The Unjust, Judicial Murder of Maj. Henry Wirz

For fourteen minutes after 10:32am on the morning of November 10, 1865, a human body with a noose around the neck dangled from a rope attached to a scaffold outside of the Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C. (a site now occupied by the U.S. Supreme Court building). The body that hung there in the breeze that day was that of a 41-year old man named Heinrich Hartmann "Henry" Wirz. According to the official record, justice was served... but nothing could be further from the truth.

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Henry Wirz was born on November 25, 1823 in Zurich, Switzerland. In the late 1840s, Henry and his family were among the many Europeans fleeing wars and revolutions in Switzerland and the German states who immigrated to live in the United States of America. He could not have known when he arrived here in 1849 that his new homeland would be torn by war in just a few short years.

Shortly after the Lincoln Administration came to power and inaugurated war upon the recently seceded Confederate States, Wirz enlisted to serve with the Louisiana Volunteers in the Confederate Army in 1861. After being wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines a year after joining, Wirz was promoted to the rank of Captain, and assigned to serve under Gen. John Winder, who was in charge of Confederate POW camps.

In February of 1864, the Confederate government established a large military prison, Camp Sumter, in the small Georgian town of Andersonville. Tapped to take command of this new facility was Capt. Wirz (who would later be promoted to the rank of Major).

Camp Sumter was originally designed to hold about 10,000 prisoners of war, but in a very short time it wound up holding nearly three times as many prisoners! The reason for the increase was, in part, the total war policy of the Lincoln Administration, a part of which was to end the system of "parole on honor" that would include the exchanging of prisoners.

The Union had been decimating Southern food & medical supplies and their means of delivering such items to Confederate troops. The Confederate soldiers on the battle field had to be fed to continue defending Southern freedom, but more often than not in the later years of combat they had to wage war on nearly empty stomachs. If the Confederate government could barely feed their own troops, how could they be expected to feed and care for prisoners much better?

Major Wirz did all that he could to better the situation of the prisoners placed under his care. As 'ExploreSouthernHistory.com' explains, "The size of the stockade was expanded as the number of prisoners swelled. He established hospital facilities outside of the stockade walls. And he allowed prisoners to arrest, try and execute the ringleaders of 'The Raiders,' a prison gang that preyed on the other inmates." Wirz even tried to return thousands of prisoners to the Union Army without requesting for any exchange. Union authorities would not take back their own soldiers, saying they had no authority to relieve the sufferings of these men from their own Army!

As a result of these Union actions, 13,000 captured Union solders would die at the prison in Andersonville by the war's end in April 1865.

Wirz, who had done nothing aside from follow orders and faithfully executed his duty to the best of his ability under the circumstances of the time, could have ran & hid. He could have slipped off to Europe if he believed himself in some danger of legal punishment, but he did not. He did believe that some of the released prisoners might blame him for the conditions of the prison & might try to harm him, so he wrote a Union General to request for a safe conduct pass or a guard to temporarily protect him. Instead, the General sent troops to arrest Wirz and bring him in for questioning. The arresting officer, Captain Henry Noyes, told Wirz in front of his family that there was nothing to fear and that after answering questions he would soon be released to return to family. Wirz and his family played host to these Union men for part of the day, even serving them dinner before leaving that afternoon. Little did Henry Wirz know that it would be the last time he would ever see his beloved wife or daughter.

Allowing himself to be taken into U.S. federal custody, Henry Wirz unknowingly had jumped into the mouth of a lion, one that was rabid with blood-lust after a long 4-year war & the assassination of a President.

Charges were brought against Major Wirz, and after an unjust trial, Wirz was sentenced to death. Like the Romans feeding Christians to the lions, the U.S. government sold 250 tickets to the execution event; many more lined the rooftops to witness this sacrifice at the alter of Lincoln.

At about 10 o'clock on the morning of November the 10th, Union officers entered Wirz's room of imprisonment for the purpose of taking him to the gallows. The following is how the scene unfolded according to the New York Times:

"Without any exhibition of nervousness, he even indulged in pleasantry as to his appearance in the black shroud, and said also that he 'Hoped to have a white gown soon.' The officers proceeded to pinion his arms behind his back, but found the handcuffs would not slip on to his right arm, it being much swollen. His limbs were therefore all left free until he reached the scaffold. As they were leaving the room, WIRZ turned to the mantel, and with as much nonchalance as if he had been in a bar-room, took up a bottle of whisky, and pouring out a liberal draught drank it down with apparent relish. Then taking a chew of tobacco, he took his place in the procession which was led by the Provost-Marshal, then the two Priests, then WIRZ, the guards next, and Capt. WALBRIDGE in the rear, in which order they mounted the scaffold, the prisoner exhibiting much steadiness in his movements. Stepping upon the trap, he seated himself upon a stool, the noose, so soon to be his fatal snare, dangling over his head. Maj. RUSSELL then proceeded to read the order, reciting the finding of the court, and the approval of the sentence by the President."

"The reading was finished at 10:20, and WIRZ, was directed to stand up. Major RUSSELL asked him if he had anything to say publicly, to which he replied, "No." Father BOYLE then recited the service of the Catholic Church for the dying, to which WIRZ responded in a low tone.

"During these few moments shouts could be heard from the soldiers in the tree-tops of "Hang him," "Andersonville," "Remember Andersonville," and others not calculated to increase his calm demeanor, but he paid no attention to them, and preserved his cheerful expression of countenance throughout.

"At thirty minutes past ten, his hands and legs having been pinioned by straps, the noose was adjusted by L.J. RICHARDSON, Military Detective, and the doomed man shook hands with the priests and officers."

At this point, other sources report, the major commanding the execution detail told Wirz, 'I have my orders," just before he put the black hood over Wirz's head, Major Wirz spoke his last words, 'I know what orders are Major, and I am being hanged for obeying them." The New York Times continues...

"At exactly thirty-two minutes past ten, SYLVESTER BALLOU, another detective, at the signal of the Provost-Marshal, put his foot upon the fatal spring, the trap fell with a heavy noise, and the Andersonville jailor was dangling in the air. There were a few spasmodic convulsions of the chest, a slight movement of the extremities, and all was over."

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It is almost too ironic that this event took place at the site where the U.S. Supreme Court building sits today.

Major Henry Wirz was an honorable solder of the Confederate military, and as such he is honored by this author. For 150 years the federal government has propagated the falsehood of his guilt in regards to Andersonville, but they only do so as a smokescreen. They never come forward to tell about the horrors that occurred at northern POW camps like Point Lookout (Maryland), Johnson's Island and Camp Chase in Ohio, Elmira in New York, Louisville Prison in Kentucky, Western Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, Grafton State Prison in St. Louis, MO, Fort Pulaski in Georgia, Rock Island Prison & Camp Douglas in Illinois, and Fort Delaware.

Those of us who honor our Confederate heritage should never forget this atrocious moment in the history of the United States. We must never forget the story of Major Heinrich Hartmann Wirz.

Rest in Peace

Heinrich Hartmann Wirz

Nov. 25, 1823 - Nov. 10, 1865

A Major & a martyr in the cause of Southern Independence

 DEO VINDICE!

- Jonathan McCleese

Sergeant-at-Arms, SCV Camp #1321