Henry Wirz
Henry Wirz | |
---|---|
Execution by hanging | |
Burial place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
Nationality | American |
Criminal status | Executed |
Spouses | Emilie Oschwald
(m. 1845; div. 1853)Elizabeth Wolfe (m. 1854) |
Children | 3 |
Conviction(s) |
|
Criminal penalty | Death |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Captain |
Commands held | Andersonville Prison |
Battles/wars |
Henry Wirz (born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz; November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was a Swiss-born American military officer and convicted war criminal who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[1]
He was the
Early life and career
Wirz was born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz on November 25, 1823, in
In 1847, Wirz was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of
In 1854, Wirz married the
Civil War
Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the 37-year-old Wirz enlisted as a private in Company A (Madison Infantry), 4th Battalion of Louisiana Infantry of the Confederate army in Madison Parish.[9][10] Shortly before his death, he said that he had taken part in the
After returning to his unit on June 12, 1862, Wirz was promoted to
Later accounts by Wirz's daughter alleged that
Camp Sumter
In February 1864, the Confederate government established
Camp Sumter had not been constructed to its full plan, and was quickly overwhelmed by the influx of Union prisoners. Though wooden
At its peak in August 1864, Camp Sumter held approximately 32,000 Union prisoners, technically making it the fifth-largest city in the Confederacy. The monthly mortality rate from disease, dysentery, and malnutrition reached 3,000. Around 45,000 prisoners were incarcerated during the camp's 14-month existence, of whom close to 13,000 (28%) died.[16]
Trial and execution
Wirz was arrested by a contingent of the
Charges
The military tribunal took place between August 23 and October 18, 1865,
Testimonies
The National Park Service lists 158 witnesses who testified at the trial, including former Camp Sumter prisoners, ex-Confederate soldiers, and residents of nearby Andersonville.
Verdict
In early November 1865, the Military Commission found Wirz guilty of conspiracy as charged, along with 10 of 13 specifications of acts of personal cruelty, and
In his report on the trial, the Judge Advocate General
In a letter to
Execution
Wirz was
Wirz was one of only three men tried, convicted, and executed for
In 1869, Schade received permission from President Johnson to rebury Wirz's body, which had been buried at the Washington Arsenal alongside the Lincoln assassins. While the body was being transferred, it was discovered that the right arm, and parts of the neck and head, had been removed during autopsy. As of the late 1990s, the National Museum of Health and Medicine still had two of his vertebrae.[11]
Controversy
The Wirz controversy grew out of the questions remaining after his trial pertaining to guilt and responsibility for multiple deaths of prisoners of war in camps on both sides following suspension of the
The Grand Army of the Republic, the United Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), among others, evoked sad memories of Civil War prisoners portraying Wirz either a villain, or a martyr-hero, thus further contributing to the disputation. From 1899 to 1916, sixteen states erected monuments dedicated to the Camp Sumter's prisoners.[31] In response, the United Daughters of the Confederacy initiated a construction of a monument honoring Henry Wirz in Andersonville, Georgia.[31] Every year the UDC and SCV hold a memorial service at the monument.[32] Until recently, SCV annually marched to Wirz's memorial in Andersonville along with supporters of a congressional pardon for him.[33] The SCV posthumously awarded Wirz their Confederate Medal of Honor, created in 1977.[32]
During and after the trial Wirz was reviled in the court of public opinion as "The Demon of Andersonville".
After time passed, some writers suggested Wirz's tribunal was unjust, stating that "Wirz did not receive a fair trial. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and sentenced to death."[35] Even a few of his former prisoners conceded during the trial that the minimal support Wirz received from the Confederate government in terms of food, water, and medical supplies made the conditions at Andersonville beyond his scope of responsibility.[citation needed] In 1980, historian Morgan D. Peoples referred to Wirz as a "scapegoat."[36] Wirz's conviction remains controversial.[16][37]
Despite the surrounding controversy, the Wirz trial was one of the nation's significant early
In popular culture
Wirz is an important character in MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Andersonville (1955), introduced in the third chapter during his mission to France in October 1863. In Saul Levitt's 1959 play The Andersonville Trial, Wirz was first played by Herbert Berghof. When the play was recreated for an episode of PBS's 1970–71 season of Hollywood Television Theatre, Wirz was portrayed by Richard Basehart. Wirz was portrayed by the Czech actor Jan Tříska in the American film Andersonville (1996).[40][41][42]
See also
- Camp Douglas (Chicago) – Civil War camp
- Concentration Camps– Imprisonment or confinement of groups of people without trial
- Fort Delaware – Fort in Delaware, United States
- Elmira Prison – US Civil War POW camp in New York State
- Libby Prison – Military prison in Richmond, Virginia, during the US Civil War
Footnotes
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8078-5781-6.
- ^ a b c d e f Henry Wirz in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b c Arch Fredric Blakey. Wirz, Henry, American National Biography Online, February 2000. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
- ^ Madison, James Page (1908). The True Story of Andersonville. New York and Washington: The Neale Publishing Company. p. 183.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-03823-715-0.
