told you do it andersonville? >> andersonville is a sink the fight site. archaeology at other prisons such as johnson's island or this camp lawton site in eastern i feel abouthow do it? i think it is great. especially at camp lawton, that site was essentially forgotten. the joke there is a graduate student six years ago wanted to finish his degree, and the inspector said the fish and wildlife service, there is going to be nothing there. wrong. that prison was abandoned in a hurry in advance to sherman's march to the sea. somesonville, if you die, of the takes your stuff. when you leave, you take your stuff. very little archaeology in the interior of the compound at andersonville. it is not find a lot of material or culture. that is often misinterpreted as, oh, the poor prisoners, they had nothing. not quite that simple. again, when they move, they take their stuff with them. it is cleaned up during the prison's operation. johnson's island is really valuable because it is helping to shine light on these places that had been, for quite some time, forgotten.

visitors to andersonville -- a certain kind of visitor to andersonville, one of their first comments tends to be, well, prison something. just as bad as andersonville. and there's a reason why they say this. almost always, one of their ancestors was at whatever prison. it's a reminder again to the individual wherever you're at it's the worst place. this is a reminder to me too that forgiveness is an ongoing process. the prisons and prisoners of war . it's a self inflicted wound these prison sites, their associated features such as cemetery for camp chase in ohio. and i will ad noit you this is my favorite prisoner of war monument that's not in andersonville. the keystone has a single word, americans. these places have an untapped potential as places where we can seek a better understanding of the consquebs consequences of the war and what we do to each other, the choices that prisoners and guards at each facility face when trying to guard people that are in fact us. we have met the enemy and he is s. in the final analysis, is it possible to make any sense of this time when we held ea

at andersonville, one of the things that distinguishes andersonville from other southern prisons -- when you're caught, you're brought back and heavily punished. many of those punishments sound like they're straight out of slave narratives. iron collars, balls and chains, prisoners are whipped. escape is a very unsuccessful thing. and why do you do it? why do you endeavor to keep trying? escape is hope. the other part of the escape story, more so in the prisons in the carolinas than andersonville is this. who is risking their lives to aid fleeing soldiers? a small class of white southern unionists, and they're certainly taking risks, but by the 1930's, the presence of slaves assisting escaping prisoners in escape narratives becomes so common that southern historians laugh about it as a cliche. southern prisons become a place where the underground railroad is flipped. slaves are risking their lives. certainly, at andersonville, this is a very intimate relationship between the prison site. these places remain among the war. visitors and a certain kind of visitor to andersonville, one of th

that generation would have known andersonville through the novel. most people do not remember the novel. they may remember the tnt production if anything. kantor described the arrest and describes wirz saying -- he thinks he has amnesty. he is told, you don't have amnesty. he goes to change. his wife kindly offers a piece of cornbread. he kisses his daughters and says, what should they do to me? he responds, if they are satisfied you have been doing your duty and acting in accordance with orders, you will probably be released. hope then creeps into wirz's voice. he said, that is what i do all the time. he is speaking in a german accent, you see. i carry out orders. i do my duty. you are a soldier. that you should know. so, an accused war criminal, defending his action in a german accent, no less, saying, i was simply carrying out my superior's orders, how could you and not this in 1955 think about nuremberg trials 10 years before? you can't. that continues still today. this way in which -- in paul's talk, the evocation of the concentration camps in

. >> the humanity films forum broadcast the andersonville trial. the two commenters were cannot -- kenneth stamp and your teacher, david donald. stamp said he should not have been hung, david thought he should have. thought you might be interested. >> that is fantastic. no, i wish i knew the argument as to why he should not have been hung. you can actually youtube and see -- it's very poor quality, but the 1970 tv production of the andersonville trial. there are some stars that you will recognize. not just william shatner, but others. richard basehart plays wirz. or you can just simply find out. the rundown. thank you all very much. [applause] >> the berlin fault fell 25 years ago. we will visit that really a start date next sunday, beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern, featuring president george bush from the oval office. reaction from senate leaders. in a speech from president 197 1963. all weekend american history tv is in colorado springs, colorado. gold was discovered in the mountains surrounding the city in the 1890's. it resulted in one of the ric

glen robins, he says and i agree completely, generally, you can either talk about andersonville or the other military prisons of war. it becomes emotionally difficult to try to do both. and i will explore that. and i am going to weave in between the two a little bit. a note on semantics before i start any further. i hesitate to use the acronym p.o.w. in a civil war context, because it's a 20th centu

danger that he might march against thomasville, the railhead in southern georgia, or to liberate andersonville, or perhaps to threaten tallahassee. it really wasn't until he moved north through the carolinas that it became clear to the enrichment how dire was their peril. i don't think lee or anyone else foresaw that danger as early as any point in 1864, and that he is continuing to do his duty to bravely and honorably uphold the struggle. other questions or comments? >> thank you very much for a fine presentation. i have a question about leadership, which you just touched upon. late in the civil war, and i don't know exactly then, ulysses grant was given the authority to promote general officers in the field subject to confirmation by the united states senate. i assume that that authority came to him through lincoln and stanton and probably the senate. , know you probably do know but it was by that method that chamberlain achieved brigadier general. were there any other officers so promoted by grant in the field, and do you know throughout the course of american history if any commanding gene

schoolso the public around here, and you have got 50, 60, 70 different language being spoken, from andersonvilleo chinatown to greektown, the ukrainian village, immigrants have made this city with broad shoulders. their home. we are swedish and polish and german and italian. everyone is irish on st. patrick's day. [laughter] know, we have got -- we have got names like pat quinn, our governor. [laughter] applause]d gutierrez, our congressman. [cheers and applause] , bradsswoman jankowski emanuel., rahm [applause] all mixed up. [laughter] i do not mean rahm. i mean all of us. [laughter] [chuckles] [laughter] that rahm speaks a language that cannot be translated in front of children. [laughter] although he is a mayor now, so he does not do that anymore. anyone who has driven along the theedy and has seen silhouettes of steeples jamming at the sky, steeples as diverse as the people that worship there and the immigrants who built them and the communities that call those neighborhoods home to this day. today, we are here at a polish immunity center, and i just -- [applause] yes, i was just meeting wit

the public schools around here and you've got 50, 60, 70 different languages being spoken from andersonvilleatown, ukrainian village, immigrants have made this city their home. we are swedish and polish and german and italian. everybody is irish on st. patrick's day. [applause] we've got names like pat quinn, our governor. [applause] and luis gutierrez, our congressman. [applause] jan schakowsky, another congresswoman. brad schneider, congressman. [applause] rahm emanuel. [applause] all mixed up. i don't mean him, i mean all of us. [laughter] it is true he speaks a language that can be translated in front of children. [laughter] although he is the mayor now so i'm sure he doesn't do that anymore. anyone that has seen the silhouette of steeples as diverse as the houses of worship that they deserve to be belonged to and the communities that call those neighborhoods home to this state. today we are here at a polish immunity center. [applause] i was just meeting with a group of the business leaders are presenting people that come from mexico, china, poland, ireland. you just heard the successful