Half the cannon in the earthwork defenses faced outward against Union cavalry raids connected to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, while the other half were loaded with canister and aimed at the prison grounds. When the prison was operating, deep ditches stood before the earthworks, and palisades closed the rear of the V-shaped gun emplacements. Brig. Gen. John Henry Winder, the prison commander, said that more than 24,000 prisoners of war and 1,205 very raw troops, with measles prevailing, badly armed and worse disciplined, left the post vulnerable to a successful raid. Though time and erosion have altered the elaborate defenses, their outlines remain visible in the rifle-pits, Star Fort, and the overall system, which reflected the officers' fear of uprising from inside and attack from outside.