This historic marker preserves the history of pigeon roosts where guards patrolled the deadline at Andersonville National Historic Site at Andersonville GA.
The marker reads as follows:
"PIGEON-ROOSTS
Sentry boxes or “pigeon-roosts” were mounted every 100 feet along the top of the stockade. The guards there had orders to shoot any prisoner who crossed the deadline. Otherwise they had little control over conditions inside.
Perched above the camp, the guards themselves became prisoners of tedium and anxiety -- always fearful of prisoner uprising or Union cavalry attack. After a while the noise, the stench, and the view across acres of ragged men and shelters must have numbed the senses.
The guards also suffered from many of the same health problems as the prisoners, resulting in high death rate in that group as well.
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The guards -- mostly old men and young boys from the Georgia Reserve Corps -- were reluctant witnesses to the misery at Andersonville. More seasoned troops were sent to stop Sherman’s drive toward Atlanta.
“Each of the guards faced the vast mass of prisoners and was ordered to closely watch the deadline before and below him halfway to his comrade on his right and left.”
-– John L. Maile, 8th Michigan Infantry, May 22, 1864
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Local townspeople sometimes came to gawk at the prisoners.”"
From the National Park Service: (
visit link)
National Prisoner of War Museum
Hours of operation
The National Prisoner of War Museum, which also serves as the park's visitor center, opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. It is open every day of the week year-round, except on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
Park Grounds
The park grounds are open daily from 8:00 am until 5:00 p.m., allowing access to the National Prisoner of War Museum, the historic prison site and the Andersonville National Cemetery. The park grounds including the National Prisoner of War Museum and the historic prison site are closed only three days per year: New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
Andersonville National Cemetery
The National Cemetery is open every day of the year from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. On New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day access to the National Cemetery is provided through the Cemetery Entrance Gate.""