News Release

April Events at Andersonville National Historic Site

Date: April 4, 2015
Contact: Stephanie Steinhorst, 229 924-0343, ext. 203

Release Date: 4 April 2015

Contacts:  Stephanie Steinhorst, [e-mail], 229 924-0343, ext. 203

NR15-03   

April Events at Andersonville National Historic Site

Bells Across the Land Program, Avenue of Flags, and Park Day

ANDERSONVILLE, Georgia – Andersonville National Historic Site is pleased to announce a number of events taking place during the month of April.

On April 9, 1865, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to set the terms of surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. In conjunction with a major event at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, the National Park Service and its partners invite communities across the nation to join in this commemoration. The bells will ring first at Appomattox at 3:00 p.m. on April 9, 2015. The ringing will coincide with the moment the historic meeting between Grant and Lee in the McLean House at Appomattox Court House ended. While Lee’s surrender did not end the Civil War, the act is seen by most Americans as the symbolic end of four years of bloodshed.  As part of this 150^th commemoration event and in conjunction with National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, on Thursday, April 9^th at 3:00 pm, a brief ceremony will be held at the National Prisoner of War Museum. Community members are invited to attend.  For more information visit, http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/civil-war-to-civil-rights.htm.

In honor of these events, the Avenue of Flags will be displayed in the national cemetery from Friday, April 3 through Monday, April 13. 

Andersonville NHS will also be celebrating “Park Day” on Saturday, April 11^th. This is a wonderful opportunity for community members to volunteer time for service projects at the park. Volunteers will assist with repair and rebuilding of replica prisoner shelters in the reconstructed northeast corner of the prison site, beginning at 9:00 am. Volunteers can meet at the National Prisoner of War Museum, work clothes and gloves are encouraged.

For more information on anniversary programs, themes and other featured prisons, please visit the park website at: http://go.nps.gov/cwprisons

Andersonville National Historic Site is located 10 miles south of Oglethorpe, GA and 10 miles northeast of Americus, GA on Georgia Highway 49. The national park features the National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville National Cemetery and the site of the historic Civil War prison, Camp Sumter. ­Andersonville National Historic Site is the only national park within the National Park System to serve as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Park grounds are open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The National Prisoner of War Museum is open 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily. Admission is free. For more information on the park, call 229 924-0343, or visit at www.nps.gov/ande/ Visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AndersonvilleNPS, Twitter www.twitter.com/andeNHS

NPS

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