Yesterday my family and I visited Andersonville National Park and The National Prisoner of War Museum. What a powerful experience! It had been some years since I had visited Andersonville. To me, this is one of the must see places of the Civil War. The Park Sevices has done an admirable job of perserving and enhancing the site.

When you first enter the site the signs direct you to the Visitor Center and the National POW museum. This is a very moving experience with information on all POWs and not just a Civil War experience. There is a very well done 30 minute movie with many stories from POWs including Senator John McCain.

We did not get to spend much time in the museum because we wanted to make sure we had enough time for the tour of the Andersonville Prison site and the tour of the Andersonville Military Cemetery. The Park Service provides and tape or CD for the tours for $2. It is a must if you want to do the tour. The tour took us a little less than an hour and we stopped and got out of our car several times.

The experience is very moving and makes you proud to be an American. It makes you think of the suffering and sacrifice that the men at Andersonville and all POWs have gone through in the history of our country. It is very sad to see all the graves of the young men that died there.