The Florence, SC Confederate Prison/Stockade

On September 1, 1864, Atlanta fell to General William Tecumseh Sherman’s forces. The Confederacy concerned that Sherman’s next target would be to liberate Union prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia began the process of relocating them to other remote regions of the South by rail. One such location would be Florence, SC at the junction of three railroads shown below (the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad, the Northeastern Railroad, and the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad).

**Railroads in eastern South** **Carolina during the Civil War**

Prisoners were first sent to Charleston, SC and then subsequently on to Florence. When they first arrived in Florence in mid-September they were put under guard in an open field. Construction then began using slave labor on a stockade that was 1400 feet from east to west and 725 feet from north to south. The wall was made of tree trunks each cut to a length of 18 feet with the wall being 14-feet tall. A deep trench was dug around the outside of the walls and dirt from the trench was used to create a 10-foot-high berm (platform) to further stabilize the tree trunks and allow guards to look over the wall to guard the prisoners. Timber platforms were constructed outside of each of the four corners with cannons placed on them. A small creek (Pye Creek) ran through the middle of the prison that served as a water source for drinking, cooking, and waste. There was a dungeon in the southeast corner. Outside the fort were a commissary building and eventually huts for the guards. Union prisoners first entered the stockade on October 2, 1864. A sketch of the stockade is shown below.

**Sketch of Stockade by Robert Knox Sneden December 8, 1864**

Conditions were harsh. Prisoners had to dig into the ground to make their own shelters and food was scarce. A dead-line of 20 feet from the walls was established that was marked with sticks. Anyone crossing the line was immediately shot. The stockade was open for four and one-half months. During this time there were three commandants: Major Frederick Worley; Major George Harrison; and Lieutenant Colonel John Iverson. The South Carolina Reserves served as the main guards. They consisted mostly of boys below the age of 17 and men over the age of 50, and were supervised by the 5th GA infantry. About 16,000 men were imprisoned in Florence and approximately 2,800 of them died there. They were buried in trenches north of the prison in an area which is now a National Cemetery. One of those buried there was a woman named Florena Budwin who was posing as a male Union soldier in order to be with her husband. Both were captured. It is unknown whether her husband died in Andersonville, Florence or somewhere else. It is said that when Florena was discovered to be a woman she was transferred to the Wayside Hospital in Florence where she served as a nurse. While there she developed a febrile illness and died. It is also possible that she died in the stockade and that she was not discovered to be a female until after her death.

She is one of the first women to have been buried in a National Cemetery. She is the first woman to be buried in a National Cemetery with a female name on her headstone.

In January of 1865 as Sherman advanced through South Carolina some of the prisoners were sent to Salisbury Prison in Salisbury, NC. The majority were loaded on trains and sent to Wilmington, NC. The trains were stopped outside the city where the prisoners were unloaded and instructed to walk the thirty minutes to Union lines.

The stockade (34.1747644, -79.7533668) is preserved by the Friends of the Florence Stockade. This is the link to their website. On the website is a 16-stop walking tour of the stockade shown below which is superimposed on the stockade. The brochure on the website interprets the stops.

Stop 1 is a gazebo with five interpretive panels. I have pictures of them all but the screen captures from the website are shown below because they are easier to read. Following them are pictures from some of the stops.

The walls of the prison are still present in many places. The other details of the walking tour would probably be better appreciated in winter when there is less vegetation.

Florence National Cemetery- 803 East National Cemetery Road- with the graves of the unknown dead from the prison along with the grave of Florena Budwin.