ABSTRACT
A Civil War prison camp operated by the Confederacy known as Camp Lawton was once considered the largest prison in the world. This label was attributed to the fact that Lawton’s stockade enclosed 42 acres. The historical record does not have a clear picture of who built it. Newspaper interviews claim the construction was carried out by 500 impressed slave laborers and 300 Union POWs, but these lack the credibility of official orders. Unfortunately, many Confederate documents were lost when Sherman’s army came through Millen, GA. This study archaeologically examines construction techniques utilized for building stockades in an effort to locate labor patterns and provide identity for the builders of Lawton’s stockade.
","abstract_html":"<p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>A Civil War prison camp operated by the Confederacy known as Camp Lawton was once considered the largest prison in the world. This label was attributed to the fact that Lawton’s stockade enclosed 42 acres. The historical record does not have a clear picture of who built it. Newspaper interviews claim the construction was carried out by 500 impressed slave laborers and 300 Union POWs, but these lack the credibility of official orders. Unfortunately, many Confederate documents were lost when Sherman’s army came through Millen, GA. This study archaeologically examines construction techniques utilized for building stockades in an effort to locate labor patterns and provide identity for the builders of Lawton’s stockade.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gibson, Hubert J."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Social Sciences (M.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Sociology and Anthropology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sue Moore","Steve Smith"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:22Z","subjects":["ETD","Civil War","Camp Lawton","Slaves","POWs","Identity","Labor","African American Studies","Archaeological Anthropology","Labor History","Military History","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1246","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sue Moore","Steve Smith"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gibson, Hubert J."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-04-12T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Sociology and Anthropology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Social Sciences (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Civil War","Camp Lawton","Slaves","POWs","Identity","Labor","African American Studies","Archaeological Anthropology","Labor History","Military History","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1246"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["ABSTRACT
A Civil War prison camp operated by the Confederacy known as Camp Lawton was once considered the largest prison in the world. This label was attributed to the fact that Lawton’s stockade enclosed 42 acres. The historical record does not have a clear picture of who built it. Newspaper interviews claim the construction was carried out by 500 impressed slave laborers and 300 Union POWs, but these lack the credibility of official orders. Unfortunately, many Confederate documents were lost when Sherman’s army came through Millen, GA. This study archaeologically examines construction techniques utilized for building stockades in an effort to locate labor patterns and provide identity for the builders of Lawton’s stockade.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Constructing the World's Largest Prison: Understanding Identity by Examining Labor"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sue Moore","Steve Smith"],"dc:creator":["Gibson, Hubert J."],"dc:date.available":["2015-04-12T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["ABSTRACT
A Civil War prison camp operated by the Confederacy known as Camp Lawton was once considered the largest prison in the world. This label was attributed to the fact that Lawton’s stockade enclosed 42 acres. The historical record does not have a clear picture of who built it. Newspaper interviews claim the construction was carried out by 500 impressed slave laborers and 300 Union POWs, but these lack the credibility of official orders. Unfortunately, many Confederate documents were lost when Sherman’s army came through Millen, GA. This study archaeologically examines construction techniques utilized for building stockades in an effort to locate labor patterns and provide identity for the builders of Lawton’s stockade.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1246"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Civil War","Camp Lawton","Slaves","POWs","Identity","Labor","African American Studies","Archaeological Anthropology","Labor History","Military History","United States History"],"dc:title":["Constructing the World's Largest Prison: Understanding Identity by Examining Labor"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Sociology and Anthropology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Social Sciences (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:22Z"}