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I came across a site with Henry Wirz grave site . What the stone says I find interesting.
Captain Henry Wirz. Confederate Hero-martyr.Died Nov.10 1865.
For the site with the photo go to. http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/Anderso...ison/wirz.html
What is your opinion? Was he a martyr?Was he used as a scapegoat? Was he himself a victim of circumstance?Did he deserve what he got?
Brian
I wouldn't call Wirz a hero. I believe he did what most who ran prisons both North and South did under tough circumstances. A martyr? I doubt he died for what he believed in.
It seems to me that he was used as a means to satisfy the anger of officials and public outcry when the Andersonville prisoners were released. I can't even imagine having to do the job he had to to with lack of supply and foodstuffs, prison guards with their own ideas about prisoner treatment and worry about prison "uprisings". I believe all wardens of prisons looked at their prisoner base as exploitable in some way. Combined with the lack of food in a Confederacy where all good foodstuffs were rare and escalating in worth on the civilian market its almost understandable that the prisoners were the last to receive anything, it doesn't make it right but this situation was reality.
I do have a much harder time justifying the Northern prison officials though. In a land basically full of wealth in the form of crops and comforts why couldn't these men treat their prisoners better? Maybe this is a question to have its own thread?
My grgrandmother used to tell me of her mother's trip to Elmira with food and blankets for the prisoners. She said every blanket and quilt was confiscated and the food was held for the prison guards. In her family story passed down she told of many civilians in the Elmira area trying to help prisoners get the things they needed to survive the winter. She said all citizens living around the prison knew things were bad and that the prisoners were treated as less than human. This from a Christian Yankee woman - in case some might think she had a southern bias.
Mr. Ahearn, I just came across this post and in this I agree 100%. After seeing the Turner Movie "Andersonville" I got a bit interested in checking out some of the storyline.
It seems to me that Writz got more than a little bit railroaded here. And there was a tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering in Union prisoner of war camps. With all of the wealth and abundance of food in the North, there was just no excuse for anyone to go without or go hungry.
Writz may have not been a hero, but he did catch blame that should have been spread much further around to the North and those who knowingly made a bad situation worse.
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
I'm not really an expert on this topic, but what I have read and heard here and there shows ambivalence. On the one hand, Wirz was dealt a lousy situation with materials and manpower being in such short supply, and having a wound of his own which ate away at his reserves of strength. On the other hand, his orders to the guards at Andersonville were extreme, to say the least. I agree that in some ways he was just a guy in a bad situation trying to make the best of what he had, but on the other hand, he didn't put himself out to improve the conditions the prisoners lived (and died) under. I would think that, being a surgeon himself, he would have taken steps to improve sanitation, at the very least. I also don't see any justification in the Union's treatment of CSA prisoners - I don't think Wirz knew about that.
Yes, Wirz was a scapegoat, but underlying that, I see some real goat too. From what I have been told, both sides made outrageous statements about the quality of prominent dead soldiers on tombstones and elsewhere. We're talking about the same folks who idolized and lionized William ("Billy the Kid") Bonnie, the James brothers, and other murderers.
Certainly, Henry Wirz, doesn't fall into the class of a hero. To be a hero, one needs to do something heroic. What was heroic, in running a prison camp? As a martyr, I see no evidence, of that either. As for the treatment, and conditions for the prisoners, there could have been improvements. Many things were allowed to happen, because it was just prisoner preying on prisoner. Instead of stopping this, it was allowed to continue. As for food, medicine, and materials to build shelters with, they probably weren't available. The south had big time trouble, just trying to get supplies, to their front line troops, which would have been a top priority, to where a prison, would have been at the bottom of the list. Without stronger evidence to the contrary, I don't feel that he was used as a scapegoat. In certain areas, he may have been a victim of circumstance,but he didn't use the power that he had, to make things any better.
I remember reading something about Wirz, but I'm at work and can't check it.
Anyway, what I recall is hearing that Wirz refused to let local citizens give wagon loads of fresh vegetables to the prisoners. Happened twice, IIRC. I believe that was used as evidence against him after the war.
Fresh vegetables would have helped stave off the scurvy that was a serious health problem at A'ville.
Can anyone confirm (or refute) this?
According to the court martial record. Wirz was guilty of willfully neglecting to furnish prisoners with, barracks, or other shelter, and he willfully had clothing, blankets, and camp equipage, taken from the prisoners. Also with malice and evil intent, he refused to furnish food in quality, or quantity, to be sufficient to sustain health, or life. He also refused wood for cooking, or heat during the winter. These were but a few, of many other charges.
According to the court martial record. Wirz was guilty of willfully neglecting to furnish prisoners with, barracks, or other shelter, and he willfully had clothing, blankets, and camp equipage, taken from the prisoners. Also with malice and evil intent, he refused to furnish food in quality, or quantity, to be sufficient to sustain health, or life. He also refused wood for cooking, or heat during the winter. These were but a few, of many other charges.
Hello everyone.
i just want to say i am glad to see this post popping up. It has been over a month since I posted it.After I posted it I thought to myself Oh no did I just post flame bait. Thank you everyone for not making it a flame war.
On the subject of prisons north or south it is common to hear comments like"Andersonville was bad but how does that make what happened at Elmira different?" Responses like that are the answer to nothing.
I posted the question here and got good answers thank you.
At Andersonville it has been mentioned that there was not enough materials for shelter nor wood for fires to cook. I may be wrong but I believe the place was in the middle of a heavily wooded area. Which would of meant they could of easily had logs for huts and use the prisoners shelter halves for roofs.Elmira originaly had a good number of shelters for the number of prisoners it was made to hold.
Problems were made worse both North and South when they put a end to prisoner exchanges. This caused both to become overcrowded very fast.
What I find interesting is that both Andersonville and Elmira both had surgeons who were looked upon as cruel . At Andersonville Wirz was a surgeon before the war.At Elmira the surgeon there boasted that he killed more reb soldiers than any soldier did. Sorry but his name escapes me.
Someday I would like to go to Andersonville.Elmira is only a hour away from here. The site is now a residential area,however there are markers all around. Fosters pond is still there .Suprisingly it is a popular fishing spot considering the prisoners would drink from it to commit suicide.In front of the pond is the memorials as well as the American flag which the flag pole from the prison is still in use.
Woodlawn national Cemetery is near there . To stand in front of thousand of prisoners graves all lined up in perfect military order is a site to see . Even more impressive is that a runaway slave kept near perfect records of the names of those buried there.Because of his dedication only a hand full are marked as unknown.
What I find sad about the cemetery is that surrounding the confederate prisoners graves is the graves of Union soldiers who died at the prison, who forever are keeping guard over their prisoners.
Anyway prisons on both sides were hellholes.Niether should be used as a excuse for the other.
Keep your comments coming.
Brian
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