"Night at the Museum coming to Andersonville NHS in Georgia

Andersonville National Historic Site

Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia is preserves the site of the massive Camp Sumter Civil War prison and is home to the National Prisoner of War Museum.

The park is normally open during daylight hours, but on November 16th visitors will have a rare opportunity to explore the national park area after dark.

The national historic site and museum will open its doors to the public beginning at 6 p.m. on November 16th to allow visitors to explore the museum and its exhibits, attend special films and hear a presentation on the 15 American Indian men from the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters who were held prisoner at Camp Sumter.

In addition, lanterns will light the way from the museum to the restored northeast corner of the prison stockade. Living history presenters will be there to interact with visitors and portray life at Andersonville during the winter of 1864-1865.

It should be a fascinating event and will be the last chance to see the prison after dark until 2014.

Please click here to learn more about "Night at the Museum.

Please click here to learn more about Andersonville National Historic Site.

Memorial Day in the South, 2013

Monument to First Memorial Day
Columbus, Georgia

Memorial Day has its roots in the South, where in the year or so after the close of the War Between the States, widows and wives and mothers and daughters went to cemeteries to place flowers on and care for the graves of their loved ones who had given their lives in the cause of the Confederacy.

It is still a special and moving holiday in the South today and this year there are many noteworthy events associated with it.  Here is a sampling:

Vicksburg National Military Park - Memorial Day 2013 falls during the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Siege and Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Events set for tomorrow include a Memorial Day Parade through downtown Vicksburg at 10 a.m., Memorial Day Program at 11 a.m. at the Vicksburg Civic Center and a Wreath laying at 12 noon at Vicksburg National Cemetery.

Chattanooga National Cemetery - A Decoration Day Torchlight Tour will be held at Chattanooga National Cemetery tomorrow night at 8:45 p.m.  The tour is free but be sure to bring water, a flashlight and to wear comfortable clothing and shoes. The cemetery is located at 1200 Bailey Avenue in Chattanooga.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park - There will be firing demonstrations by reenactors at the Visitor Center tomorrow at 11 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.  Kennesaw Mountain High School's Color Guard will perform at 1 p.m. and a moment of silence will be observed at 3 p.m.

Andersonville National Historic Site  - The Avenue of Flags will be on display at Andersonville National Cemetery and visitors can reflect at the Naitonal P.O.W. Museum.

Shiloh National Military Park - Ceremonies will be held tomorrow at the Confederate Mass Graves (near Tour Stop #13) at 11 a.m., followed by ceremonies at Shiloh National Cemetery at 11:30 a.m.

Pea Ridge National Military Park - Closed due to budget cuts, which I find to be a particularly sad way to observe Memorial Day.  Perhaps closing on a different day this week would have been more appropriate?

Cowpens National Battlefield - Memorial Day services will take place at the Visitor Center at 11:55 a.m.

Fort Pickens - Living history encampment all day, ranger led tours of the fort at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and a moment of silence at 3 p.m.

There will be many other events coordinated on a local, state and national level tomorrow.  If you can attend one, please do.  If you are unable to attend in person, I hope you will join me in observing a moment of silence at 3 p.m.

The Monument to Captain Henry Wirz

Often overlooked by visitors to Andersonville National Historic Site is the nearby monument to the prison's Confederate commandant, Henry Wirz.

Although he was only a captain, Wirz was the only man ever tried, convicted and executed for war crimes during the Civil War. The Union accused him of murdering prisoners of war, despite evidence that he pleaded with his superiors for help, and a military tribunal sentenced him to death.

A native of Switzerland, Captain Wirz was a trained doctor who came to the United States and settled in Kentucky following the great European revolutions of 1848. He had a successful medical practice in Louisville before traveling south to Louisiana to join the Confederate war effort at the beginning of the war.

Wounded at Seven Pines, he was assigned to the prison service and eventually promoted to command the new prison of Camp Sumter (Andersonville), Georgia. The stockade was designed for 10,000, but Wirz eventually found himself responsible for more than 30,000 prisoners. By the summer of 1864, more than 100 were dying each day from exposure, sickness, malnutrition and other causes. There was little that Wirz or his soldiers could do to help. Pleas for additional food went up to Richmond but the Confederate government had no assistance to send. The commandant even took thousands of prisoners by train and tried to turn them over to the Union army at Jacksonville, but the Federals themselves refused to accept them.

By the time the war ended, some 13,000 men had died at Andersonville and Captain Henry Wirz was branded a villain. Placed on trial before a military tribunal, he was convicted of war crimes and hanged.

In an effort to redeem his reputation, the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 erected a monument to Captain Wirz in Andersonville. To learn more about it and his tragic story, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/andersonville.

Andersonville National Historic Site - Andersonville, Georgia

In February of 1864, the Confederate government began shipping Union prisoners of war to a new prison stockade deep in the farm country of South Georgia.

Designed to house 10,000 prisoners, the stockade at Camp Sumter - better known as Andersonville - was soon overflowing. Despite a 10 acre expansion, the situation continued to get worse until more than 100 men a day were dying in the prison due to malnutrition, exposure and disease. In just fourteen months, roughly 13,000 Union soldiers died at the camp, more than on any battlefield of the Civil War.

Although it was the best known prison of the war, Andersonville was not alone. Elmira prison in New York was just as bad and other camps - both North and South - were not far behind. Tens of thousands of men died not in battle, but in confinement as prisoners of war in both large and small prison pens that dotted the territory of both the Union and the Confederacy.

The site of Camp Sumter is now part of Andersonville National Historic Site. Located not far from President Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains, the park is also home to the National Prisoner of War Museum, a facility that examines the sacrifices made by America's p.o.w.'s from the American Revolution through today. Also adjoining the grounds is the Andersonville National Cemetery, where visitors can walk among the graves of the thousands of men who died in the prison stockade.

To learn more about Andersonville National Historic Site, please visit the new Andersonville pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/andersonvillenhs.