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Camp Sorghum facts for kids

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Prisoners of war and military prisons; personal narratives of experience in the prisons at Richmond, Danville, Macon, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Charleston, and Columbia with a list of officers (14759573681)
Camp Sorghum, Columbia, South Carolina.

Camp Sorghum was a Confederate States Army prisoner of war camp located in Columbia, South Carolina during the American Civil War.

Established in late 1864 as a makeshift prison for approximately 1,400 Union officers, Camp Sorghum consisted of a 5-acre (20,000 m2) tract of open field, without walls, fences, buildings, or any other facilities. A "deadline" (boundary line) was established by laying wood planks 10 feet (3.0 m) inside the camp's boundaries.

Rations consisted of cornmeal and sorghum syrup as the main staples in the diet; thus the camp became known as "Camp Sorghum". Due to the lack of any security features, escapes were common. Conditions were terrible, with little food, clothing, or medicine, and disease claimed a number of lives among both the prisoners and their guards.

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