Début du message transféré :
Expéditeur: "Heinrich L. Wirz" <heinrich.l.wirz@bluewin.ch>
Date: 29 janvier 2015 16:14:37 UTC+1
Destinataire: "'Heinrich L. Wirz'" <heinrich.l.wirz@bluewin.ch>
Objet: Captain Henry Wirz, Assistant Adjutant General, Confederate States Army
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You
may have read or heard me talking before about the American War of
Secession (1861 – 1865) and its best known Swiss participant, Captain
Henry Wirz, my great-granduncle.
His
name is indispensably related to Camp Sumpter Prison, better known as
Andersonville, Georgia. Captain Wirz was its commandant (1864 – 1865).
After the war he was arrested, brought to Washington D.C. where he was
brought to trial and sentenced to death for alleged war crimes and
executed by hanging.
In
2011 the American historian Albert Winkler published an article in the
„Swiss American Historical Society Review“, Vol. 47, No. 2, June 2011: Henry Wirz and Andersonville: The Career of the Most Controversial Swiss American. One of the key sentences is:
„The
tragedy of Andersonville still discredits the nation, and many men in
the Union and Confederacy must share the blame for the high death rates
in that prison, but Wirz was unfairly singled out for punishment. Henry
Wirz was a flawed man who did his best to alleviate suffering and safe
lives at Andersonville, and he is no stain on the honor of Swiss
Americans.”
In
the meantime Albert Winkler wrote another article on this matter which
was recently published in the „Swiss American Historical Society
Review“, Vol. 50, No. 3, November 2014: Henry Wirz and the Tragedy of Andersonville: A Question of Responsibility. Please note the conclusion:
“With
so much guilt to be shared, the prosecution and execution of Wirz was
unjustified. Of all these men, Henry Wirz was probably the least
responsible for the high mortality at Andersonville. In fact, he likely
deserves high praise for doing for what he could to improve the
desperate conditions in the prison, and he probably saved many Union
prisoners who would have perished without his efforts.”
I
again thank Mr. Winkler very much for his thorough historical research
and for the permission to distribute his article electronically (please
see attachment!).
With best regards, H. L. Wirz.
Heinrich L. Wirz, Colonel Swiss Army (Ret.)
Writer in Defence and Military Affairs
Independent Parlamentary Journalist
Editor in chief "Pro Militia" 2007-2010 / 2013
Ritterstrasse 4
CH-3047 Bremgarten
Switzerland
Phone + 41 (0)31 301 79 13
Mobile + 41 (0)79 384 22 66
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