An Orrville park is giving the public a chance to revisit prison war history with a tour Saturday, Aug. 2.

The Old Cahawba Archaeological Park is conducting their Civil War Walking Tour Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. For $8, tour participants will visit Castle Morgan, the prison of war camp at Old Cahawba, while exploring the plight of the soldiers and the hardship of the Cahawba Confederate residents.

“We’re going to go out there and stand right where more than 3,000 men used to stand day after day,”said Jack Bergstresser, Old Cahawba’s archaeological interpreter. “It’s kind of a unique opportunity to get a feel to what war really meant to so many men.”

Held at the park two to three times a year, the tour will reintroduce the public to the history behind the flood that left more than 3,000 Union Army prisoners of war standing in knee-deep water for days.

“Their story is sad,” Bergstresser said. “We’re going to look at that camp, talk about the aspects of life in the prison camp and also point out that the conditions were relatively better than most prison camps.”

The flood occurred after the waters of the Cahaba and the Alabama Rivers breached their banks and flooded much of Cahawba. After being released from captivity, the prisoners traveled to Vicksburg to board the riverboat Sultana.

The prisoners later died on their way home in what many consider to be the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, Bergstresser said.

Bergstresser said he hopes the tour, which normally attracts as many as 25 people, will attract approximately 36 people Saturday. For more information contact Bergstresser at 872-8058.

or cahawbam@bellsouth.net.