The Material Culture of Health at Camp Lawton

In late 1864, as the American Civil War was entering its final stages, the Confederacy built a prison to ease the overcrowding at the infamous Andersonville prison. This prison would be known as Camp Lawton, located in Millen, Georgia. Camp Lawton was abandoned in November of 1864 but has recently been the site of ongoing archaeological investigation. Despite this, little research has been done focusing specifically on health and medicine at Camp Lawton. In this project, I use analysis of artifacts from Camp Lawton to understand the nature of access and consumption of materials of health and medicine. These methods were used to illuminate the differences in access to these materials between the prisoners and prison staff. Results show that guards had easier access to these materials, however, many of these materials were present in the prisoner area in smaller amounts. The presence of these materials in both areas suggests a proactive approach by prisoners and guards to achieving health in light of dwindling resources in the South during the final year of the Civil War