HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Immortal Six Hundred

Chatham County, Chatham County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

Confederate States of Americal Immortal Six Hundred Brave on the field of battle. With steadfast loyalty to country and comrades. They placed honour above life itself.

The Story

The "Immortal Six Hundred" were a group of roughly six hundred captured Confederate officers held as prisoners of war during the Civil War. In the summer of 1864 they were placed on Morris Island near Charleston, deliberately positioned under fire in retaliation for the treatment of Union captives, and were later confined through the following winter at Fort Pulaski, just downriver from this coastal Georgia site, where many endured bitter cold and severely reduced rations. Their reputation for refusing to abandon their loyalties in exchange for relief gave rise to the proud nickname this monument preserves.

Why it matters

The marker keeps alive one of the Civil War's grim chapters in the treatment of prisoners of war, and it reflects how Southern communities chose to memorialize endurance, loyalty, and sacrifice in the decades after the conflict.

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Related events

  • · American Civil War
  • · Imprisonment of Confederate officers at Fort Pulaski

Themes & tags

Civil WarMemorial

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