses remnants of the earthen fort that guarded the 10,000-prisoner camp. Two huge timbers , possibly from the prison but more likely from work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1938 and 1942, were recovered. The park's new History Center currently displays some of the first artifacts excavated by the archaeology team from Georgia Southern University . Georgia Southern's Sociology/Anthropology Department has been conducting surveys and excavations for
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#1732801266304180-400: The walls measured 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 m) high. The stockade began receiving the first of at least 10,299 prisoners in early October. The post was abandoned by the end of November when threatened by Sherman's drive on Savannah . Colonel Adin B. Underwood wrote that they found, on December 5, 1864, a "village of graves, 900 of them." (Atlanta Post-Appeal, The Three Year's Service of
195-590: Was favorable due to the springs providing potable water and its proximity to the Augusta and Savannah Railroad . On December 3, 1864, Sherman's March to the Sea passed through Millen. Prior to the arrival of Union forces, Confederate soldiers evacuated the Camp Lawton prisoners to Savannah. The Union soldiers destroyed Millen's Junction after finding the prison camp and to avoid use of the railway junction. The town
210-626: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The county is largely rural and agricultural. Millen is the only incorporated municipality in Jenkins County. It is located on the east side of the Ogeechee River . U.S. Route 25 passes through the west side of the city, leading north 20 miles (32 km) to Waynesboro and south 29 miles (47 km) to Statesboro . Georgia State Route 17 passes through
225-724: Was rebuilt after the war. In 1881, the city of Millen was incorporated by an act of the Georgia State Legislature , becoming the county seat of the newly created Jenkins County in 1905. The summer of 1919 was called the Red Summer due to a number of race riots throughout America. Millen did not escape this and white mobs burned down and killed a number of people in Millen during the Jenkins County, Georgia, riot of 1919 . The Downtown Millen Historic District
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