A Georgia historic maker about improvised prisoner shelters called "shebangs" at Andersonville National Historic Site in Andersonville GA.
The marker reads as follows:
"SHEBANGS
Prisoner Shelters
Prisoners of Andersonville had to provide their own shelters. With sticks and pieces of clothing, the prisoners improvised leaky tents and lean tos. Many prisoners had no shelter at all.
Protection from rain, dew, and broiling sun became a matter of life or death. Exposure aggravated the many illnesses and infections, and contributed to the soaring mortality rate.
“To reach the spring we had to pick our way through a wilderness of low mud huts and tattered tents. The huts were made out of clay balls, and the tents of old army blankets, fragments of old clothing, oil cloths, etc.” -- W. B. Smith 14th Illinois Infantry, October 11, 1864
The August 1864 photograph of this hillside shows a rough see of improvised shelters, which the prisoners called “shebangs”. Overcrowding created prison within a prison: the men were confined by other living bodies as well by stockade walls."
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.""