Historic Prison Site

The site of Camp Sumter (Andersonville Prison) is preserved as part of the the National Historic Site. The historic prison site is 26.5 acres outlined with double rows of white posts. Two sections of the stockade wall have been reconstructed, the north gate and the northeast corner. 

Camp Sumter was established in late 1863 and early 1864 to provide an additional place to hold Union prisoners captured by Confederate forces. The first prisoners were brought to the new prison in February 1864 from Richmond, Virginia. Camp Sumter was built to help lessen the crowding in the facilities in and around Richmond. The new prison was orginally designed to hold a maximum of 10,000 prisoners and was 16.5 acres in size. Overcrowding was an almost immediate problem and by early summer an expansion of 10 acres was completed. By August of 1864, Camp Sumter held over 32,000 prisoners and the death rate was a staggering 100+ daily. In 14 months, nearly 13,000 Union prisoners persished.  

National Prisoner of War Musuem

The idea of a museum to commemorate the sacrifices of all American prisoners of war took root many years ago Congressional legislation was passed to create Andersonville NHS in 1970. This legislation mandated that the new historic site should tell the story of Andersonville and other Civil War era prisons, protect the physical features of the historic prison site and Andersonville National Cemetery, and should “interpret the role of prisoner of war camps in history and to commemorate the sacrifices of Americans who lost their lives in such camps”. 

For a number of years, the park maintained a small historic building as the POW museum, with exhibits developed by park staff. In the mid-1980’s the park staff began to work with American Ex-Prisoners of War (AXPOW) a national organization of former POWs and their families, setting in motion the idea that a National Prisoner of War Museum should be a part of this National Park Service unit. It was not until the 1990s when Congress appropriated funding for planning and development of the Museum that the project began in earnest. The NPS and AXPOW continued to work closely together to raise funding and corroborate on both design for the building and for the interpretive exhibits. The overwhelming goal for the project was that the Museum would be a fitting visitor center for the public and give visitors a total understanding of the story of all POWs. 

As the project continued, another partnership group joined the effort. The Friends of Andersonville, a group of local and national supporters of the park, became involved in the fund raising process and also served as a petitioner to the state of Georgia for assistance with construction of a new entrance road for the park which would lead directly to the site of the new Museum. Finally in the summer of 1996, construction of the building began. April 9, 1998 not only commemorated the 56th anniversary of the fall of the Island of Bataan during World War II, but marked a new era of interpretation at Andersonville NHS. Thousands of former prisoners of war and their families along with national and local supporters of the park gathered to dedicate the National Prisoner of War Museum. 

Andersonville National Cemetery

The cemetery was established to provide a permanent place of honor for those who died in military service to our country. The initial interments, beginning in February 1864, were those who died in the nearby prisoner of war camp. Today the cemetery contains nearly 18,000 interments. Andersonville National Cemetery, administered by the National Park Service, uses the same eligibility criteria as cemeteries administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For information regarding eligibility criteria, please visit the website of the National Cemetery Administration at www.cem.va.gov.