This downstream end of Stockade Branch was the site of the camp "sinks" or latrines. According to the Confederates' original plan, prisoners would get drinking water upstream and use latrines downstream, where the current would flush sewage out of camp.
Inadvertently, the prison was designed for death. Stockade post slowed the drainage, and during dry spells the creek became more swap than flowing stream. Dysentery swept the camp.
"Our new camp was on the two steep hillsides, at the base of which was a great quagmire. This was ditched through the center with a narrow, shallow stream, which was very sluggish on account of the small supply of water and the slight descent of the ground."
Charles C. Fosdick, 5th Iowa Infantry, February 26, 1864
(caption)
Confederate A.J. Riddle took this photograph of the latrines in August 1864. Though living space was at a premium, five to six acres near the creek remained vacant.
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