Brotherhood. I know that with his persistence without his persistence, we would have never known this tale , nor how his existence on this earth created a family of future soldiers. Being o invention of the anon did researchmillers through the National Archives to uncover archives to pay a portrait of his ancestor. Like a puzzle, piece after piece, perfectly placed, these facts and figures help contribute to our now intimate, and personal, glimpse into a shared National History that comes directly from the genealogy of many family trees. Miller was himself a volunteer soldier. He chose to serve and a time of war, despite being a student at. Enn State University as he turned back the pages of American History, he learned how improbable his existence was, and yet, he stands amongst us today to share the unlikely yarn. You see, little did he know that in the course of just one year, fight, benlist, captured at st. Marys church prisonginia, survived , and be relocated to andersonville, and
Different. It is a valor and honor. Those concepts take a different form here. And many respects, in a standard guess, they are prisoners of war, and then you move right back to the battles. Often, and addressing the story, there is an and knowledge of that, and then no detail, and you move on. Andersonville has a name brand recognition. The public often doesnt know any of the details beyond the name and that something unusual took place there. Host lets start with the basics. When was it built . What was its purpose . Mr. Leonard in the fall of 1863 as the Exchange System of the previous two years falls apart, due to the presence of black soldiers in the field, and the question over how to treat like soldiers black soldiers. With afederacy is faced problem. There holding the mostly in the richmond area. Thousands, 10,000 prisoners in richmond it has a drag effect on the community. Resources are going in to maintain the prisoners. If you are in the Confederate Army, or the government,
Present arms. [national anthem playing] [applause] [drumroll] mr. Sellars you may be seated. Throughout the service, the United States flag stands prominently at the center of the National Cemetery as set at half staff in mournfully knowledge meant of these losses. Retired brew deal general robert corner him has performed the duty of raising the flag to full staff. His honors the service of medical staff throughout American Military history, and echoes the role at the famous nurse clara barton played in raising a flag on the spot in august of 1865. Conclusion, i want to thank the military representatives for supporting this event. I also want to thank the public for their continual support in our National Parks. We are pleased to consider this our first centennial event for Andersonville National historic site. Day will mark the 100 earth of the founding of the National Park service, and across the country, our 408 sites will be celebrating all year long. , andvite you to join us find
The deadline. So andersonville is also a place of great contradiction. In some of the northern prisons, it is a ditch or a line of posts where at night they put candle lanterns on. A line that if you cross you are going to get shot at is the sort of thing which soon shouldnt have any ambiguity. Host the next call is mike from california. You are on with our guest, eric leonard. Caller yes, thank you for the programming. I have kind of a twofold question. Firstly, i want to know what happened to the actual prison site when the war ended . The physical structure. Was it just left or was it torn down and the fields farmed . Wasalso, i know that there a photographer, i think his name mightve been [indiscernible] and i wondered if there were any pictures of the prison after the war ended . I wondered if there was any magazine articles or book that describes that . Mr leonard the ghost and chattels of andersonville is a , a valuable book because it is not a narrative history, it explores var
From the disaster at andersonville is the human treatment of p. O. W. S defines our natural identity and reit rates our army values by ensuring dignity and respect is paid to every enemy combatant. Weve also learned how precious freedom is and that freedom always, always has a cost. The cost is paid by men and women, men and women who are willing to endure torture, mall nutrition, loneliness, despair and even death in the pursuit of freedoms cause. History tends to remember the dates. It remembers the battles and the victories. It lauds the winners and it favors grand action or man mental failure. But there are some places on the battlefield where dates and battles, winners and losers are matters of inconsequence. In these places survival is the only thing of magnitude. The men of andersonville have survived. They survived the 150 years of an indelible part of what makes our nation great, the american people. As i conclude time with you today, my hope is for the 13,000 souls lost here