Story highlights "Funeral for 13,000" remembers soldiers who died 150 years ago at Civil War prison in Georgia

Events through Sunday will recall stories of courage, despair at Andersonville

Observances coincide with annual National POW/MIA Recognition Day

(CNN) A simple wooden casket, covered with a U.S. flag and placed on a raised bier, bore witness for thousands of Civil War soldiers who died while under the guard of fellow Americans.

Battlefields were the places for winners and losers. But survival was the only matter of magnitude at prisons in the North and South, the audience was told Saturday afternoon during the "Funeral for 13,000" at a national cemetery in southwest Georgia.

Funeral procession with a caisson bearing a ceremonial casket arrives for "Funeral for 13,000" at Andersonville National Historic Site near Americus, Georgia.

The juxtaposition of yesterday and today was apparent from the beginning of the memorial service at Andersonville National Historic Site: A bagpiper playing "Going Home" led a horse-drawn caisson carrying the ceremonial casket. Sheriff's deputies and members of the armed forces walked in the procession toward the cemetery rostrum. Among those in the crowd were men and women portraying Civil War soldiers and civilians. One woman wore a black mourning dress and veil.

Despite the somber mood, there was a prevailing note of appreciation for the sacrifice of those who died at Andersonville and other prisons.

"It's a great day to be a soldier," said Sergeant Major of the Army Daniel A. Dailey, referring to the role uniformed men played in the forging of a great nation through a bloody civil war that cost more than 600,000 lives.

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