Night at the Museum at Andersonville on Nov. 16

Andersonville National Historic Site

An outstanding event is set for Andersonville National Historic Site and the National Prisoner of War Museum on the evening of November 16.

The park and museum will host "Night at the Museum." The event offers an extremely rare opportunity to visit the museum and prison site after dark.

Special films will be shown in the museum There will be a special presentation on the 15 American Indian men from Company K, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters who were held prisoner at Camp Sumter (Andersonville). Plus the path to the prison site will be illuminated with lanterns and you will be able to visit the reconstructed northeast corner of the historic prison to interact with living history volunteers who will be reenacting life at the Civil War stockade during the winter of 1864-1865.

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

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

Andersonville National Historic Site - Andersonville, Georgia

Home to the National Prisoner of War Museum, Georgia's Andersonville National Historic Site is a place for reflection on the cost paid by America's prisoners of war throughout the centuries.

Located at the site of Camp Sumter, a major Confederate prisoner of war camp, the national historic site interprets both the importance of Andersonville during the Civil War and the story of American prisoners of war in all conflicts.

Established in 1864 to relieve overcrowding at Confederate prison camps, the facility at Andersonville was originally designed to house up to 10,000 prisoners. Captain Henry Wirz, its commandant, soon found himself overwhelmed by more than 30,000. Conditions deteriorated and by August of 1864 more than 100 men were dying each day at the stockade from exposure, disease and malnutrition. By the end of the war, 13,000 men died at Camp Sumter. Despite evidence that showed he tried desperately to secure relief for the prisoners, Captain Wirz was the only man tried, convicted and executed for war crimes at the end of the Civil War.

The park today preserves the site of the original prison, small sections of which have been reconstructed. Other features of the park include escape tunnels and wells dug by prisoners, the well-preserved Confederate forts that ringed the prison, the National POW Museum and Andersonville National Cemetery. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/andersonvillenhs.