Archaeologists are hard at work to excavate a Civil War-era prisoner-of-war camp in downtown Columbia, S.C., before the site is cleared for new development.
With just four months to uncover the spot, researchers are making the most of the time to discover what they can about "Camp Asylum," which held around 1,500 Union officers in the bitterly cold winter of 1864-65, The Associated Press reported.
The site, which is a small part of the 165-acre grounds of the former South Carolina State Hospital, was so cold during that particular winter that soldiers took shelter in the ground, digging holes to find some shelter.
"Almost everybody lived in holes, although the Confederacy did try to procure tents along the way, as they could obtain them," Chester DePratter, a research archaeologist with the University of South Carolina's Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, told the AP.
DePratter, who is the project's chief archaeologist, said the largest of the holes was 7 feet long, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep.
Researchers are going through the soil to find the holes as well as any belongings left behind by imprisoned officers. The former POW site was purchased by a developer for $15 million in summer 2013 and could soon hold shops and apartments or a minor league baseball field.
Only one officer died in the camp despite the horrific conditions. DePratter, who has uncovered some 40 diaries as well as letters from the surviving POWs, said the officers came from many different parts of the military and states across the North.
"It's hard to imagine," DePratter said of the camp's conditions. "They all talk about their clothing being threadbare, many of them had no shoes. They shared the blankets they had, three or four together spoon fashion and put a blanket over them [to stay warm].
"They wrote about how every prisoner in the camp would walk about at night to keep from freezing to death."
The site's developer has given DePratter $25,000 to fund the excavation, a figure that has been matched by the city. The archaeologist has also brought in $17,000 more.
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