Abstract:
German merchant marine sailors were held prisoner in the only North Carolina POW camp during World War I. The camp was established at Hot Springs located 40 miles north of Asheville and housed prisoners taken while in various American harbors. Initially housed in tents, the prisoners built more stable dwellings after being supplied with tools and lumber. Eighteen prisoners died after an outbreak of typhoid and were buried in Asheville's Riverside cemetery where a monument, erected by the American Legion in 1932, now stands to honor those at the camp who passed.