national civil war museum

This place is a gem! Never thought it would be so big! We enjoyed every inch. The grounds and building were very well kept and the museum was loaded with artifacts. we would recommend this to all.

Excellent display and easy to follow. Good for all ages. The admissionon fee is nominal. The view from the grounds is great.

The National Civil War Museum is an outstanding facility. The presentation is of very high quality, creating an exciting atmosphere. It has a fine collection of artifacts without approaching overkill. It also provides an excellent environment for a business function.

The exhibits here are just amazing, especially the recreated scenes done with wax figures. It was a LOT of reading for our two children (pre-teen and teen), but the information presented was extremely thorough and really gave you a better understanding of how tragic this war was.

This is the original of those museums in which they give you a character, and you proceed through the museum to find out about your character. The artifacts are remarkable, the condition is superb, and it's got a great view as well. If you are into Civil War history or just a history buff in general, don't miss this exhibit.

Beautiful facility and worth the money. You will be in there for awhile. Beautiful outdoor area to walk around with a nice view of the valley.

Great for both history buffs and just general museum-goers alike. This museum is superb and the layout and information is all so exciting. It is a fabulous part of the City of Harrisburg. My only suggestion for the museum would be to hold more events for the local community or add new exhibits from time to time so that you engage residents in the city and region in all that your museum has to offer.

We were heading to Harrisburg for some civil war dance classes and had a few hours to kill so we decided to see the museum.The fact that museum was located on Lincoln circle should have been a hint of what was contained within.Having 64 confederate ancestors (none of which ever owned a slave) and having been a life long scholar of that war, I was both shocked and offended.The name of the museum should have been "Hate the South" museum.The entire museum besides glorifying the myth of Lincoln was a entire scathing of the southern people, soldiers, leaders and completely lost the two-sided issues that drove the southern people to desire their independence.Nowhere in the museum will you find- The Morell Tariff- Confederate POW's- Atrocities committed by union troops- The brilliant leadership of the southern leaders- The CSS Hunley- The origin of Memorial Day- The Confederate constitution and it's banning of Slave importation.- Contributions of Blacks to South - Desire of South to enlist Blacks in exchange for freedom.- Reconstruction- A basic timeline of events that led to war, secession order etc.- and much more!!!Yet included in the museum were displays and videos of actors and mannequins with really bad southern accents and worse yet union one's making fun of southerners. (Where is the balance there?)They had the immortal 600 but a union version not the actual story of the immortal 600 POW's who were Confederate officers that the north used as human shields and placed in strategic places they knew the Confederates would bomb.There was even a painting of General Lee on his horse riding side by side with General Grant on his horse... THAT never happened!!!There are two photos side by side of President Lincoln and President Jefferson Davis. Underneath Davis's it says Attended WestPoint... (Nothing about his war hero status etc.)Under Lincoln's it says he was a great military strategist. I suppose a policy of total war is a great miltary strategy.The museum places such a heavy sided view of that war that it becomes impossible to truly teach the lessons of the war that divided a country and in some ways still does.Those that ignore history are bound to repeat it. Reducing it to the singular issue of slavery doesn't do our nation justice for the suffer age it has endured.The Confederate Soldier, fighting to preserve his home and liberty from an invading hoard; marched farther and faster, fought harder and longer with less provision, equipment and medicine. Won more victories and freely expended more of his blood. By wars end the South had sacrificed twenty-five percent of their finest in the firm belief that the Declaration of Independence penned by their fathers was worth defending. I think my fiancé summed this museum up best having lost three ancestors at point lookout. “Why did you bring me here? Please don't ever bring me to this place again, unless it's on fire so we can roast marshmallows. I never felt a stronger urge to gouge things from my view"

This museum on the civil war is only matched by the new museum in the Gettysburg visitor center. The Civil War is laid out in an organized way for both civil war buffs and those not as familiar with civil war history. If you are in the Harrisburg area, this is a must see.

Planned a trip as part of a whole day outing with a friend. Museum was very well set up. I learned many things and it gave a new perspective to the war as all I had seen in the past were the Gettysburg museums. This museum was not a duplicate, but complimented them. Was set up in different segments and you could spend as much time as you wanted. We were there about 2 hours but could have stayed at least another hour but we had to be somewhere else and didn't get to fully take in everything as we wished - perhaps will go back again and do more exploring - lots of articles and artifacts to see and take in. A great place to go on a rainy or colder day! Would definitely recommend going to this museum.

My party and I have always wanted to visit Gettysburg...but its either foul weather or a bit too far depending on the time of year from where we live. Instead though one day we ran across this gem! It lays the groundwork for your future visit to Gettysburg and provides a wonderful non biased explanation of everything relating to the Civil War in full detail, even full detail of the Lincoln administration. I don't think there was anything not covered. Its well kept, and it sits on a hill with a fabulous view of the city of Harrisburg. Highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in the Civil War!

After visiting Gettysburg, we decided to stop at the Nat'l Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. We didn't know if we'd be Civil Warred-out or not, but decided to check it out since it was on our way home. With the information we learned in Gettysburg, this museum continued our education in different ways. It provides the full history of what was going on in America across many facets of society both pre and post Civil War.We ended up spending all day in the museum (about 5 hours) and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It is a beautiful building on top of a hill with an outstanding view, extremely well designed, has thousands of artifacts, is presented in a non-biased manner and is as complete as I can imagine. We loved our visit and are SO glad we decided to stop.If you're in the area and you have interest in history, I highly recommend this museum.

Has an elaborate display of civil war artifacts and history. Very cheerful/helpful staff. Luckily they had a Groupon during our visit, lookout for those. A good place for a family trip during the cold winters.

We finally got there and glad we did. Very interesting exhibits properly displayed in a clean and spacious manner. Reasonably priced and a great gift shop. Picked up a puzzle and some other items for g-kids. We were in a little bit of hurry so we plan to go back. Plan on at least 2hrs to wander around in and outside.

Tickets were purchased via Groupon deal. My wife and I have started to explore some civil war sites, and we thought this would be a nice place to get more info. It it set up nicely in timeline fashion. There are many exhibits and videos. They have done a good jod representing the various battles and campaigns. Well worth a stop.