During the summer of 1997, the Center for Environmental Archaeology at Texas A&M University conducted exploratory investigations near Tyler, Texas at Camp Ford, a Confederate prisoner-of-war (POW) encampment where approximately 6,000 Union soldiers and other war-related prisoners were held during the Civil War between July 1863 and May 1865.

Backhoe excavations and side-scanning radar work revealed well-preserved trenches, pits, and house floors representing the remains of stockade wall trenches, refuse pits, and various types of residential structures.

A tour of the site of Camp Ford is available online at: http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc/campford1.htm