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The Vindication of Henry Wirz (Andersonville Prison)

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• I do want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. And I will probably be going rather hurriedly this morning because I'm going to bring to you the message that I'm going to be bringing this afternoon. It is almost impossible to do a decent job on this subject within just an hour. So I would encourage you to study the subject even more because I'm going to be bringing a message on the vindication of Major Henry Wirz, W-I-R-Z. Many of you probably already have heard of Major Wirz, but he was the commandant at Andersonville Prison. A number of years ago, I did a message on the truth about Andersonville, and I'm really thankful for the opportunity to preach at his memorial. Because although I knew he was an innocent man, I did not really delve into all of the facts until I began to study.

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• And I trust that you will understand the importance of vindication and as well as justice and righteousness. So look in Matthew, chapter 10, and our Lord said this beginning there in verse twenty three. But when they persecute you in this city, flee you to another. For verily I say to you, you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough that the disciple that he be is his master.

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• Now watch what he said. And the servant is his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub or the devil, how much more shall they call them of the household? Now watch what he says. Fear them not. So he's talking about the persecutors. Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be made known.

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• When you and I hear the word vindication, anyone and everyone that has been unjustly accused and condemned would automatically desire vindication. Vindication is a very important subject. It is especially important to anyone who happens to be a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. You don't have to be a member of the Sons for vindication to be important to you. But it was Lieutenant General Stephen Dill Lee, who was the Commander General of the United Confederate Veterans in New Orleans in 1906, who gave this charge. Listen carefully. To you, Sons of the Confederate Veterans, we submit the vindication of the cause for which we fought.

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• To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, and the perpetuation of those principles he loved, which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Now I want you to understand that vindication of the cause and defense of the Confederate soldier's good name go hand in hand. Because when we vindicate, we actually defend. The truth is that any and every individual that is interested in truth, honor, justice and righteousness should also be concerned about vindication because we should abhor injustice. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 89 and verse 14, justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. And then when you get to Proverbs 21 in verse three, the Bible says to do justice and judgment is more acceptable unto the Lord than sacrifice. Stop and think about that, to do judgment and justice is more acceptable unto the Lord than to sacrifice.

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• The motto of the Confederacy was this, Deo Vindice, or God vindicates or our vindication is of God. And it is true that the real, genuine, true vindicator is God himself. But, you know, the interesting thing is this. God oftentimes allows vindication in time and in history. For instance, if you would hold Matthew 10, but turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 7. Look in Psalm 7. And let's begin reading there with verse 10, Psalm 7 and verse 10. I want you to look. We're talking about the vindication of Major Henry Wirz, W-I-R-Z is how you spell his name. But look in Psalm 7 and verse 10, showing you that God does indeed vindicate oftentimes in time and in history. Psalm 7, verse 10, the Bible says, David proclaims, My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.

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• God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he, that is the wicked, turn not, he, God, will whet his sword. He hath bit his bow, and made it ready. He, God, hath also prepared for him, that is the wicked, the instruments of death. He, God, ordaineth his errors against the persecutors. Notice if you would, he says in verse 14, Behold he, that is the wicked, travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He, the wicked, made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief, that is the mischief of the wicked, shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. So God oftentimes vindicates the righteous by destroying the wicked. Not every time, but many times. And consequently, we understand that the true vindication of every individual will come at the Judgment Day.

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• Captain, and I'm going to say Captain because it was later in the war he was promoted to Major, so you will sometimes hear him known as Captain Wirz or Major Wirz, but Captain Heinrich Hartmut Wirz, who is better known as Henry Wirz, was promoted to major right before the end of the war. He was a Swiss citizen who immigrated to the United States in 1849. He graduated from the University of Zurich and obtained medical degrees from Paris and Berlin. So he was not only a Confederate officer, he was also a medical doctor as well. But Wirz was badly wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks in May of 1862 and he lost the use of his right arm.

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• Since he was unable and unfit for active duty, he was assigned as a clerk to Libby Prison in Richmond. His commanding officer was Brigadier General John Henry Winder and Winder was so impressed by Wirz that he soon promoted him to the rank of major. Wirz was not only a capable, qualified officer, he was also very intelligent. He spoke fluent English, German, and Dutch. And on the advice of General John Henry Winder, President Jefferson Davis decided to send Wirz on a secret mission to England and to France. When Wirz returned to America, he rejoined Winder, who was now in charge of all the Union prisoners east of the Mississippi. Now, due to an increase of federal prisoners, it was decided to build the prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, sometimes referred to as Camp Sumter. In 1864, Winder, in April, it's important that you remember this, in April of 1864, Winder appointed Wirz as commandant of this new prison camp.

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• For your information, there were only two Confederate officers that were tried for war crimes after the war was over. One was Major Wirz and the other was Captain Champ Ferguson.

