On Sunday, July 5, Dustyn Dubuque of the Washington County Historical Society will give a presentation at the Warden's House Museum on Civil War soldier Newell Burch and the horrors he faced at the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. The event begins at 2 p.m.
Burch, a New York infantryman, was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg and soon found himself held captive at the Confederacy's deadliest prison. Of the 45,000 Union soldiers held at Andersonville, nearly 13,000 died of malnutrition, disease and brutal discipline.
Now the Andersonville National Historic Site and maintained by the National Park Service, the area is considered an iconic reminder of substantial mistreatment of prisoners of war.
Dubuque will delve into the hardships that Burch faced and explain how he managed to survive Andersonville. He finished his life in Menomonie, Wis., where he opened the Burch Mercantile Store on Main Street. He left behind a diary and memoir.
The presentation is free and open to the public at the museum at 602 Main St. N., Stillwater.
Washington County
Sheriff asks boaters to pledge sobriety
Alcohol use is the leading cause of recreational boater deaths in the United States, but the Washington County Sheriff's Office is hoping to change that through its support of Operation Dry Water.
Sheriff Bill Hutton and his staff said they encourage boaters to take the pledge, at www.operationdrywater.org, to never boat under the influence.
The goal of the campaign is to change the cultural acceptance of drinking and boating and avoid accidents and drownings, Hutton's office said.
