Grey Ghosts: Searching for Confederates at Camp Lawton

The sites of former prisoner of war camps were transitory, ephemeral, and temporary places, existing in a liminal state during warfare—neither civilian, nor combatant, guards and prisoners experienced the camps in an indeterminate state, engaged and connected to the conflict emotionally, while removed and distanced physically. Yet, this ephemeral nature makes prisoner of war camps—as well as other sites of interment—ideal sites to examine myriad aspects of human behavior, such as issues of power and dominance. Moreover, especially for American Civil War POW camps, a comparison between the historical and archaeological evidence for dominant and subordinate—POWs and Confederate, can reveal some key aspects about past experiences, and present interpretations of the camps. Camp Lawton was a Confederate camp for Union POWS that was built in 1864, inhabited for six weeks, and abandoned in advance of Sherman’s march to the sea. Previous research has documented dense deposits of archaeological material related to the POW occupation; however, until recently, areas related to Confederate guard occupation were unknown. For a holistic comparison of the lived experiences of POWS and guards at the camp, Confederate assemblages are essential for answering questions about treatment of POWs, access to goods and resources, and the social relationship between the dominant and the subordinate, and how these were negotiated. This paper summarizes recent research and excavations of Confederate areas, explores the results, and offers some initial conclusions to begin to untangle the liminal nature of groups at war, but not in war.