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• Now, from everything that I've read about Champ Ferguson, there is indeed a great disparity between the version of the South and the version of the North. The North version said that Champ Ferguson murdered innocent civilians. However, if he did, not defending him if he did, but if he did, he did it on a much smaller scale than that which was done by Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Hunter, and that which they did on a much larger scale. As one person has accurately observed, we punish the smaller criminals and elect the larger ones to office.

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• And that's usually the way it goes. So, Champ Ferguson, like Major Wirz, was hanged by the Yankees.

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• Now when the Union Army arrived at Andersonville in May of 1865, of course they immediately began to take photographs of the prisoners who were emaciated and sickly, and then the very next month these pictures appeared in Harper's Weekly. The photographs, of course, caused considerable anger and calls were made, supposedly, to the War Department that something should be done about these crimes. So it was decided to charge General Robert E. Lee, Secretary of War for the Confederacy, James Seddon, a number of other Confederate generals and politicians with conspiring to injure the health and destroy the lives of United States soldiers who were held prisoners by the Confederate States. Charges were also supposedly to be filed against President Jefferson Davis. In August of 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered that the charges against all Confederate officers, or Confederate generals I should say, and politicians should be dropped.

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• However, he did give his approval for Major Wirz to be charged with wanton cruelty. Moreover, Major Wirz was charged with a number of murders. He supposedly murdered a number of Yankee prisoners.

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• Now there's a big problem with this allegation because all of those alleged murdered victims had no names. None could be verified. In fact, some of the murders that Major Wirz was charged with committing not only happened before he was appointed as Commandant of Andersonville, but even happened before Andersonville became a prison. Wirz was charged with conspiring with Jefferson Davis to destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States of America. Several individual acts of cruelty to Union POWs were also alleged. I hate to use the word misfortune, but in the providence of God, Wirz happened to be the only remaining member of the prison staff. And so he was made, therefore, to answer for all the misery that occurred at Andersonville Prison. Wirz became the victim of public hysteria. He also became a pawn in a plot to implicate President Jefferson Davis in war crimes. After two months of trial, and I might add turbulent trial, and by the way, part of the time Wirz was so sick he was carried to his own trial on a cot.

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• He could not really even defend himself, and you'll understand why he was so sick just momentarily. But the trial lasted for two months. It was basically a kangaroo court. After the trial was over, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to be hanged. Everything that happened at Andersonville was beyond the control and beyond the capacity of Major Wirz to correct. He not only did not intentionally deprive any prisoners, for which there is a great deal of testimony in his favor, moreover, you have to understand it is impossible to issue supplies when there are no supplies available. It's impossible to give forth medicine when there's no medicine available. As bad as it was at Andersonville Prison, listen carefully, Northern prisons were much worse. The South did not have the means to provide for our prisoners. We did not even have the means to provide for our soldiers or our civilians. But the North did have the means. Yet here's the truth. Listen carefully. Southerners in Yankee prisons suffered atrociously. More Southerners died in Yankee prisons than Yankees died in Southern prisons.

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• We always hear about how bad it was in Southern prisons and especially in Andersonville. But we never hear how bad it was in Northern prisons. Elmira in New York had a 25% death rate the year that it was open. One quarter of all Confederate soldiers confined there died. At Camp Douglas in Michigan, prisoners were deprived of clothing in a Great Lakes winter to discourage their attempt at escaping. And during that winter, from 3,000 to 6,000 Confederate soldiers shivered and died in gunny sacks that they had cut holes in for their heads and their arms. On July 19, 1866, Edwin Stanton, who was Secretary of War for the federal government, published a report about prisoners held during the war. Figures in Stanton's report, of course, belie the cruelty that was often associated toward the Confederates that were held in northern prisons.

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• However, he did give forth some statistics. I want you to listen carefully. From the first to the last, the Confederate armies captured and held 270,000 federal prisoners here in the South. The Federal Army captured and held 220,000 Confederates. Are you listening? The Confederates that died in Yankee prison was 26,576. The Northerners that died in Southern prisons was 22,576. In other words, the Confederacy, the South, captured and held 50,000 more prisoners and yet it had 4,000 fewer inmate deaths.

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• Let me put it another way. At least 12% of the Confederate prisoners died in northern prisons. And only 9% of federal prisoners died in southern prisons. So you want to talk about how bad it was at Andersonville? We need to talk about how bad it was in all of these other Yankee prisons as well. You have to understand this. The Confederacy did not have a war policy that purposely and deliberately designed the maltreatment of Yankee prisoners. While the North did have a policy that designed for the maltreatment of Confederate prisoners. Do you realize as early as the 21st of May, remember the war only started in April. But as early as May the 21st, 1861, the Confederate Congress passed a law concerning Yankee prisoners. Here's what the law says. Now I'm quoting.

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• All prisoners of war taken, whether on land or sea, during the pending hostilities with the United States, shall be transferred by the captors from time to time, and as often as convenient, to the Department of War, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, to issue such instructions to the Quartermaster General and his subordinates as shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of prisoners of war, and the rations furnished prisoners of war shall be the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the Army of Confederacy. So, Yankee prisoners in Confederate hands were to have exactly the same rations, the same amount, and the same quality that was issued to Confederate soldiers.

