38 1865 Civil War newspapers wEYEWITNESS report ANDERSONVILLE CONFEDERATE PRISON
38 1865 Civil War newspapers wEYEWITNESS report ANDERSONVILLE CONFEDERATE PRISON. Lot of thirty-eight (38) 1865 Civil War newspapers (NY Herald) with long detailed EYEWITNESS reports of the ANDERSONVILLE CONFEDERATE PRISON in GEORGIA. SEE PHOTO(s) - Lot of 38 COMPLETE ORIGINAL NEWSPAPERs, the.
Dated from Aug 22 through Sept 30 1865. This lot of 38 original newspapers contain day by day coverage of the TRIAL of HENRY WIRZ, the Confederate commander of the infamous Confederate Civil War prison located at ANDERSONVILLE, Georgia. The word-for-word testimony coverage of the Wirz trial marks a long and very detailed eyewitness record of the horrors of the Confederate prisoner of war camp at Andersonville, GEORGIA. Henry Wirz (born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz; November 25, 1823 - November 10, 1865) was a Swiss-American convicted war criminal who served as a Confederate Army officer during the American Civil War.
He was the commandant of Andersonville Prison, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp near Andersonville, Georgia, where nearly 13,000 Union Army prisoners of war died as a result of inhumane conditions. After the war, Wirz was tried and executed for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of the camp; this made the captain the highest-ranking soldier and only officer of the Confederate Army to be sentenced to death for crimes during their service.
Since his execution, Wirz has become a controversial figure due to debate about his guilt and reputation, including criticism over his personal responsibility for Andersonville Prison's conditions and the quality of his post-war trial. The Andersonville National Historic Site, located near Andersonville, Georgia, preserves the former Andersonville Prison (also known as Camp Sumter), a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp during the final fourteen months of the American Civil War.Most of the site lies in southwestern Macon County, adjacent to the east side of the town of Andersonville. The site also contains the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum. The prison was created in February 1864 and served until April 1865. The site was commanded by Captain Henry Wirz, who was tried and executed after the war for war crimes. The prison was overcrowded to four times its capacity, and had an inadequate water supply, inadequate food, and unsanitary conditions.
Of the approximately 45,000 Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter during the war, nearly 13,000 (28%) died. The chief causes of death were scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery.
The prison, which opened in February 1864, originally covered about 16.5 acres of land enclosed by a 15-foot high stockade. In June 1864, it was enlarged to 26.5 acres.
The stockade was rectangular, of dimensions 1,620 feet by 779 feet. There were two entrances on the west side of the stockade, known as "north entrance" and "south entrance". This allowed for a space of about 5 feet by 6 feet for each prisoner. During the war, 45,000 prisoners were received at Andersonville prison; of these nearly 13,000 died. [19] The nature and causes of the deaths are a source of controversy among historians.The stockade became severely overcrowded. During the war, disease was the primary cause of death in both armies.
Infectious disease was a chronic problem, due to poor sanitation in regular as well as prison camps. After the war, Henry Wirz, commandant of the inner stockade at Camp Sumter, was tried by a military tribunal on charges of war crimes. The trial was presided over by Union General Lew Wallace and featured chief Judge Advocate General (JAG) prosecutor Norton Parker Chipman. A number of former prisoners testified about conditions at Andersonville, many accusing Wirz of specific acts of cruelty. The court also considered official correspondence from captured Confederate records.
Perhaps the most damaging was a letter to the Confederate surgeon general by James Jones, who in 1864 was sent by Richmond to investigate conditions at Camp Sumter. Jones had been appalled by what he found, and reported he vomited twice and contracted influenza from the single hour he'd toured the camp.
His graphically detailed report to his superiors all but closed the case for the prosecution. Wirz presented evidence that he had pleaded to Confederate authorities to try to get more food and that he had tried to improve the conditions for the prisoners inside. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death. On November 10, 1865, he was hanged. Wirz was one of three men executed after the war for war crimes and the only Confederate official; the others were guerrillas Champ Ferguson and Henry C. The revelation of the prisoners' sufferings was one of the factors that affected public opinion in the North regarding the South after the close of the Civil War. Contrary to common belief, Wirz was not the only person prosecuted for his actions at Andersonville.James Duncan, who had worked in the quartermaster's office at Camp Sumter, was convicted of manslaughter for allegedly withholding food from some of the prisoners. Duncan had previously been called as a defense witness for Wirz, but was arrested when he arrived to give evidence. This listing includes the 38 complete entire original newspapers, NOT just a clipping or a page of them. Every item we sell is an original newspaper printed on the date indicated at the beginning of its description. This is truly SIX CENTURIES OF HISTORY that YOU CAN OWN!
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