War Crimes

[jimm]

Should Davis have been tried for the deaths of the men in Andersonville? I refuse to believe that he did not know what was happening there. At Wertz'z trial the towns folk testified against him, saying that they had several times tried to bring food and clothing to the men but were denied access. So the old excuse made by apologists for the insurection that the South was starving dosent hold up. No doubt other's were equally guilty, but Davis should have been held accountable for what was described by one inmate as "systematic murder."

[max]

Both sides were guilty of severe inhumanity with prisoners. Wertz claimed he was following orders from Davis on what he did, but I haven't actually read any of them if they still exist. If Davis had been tried, there should have been many others on both sides court- martialed also.

Max

Wirtz trial was a farce. I mean, come on! the prosecuting attorney did the defense's closing argument.

Welcome to the boards. Why not introduce yourself at the Meet and Greet thread?

(Message edited by aphillbilly on September 03, 2004)

[max]

Jim, I also wanted to welcome you to the group and forgot to put it in my other post. I hope you will enjoy your time here with us.

Max

[georgiana]

Mr. Morris –

If you have the opportunity, pick-up a copy of Volume 6, Issue 6 of North and South Magazine – issued this past spring. The lead article was written by Dr. David F. Cross, who has a book coming out this fall on a Vermont unit sent to Andersonville in June of 64. The reason Andersonville stands “in a class by itself” is due, in no small part, to a Hookworm epidemic that existed in the South, but remained undetected until 1906.

Cross discusses how this epidemic ultimately aided the North – in that so many Confederate soldiers were infected and subsequently weakened, compromised, and more prone to disease. I’m a Northerner with two ancestors buried at Andersonville, but I shudder to think of what the Confederate armies might have accomplished had this epidemic not been a factor. Imagine rates of disease in the ANV reduced by a third..or more.

I’m not denying that there were other factors. A better diet certainly would have helped, better shelter, sanitation, etc., but absent the Hookworm epidemic, casualty rates at Andersonville would have likely come closer to other prisons in the South, as well as those in the North.

A fascinating article