ANDERSONVILLE — In standing with patriotic tradition, civilians, military personnel and retired service men and women gathered at the Andersonville National Historic Site (NHS) Sunday afternoon for the annual Memorial Day observance.

The crowd filed into the designated area between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the cemetery as instrumental music was performed by the Band of the Air Force Reserve.

Brad Bennett, superintendent of Andersonville NHS, welcomed the audience and introduced Edward L. DeMent, past national director of the Southeast Region of American Ex-Prisoners of War, who recognized all veterans in attendance. DeMent said that veterans have an obligation to share their legacy. He called on those in attendance to "remember all veterans for their service and especially those who lost their lives for our freedom."

Jim Covington, president of the Friends of Andersonville, thanked volunteers who give their "time, talent and donations" to promote the purpose of Andersonville NHS, which is to be a memorial for American Prisoners of War.

The event's featured speaker, Benjamin Cloyd,  was introduced by District Director for Congressman Sanford Bishop, Kenneth Cutts. In a brief address to the audience, Cutts said it is not democratic form of government, national resources or wealth that sets America apart from other countries. Cutts said what makes America special is having men and women who are willing to fight and protect those things.

Cloyd, a native of Paducah, Ky., is an historian, whose 2010 book, "Haunted by Atrocity: Civil War Prisons in American Memory," explores the story of Civil War prisons from a new perspective. Cloyd began his presentation by reminding the audience that this year marks 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, and the observance of Memorial Day is inspired by the Civil War. Cloyd's address centered on the way the Civil War is remembered and how the meanings of symbols of the war such as Andersonville have varied between different groups and have changed over time.

"Memory is imperfect and selective. What we choose to remember has its consequences,” he said.

Cloyd pointed to feelings of "confusion and animosity" in the years following the war and the questions surrounding the prison camp at Andersonville and the 13,000 Union soldiers who died in captivity.

"Why did they die? What did their death mean," he asked.

He directed the audience’s attention to the monuments standing in the cemetery in Andersonville that were erected by northern states. He contended that the monuments were a symbol of "northern memory" and pointed to a northern notion in the early 20th century of the emergence of a modern and powerful United States.

But Cloyd was quick to show that the debate in those years ignored lesser known northern prisons that held Confederate soldiers during wartime. He provided the example of the conviction and execution of Henry Wirz relating to his command of Camp Sumter to illustrate the attempt by the North to fabricate heroism in the face of "Southern evil."

"No apology was made by northerners," he said.

In turn, the debate over the politics of the Civil War was met with “defensiveness and deflectiveness" in the South, Cloyd explained.

Cloyd also provided another example of how history is affected by memory and perception. As Andersonville was a symbol for very different ideologies for white northerners and white southerners, its historical significance meant something entirely different for African Americans. Cloyd said Andersonville represented a triumphant moment of emancipation, and throughout the late 1800s the former prison site was visited by mostly African Americans, which was downplayed by local media.

Cloyd determined that the African-American memory of the Civil War is indicative of the undeniable "central role of race and slavery" in the conflict between the North and South.

Cloyd concluded by saying that Andersonville is an "evolving story" with urgent historical relevance today as the United States has found itself embattled in conflict or war for much of the past several decades.

"War always results in suffering," Cloyd said.

He added that those that suffer do so for the freedom of others, and today, Andersonville is being redefined as a symbol of American unity instead of a symbol of Civil War conflict.