Captain Henry Wirz
Our young people are taught about the so-called infamous Andersonville Prison where Captain Henry Wirz served as Commandant but what about the infamous Union prison camps in Chicago and Elmira in New York?
The Alexander H. Stephens Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans
invite you to attend a 37th Annual Captain Henry Wirz Memorial Service
to be held in the town of Andersonville, Georgia on Sunday afternoon,
November 4, 2012 at 3 PM. In
case of inclement weather, the service will be held in the old restored
Andersonville Baptist Church -- now called the "Village Hall."
Starting
at 2:00 p.m. the musical group from Leesburg, GA, "A Joyful Noise,"
will provide music for an hour. They have played and sung before a
number of groups for several years, and they will be playing Southern
songs and Gospel Hymns. They will be singing "Amazing Grace" and "Dixie"
during the 3:00 p.m. Memorial Service.
The guest speaker is Ms. Cassy Gray from Fairfield, Ohio. Greetings will include that which will be read from Col. Heinrich Wirz of Bern, Switzerland, the great grandnephew of Capt. Henry Wirz.
Mayor Marvin Baugh will read a proclamation declaring Nov. 4 as Capt. Henry Wirz Day in Andersonville.
Who was Captain Henry Wirz?
In
April 1864, Wirz, born in Switzerland in 1822, was appointed
Commandant of Andersonville Prison. It has been written that the Union
prisoners numbered 32,000 at Andersonville in August 1864. During this
time food and medical supplies were scarce for both Union prisoners and
their Confederate guards. The blockade of Southern ports was also very
effective and Union President Abraham Lincoln halted the exchange of
prisoners.
On August 18, 1864, Union General Ulysses S. Grant said:
"It
is hard on our men in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is
humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. At this
particular time to release all Rebel prisoners north, would insure
Sherman’s defeat and compromise our safety."
In
August 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered that the charges against
Confederate generals and public servants should be dropped but not for
Captain Henry Wirz. The Wirz trail was a mockery with witnesses allowed
to testify for the prosecution but few for the defense. Captain Wirz was
hung in Washington, D.C. on November 10,
1865. It is written that Wirz was offered a deal to save his life,
which was to testify against the former Confederate President Jefferson
Davis. Wirz, being a man of honor, refused.
Captain Henry Wirz, in the last letter to his wife —dated November 10th
-- said in the concluding sentence: "Lord, thou callest me, here I
am…And, now, farewell, wife children, all; farewell, farewell; God be
with us."
In
1977, at the National Convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans,
this Historical-Fraternal group declared Captain Henry Wirz a
Confederate Martyr and Hero. A posthumous Medal of Honor was also
presented in honor and memory of Captain Wirz and is on display at the
Andersonville Welcome Center.
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