In the Confederacy

CONFEDERATE FORT - To protect Fort Gaines from Federal gunboats, Confederate Army engineers in 1863 laid out a fort here, commanding a full view of the river for two miles below. A large magazine of lumber and sand was built about 60 feet from the bluff with trenches running north and south to cannons. Breastworks were thrown up along the bluff. Below, on the river bank, was a magazine and a cannon. Of the three cannons, one remains at the site. John Seales, Dr. James Mandeville, Dr. Gaston, Capt. John B. Johnson, a recent graduate of West Point, were among the officers in charge. As southwest Georgia was not invaded the fort was never used. WAYSIDE HOME - After the Battle of Olustee in N Florida, casualties were brought up the river to Fort Gaines, where all available churches, stores and other buildings became temporary hospitals. Most outstanding of these was "Wayside Home" in the old Masonic Building, on the site of the present one. UNKNOWN SOLDIERS - Nine unknown Confederate soldiers who died in temporary hospitals here are buried in New Park Cemetery. Their graves are decorated each Memorial Day. FEDERAL PRISONERS - A number of prisoners, overflow from the prison at Andersonville, were brought to Fort Gaines and kept under guard in the yard of the old County Court House.