- ^ Captain Henry Wirz, National Park Service
- ^ Tomes, R., & Smith, B. G. (1862). The war with the South: A history of the late rebellion, with biographical sketches of leading statesmen and distinguished naval and military commanders, etc. New York: Virtue & Yorston, Volume III, p. 685.
- ^ "Omnipresent and Omniscient: The Military Prison Career of Captain Henry Wirz - Andersonville National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
- ^ U.S. National Archives. "Compiled Service Record of Henry Wirz, Fourth Battalion of Louisiana Infantry". Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana. Footnote. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
- ^ Bergeron, Arthur W. Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989, pp. 157–158.
- ^ ISBN 9781576070307.
- ^ Soldier Details: Wirz, Henry, General and Staff Officers, Non-Regimental Enlisted Men, CSA, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database, National Park Service
- ISBN 9780881460124.
- ^ Page, Haley. (1908). p. 187.
- ^ see, e.g. testimony of Dorence Atwater; United States Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 1866, Virginia, North Carolina , South Carolina section, pg. 279-288
- ^ a b "Andersonville: Prisoner of War Camp-Reading 1". Nps.gov. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
- ISBN 9780231518192. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ Trial of Henry Wirz, A Congressionally Mandated Report Summarizing the Military Commission's Proceedings, United States. 40th Congress, 2d Session. 1867–1868. House Executive Document No. 23, December 7, 1867.
- ^ United States Congressional serial set, Issue 3794, p. 785.
- ^ "The Norfolk Post. (Norfolk, Va.), 24 Aug. 1865". Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ Court Martial of Henry Wirz, Charges and Specifications
- ^ a b "Witnesses Who Testified at the Trial of Henry Wirz". National Park Service. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ Cloyd, Benjamin G. Haunted by Atrocity: Civil War Prisons in American Memory. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010.
- ^ a b "Myth: The Mystery of Felix de la Baume". National Park Service. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ "Duncan in Duress Circumstances Attending his Arrest". The New York Times. September 23, 1865.
- ^ "A summary of the trial of Henry Wirz" (PDF). Library of Congress. House of Representatives. 1866. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ "Report on the Wirz Trial by Judge Advocate General Holt". www.famous-trials.com. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
- ^ Davis, Jefferson. Andersonville and Other War-Prisons. New York: Belford Co, 1890.
- ISBN 978-1-137-37425-7.
- ^ "Clipped From The Courier-Journal". The Courier-Journal. October 21, 1865. p. 3. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
- ^ a b The Wirz Monument, National Park Service.
- ^ a b Alston, Beth (November 9, 2015). "40th annual Wirz Memorial Service held Sunday". Americus Times-Recorder. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
- ^ Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998, pp. 328–31.
- ^ The Demon of Andersonville; or, The Trial of Wirz, for the Cruel Treatment and Brutal Murder of Helpless Union Prisoners in his Hands. The Most Highly Exciting and Interesting Trial of the Present Century, his Life and Execution Containing also a History of Andersonville, with Illustrations, Truthfully Representing the Horrible Scenes of Cruelty Perpetuated by Him. Philadelphia: Barclay & Co., 1865.
- ^ Heidler, David Stephen, et al. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, New York: Norton, 2001.
- ^ Morgan D. Peoples, "The Scapegoat of Andersonville’: Union Execution of Confederate Captain Henry Wirz", North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Fall 1980), pp. 3–18.
- ^ Linda Wheeler. Wirz Took Controversial Fall for Andersonville Tragedy, The Washington Post, June 10, 2004.
- ^ Darrett B. Rutman, "The War Crimes and Trial of Henry Wirz," Civil War History, Vol. 6 (June 1960), pp. 117–33.
- ^ James C. Bonner, "War Crimes Trials, 1865–1867," Social Science, Vol. 22 (April 1947), pp. 128–34.
- ISBN 978-1-4022-5487-1.
- ISBN 978-0-313-31300-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4617-3957-9.
References
- Chipman, Norton P. (1911). The Tragedy of Andersonville; Trial of Captain Henry Wirz, the Prison Keeper. Sacramento.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Futch, Ovid (1968). History of Andersonville Prison. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813036915.
- Harper, Frank Roderick (1986). Andersonville: The Trial of Captain Henry Wirz. University of Northern Colorado.
- Marvel, William (August 1, 2006). Andersonville: The Last Depot. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-5781-6.
- Page, James Madison; Haley, M.J. (1908). The True Story of Andersonville Prison. Neale (2000 reprint by Digital Scanning Inc.). p. 1122. ISBN 978-1582181479. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
- Wooster, Robert (1998). Civil War 100. Carol Publishing Group. pp. 243–245. ISBN 9780806519555.
External links
- Entries from Wirz's diary made days before his execution
- Henry Wirz biography
- Documents suggesting Wirz's innocence
- Trial of Captain Henry Wirz, a class assignment for The Seminar in Famous Trials course at the University of Missouri-K.C. School of Law.