Andersonville National Historic Site

Andersonville National Historic Site covers 495 acres in Macon County, Georgia, and joins two areas once run by the U.S. Army: a national cemetery and the grounds of a Civil War prison. Construction of the prison began in 1863, and the log stockade enclosed about 27 acres. Earthworks including redans, a redoubt and a Star Fort protected it, and some of these remain along with escape tunnels dug by prisoners. The cemetery, set in a clearing about 300 yards northwest, was established in 1865 and holds 24,792 gravesites inside a red brick wall built in 1872. Clara Barton and a party arrived in 1865 to identify and mark graves. Many state monuments, mostly from 1900 to 1916, stand at the cemetery and prison site. The Women's Relief Corps of the GAR owned the prison park before donating it to the federal government in 1911. The prison and cemetery are rated as First Order resources, with most other buildings and monuments rated Third Order.