Day - 10 Confederate
Heritage Month Minute - Captain Henry Wirz, Confederate Hero and Martyr
By: Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
Captain Henry Wirz, Confederate Hero and Martyr
Captain Henry Wirz was born, Hartman
Heinrich Wirz in November 1823, in Zurich, Switzerland where his father,
Abraham Wirz was highly respected.
At the outbreak of the War Between the States
Wirz enlisted in the Fourth Louisiana infantry on June 16, 1861. He was
promoted to sergeant a year later and was wounded at the Battle of Seven
Pines. He never recovered from the injury to his left wrist and it caused
him great pain for the rest of his life.
Wirz was promoted to Captain on June 12, 1862 and
was first detailed to General John Winder where he was given command of a
Confederate military prison in Richmond, Virginia.
After serving a year as special emissary to
President Jefferson Davis in Paris and Berlin, on March 27, 1864, he was
installed as commandant of Andersonville Prison at Fort Sumter in Georgia.
Wirz did the best he was able to do with many Union prisoners and the
little food and medicine. It is written that the guards got the same food
and medicine as the prisoners.
The Confederacy sent a distress message to Union
President Abraham Lincoln and Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The South
pleaded for an exchange of Confederate and Union prisoners. Lincoln and
Grant, however, refused believing the Union prisoners might go home but
the Confederate prisoners might go back to fight.
Captain Henry Wirz was unfairly charged of war
crimes and it is written that no witnesses for the defense were allowed to
testify. Among those who would have is that of a Union soldier who was a
prisoner at the prison.
For over 30 years there have been efforts to
exonerate the good name of Captain Henry Wriz. There is an annual memorial
service to Wirz on the Sunday near his birthday each year in Andersonville,
Georgia
By: Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.,
Chairman,
Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee
Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans.
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Confederate Heritage Month -
Minutes
by Calvin Johnson
Dear Friends,
Have you read my first post on Confederate
History Month in April?
http://ConfederateHeritageMonth.com
Let's go after city, county and state
proclamations in February. In March let's write the news media, TV, Radio
and Newspapers, and ask them what they are planning for
April---Confederate History Month. I will offer a form letter to the media
later.
We have created 20 stories that could
be used on TV, Radio and Newspapers. See list below, please copy and use
where ever they will be helpful.
Be sure and signup to receive notices of
updates and news. Click
here.
Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
Chattahoochee Guards 1639
Mableton, Georgia
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