n 1861 Camp Rathbun near the town of Elmira was established as a training camp at the beginning of the Civil War. As the Union troops who trained there were sent to their respective assignments the camp emptied and in 1864 it was turned into the Elmira Prison prisoner-of-war camp. The facilities were not adequate to house the thousands of Confederate prisoners and many succumbed to exposure malnutrition and smallpox and were subsequently interred at the cemetery. Woodlawn National Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.