It’s not a stash of Confederate gold, but what archaeologists from Georgia Southern University discovered at the Camp Lawton Civil War prison site may be more valuable in terms of history.
    According to a release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Southern group has located the prison stockade site and found dozens of personal artifacts left behind by soldiers. Archaeologists call it one of the most significant Civil War discoveries in decades.
    The findings at the dig inside Magnolia Springs State Park near Millen will be revealed Wednesday to the public first on a live webcast at 10 a.m. on www.georgiasouthern.edu and then at the park at 1 p.m. during an open house that will last until 5 p.m. Everyone is invited to the open house hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Southern.
    Camp Lawton was built in 1864 to receive prisoners from the overcrowded and disease-ridden facility at Andersonville, Ga., where it's estimated that some 13,000 Union soldiers died during the 15 months the prison was operational.
    It was constructed over 42 acres by 300 Union prisoners and 500 slaves to hold 40,000 men. The prison was located at the site north of Millen due to the readily available spring water and the close proximity – one mile – of the Augusta railroad.
    Department of Transportation archaeologists went to the site in 2005 to try to locate evidence of the stockade walls. Using Ground Penetrating Radar equipment that provided a 3-D image of what's in the ground, data showed two strong linear features that could have been the stockade walls. While artifacts were found, no major sections of Camp Lawton were found.
    Excavations at the Camp Lawton site have been ongoing for several years. The work was handled mostly by Georgia Southern professors and students under the watchful eye of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The dig picked up more interest and volunteers at the beginning of the summer.
    Kevin Chapman, an archeology graduate student at Georgia Southern, and a group of GSU students began looking once again for the stockade walls and members of the public were invited to be part of the excavations on certain weekends.
    It was clear something of interest was found in early July when the barbed wire and a police car showed up. Monday’s announcement indicates that the stockade finally was located.