Confederate Guard Units

The first prisoners to arrive at Florence were kept in an open field and guarded by a collection of old men and boys too young to wear the Confederate uniform.

Shouldering their own long guns, they guarded the perimeter of the large open field where the prisoners were congregated, to keep them from escaping into the adjacent woods. They were seconded by the Waccamaw Light Artillery that was sped up from Charleston to help keep order after the prisoners had attempted a mass break. Also expedited to Florence was a detachment of the First South Carolina Cavalry to aid in capturing potential escapees.

The Fifth Georgia Infantry were sent from Andersonville to Charleston to maintain order on the prisoner trains. They were subsequently sent to Florence when the Fairgrounds prison was evacuated in late September and early October.

The lion's share of the actual guarding of prisoners was carried out by the South Carolina Reserves. The personnel of the reserves resembled the ad hoc guards assembled in the early days of the prison, with the exception that they had been duly enrolled by state authority in different parts of the state to serve as a last line of defense against invasion by the enemy. Those present at Florence for at least a portion of the Stockade's existence were:

Third Battalion SC Reserves - Major William P. Gill

Fourth Battalion SC Reserves - Lieutenant Colonel James H. Williams

Fifth Battalion SC Reserves - Lieutenant Colonel Thomas R. Brown

Sixth Battalion SC Reserves - Major Robert Meriwether

Seventh Battalion SC Reserves - Major James W. Ward

When the Fifth Georgia was withdrawn to aid in defending Savannah against Sherman, they left behind Lieutenant Colonel John Iverson to command the guards. These continued at their posts until the Stockade was evacuated at the end of February 1865.

The guards occupied their own encampment north and west of the Stockade proper. In commemoration of their service, the United Daughters of the Confederacy would erect a commemorative marker on January 27, 1947. The monument can be seen today on the south side of National Cemetery Road, slightly east of the cemetery itself.