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• However, the North now had a different policy. In fact, the official policy of the North regarding Confederate prisoners was passed by both houses, Senate Resolution Number 27, which can still be found in congressional records, here is the official United States policy on Confederate prisoners of war. Hold on. I'm quoting. Rebel prisoners in our hands are to be subjected to a treatment finding its parallels only in the conduct of savage tribes and resulting in the death of multitudes by the slow and designed process of starvation and by mortal diseases occasioned by insufficient and unhealthy food and wanton exposure of their persons to the inclemency of the weather. It was passed by both houses. Major Wirz was unlike Northern officers in that he did not purposefully or deliberately harm any prisoners. Thus, he can be vindicated in a number of ways. And that's what this message is about this morning, the vindication of Major Wirz.

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• And I've said earlier, I cannot do justice to his vindication in an hour's time. But let me give you several things to consider. First of all, Major Wirz is vindicated by the charges against him. First and foremost, he has to be vindicated by the charges against him. Why? Because the specifications against him were not only untrue, they were unreliable, and they were unable to be proved. It is impossible for him to have committed some of the specified charges. He was convicted under all of the charges in spite of the fact that there were some charges against him occurred on specific dates when he was not even at the prison, he was out of the country.

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• For example, here's specification number six. This is one of the charges against him. I'm quoting, on February the 1st, 1864, Henry Wirz did confine and bind a United States soldier, unknown name, and from such torture, he died on the sixth day. Wow. Let's see. On February the 1st, 1864, Henry Wirz did confine and bind a soldier and torture him until he died. Wirz was not even appointed as commandant until April of 1864.

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• And are you listening to this? The prison in Andersonville did not even accept federal prisoners until February the 24th, 1864. It is impossible for Wirz to have committed a murder on February the 1st because Wirz was not commandant and there were no prisoners there. Wirz was still in Europe. He had not even come home from his assignment there. Here's specification number 10. On August the 20th, 1864, Henry Wirz did order a rebel soldier, unknown name, to fire upon a U.S. soldier, unknown name, inflicting a mortal wound from which he died.

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• I want you to listen. Specification number 13. On August the 3rd, 1864, Henry Wirz, with a pistol called a revolver, did beat and bruise the head, shoulders, and breast of a soldier, a prisoner of war of no name, inflicting mortal wounds from which he died on August the 4th. May I remind you that Major Wirz was a one-armed man? He did not even have the use of his right arm. Which means he would have had to have beaten the prisoner with his left arm. Now, I want to tell you something. You let a one-handed man come and try to beat me. I might get shot by someone else, but I believe I could defend myself against a one-armed man.

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• But notice if you would, he is charged with doing this. Regarding these two charges, the camp records, as well as inmate testimony, prove that during the entire month of August, 1864, Henry Wirz was known in poor health the entire month of August, convalescing at his home, which was five miles from the prison. He could not have participated in these events. Why? Because he was known sickly and emaciated, his arm, his right arm had become infected with gangrene. It was impossible for Wirz to have committed these murders and these charges against him are false. When you stop and think that out of all the allegations against Wirz of these murders and men tortured, there are absolutely no specifications of a name, a rank, or a unit. They're all unnamed. You would stop and think, out of all the thousands of Union prisoners that were in Andersonville, if Wirz had done this publicly and openly, surely someone not only could have seen, but given a name. But no one did.

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• We must also consider the aspect, the legal aspect, of corpus delicti. Corpus delicti is a Latin term meaning literally the body of the crime. It is the essential facts that prove a crime has been committed. The doctrine of corpus delicti is required for the state to prove that a crime has been committed. How can you prove that a crime has been committed without a name, or without a body, or without a victim?

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• Moreover, since the war was over, you would have to ask, why was Major Wirz tried by a military tribunal instead of a civilian court? So he's vindicated as to the charges against him. Secondly, he's vindicated by the circumstances. Why did the South hold so many prisoners in Andersonville? The answer is because the North refused to allow prisoner exchanges. And they even refused to take their own men back when the South offered to give them their soldiers without an exchange.

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• And it was not just simply a refusal. It was a refusal to honor a document that had been agreed upon, written out, spelled out in black and white, and signed by the North and the South. So if Andersonville Prison was designed to hold 10,000 men, and it held 32,000, why did those prisoners get to such a staggering number? Were we really capturing that many Federal soldiers? Were we really fighting that well? The truth is that number got so high because the North refused to exchange prisoners. The South not only wanted to exchange the prisoners, the South even volunteered, like I said earlier, to give back those Yankee men without exchanges. It was the Lincoln government that refused to accept their own men.

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• In June of 1864, the Union had ceased exchanging prisoners because the Union had greater manpower, greater resources, and believed that the exchanges would serve the Confederacy better than it would serve the Union. Now I want to give you some quotes. The Union Brigadier General Seymour visited Andersonville Prison and some other southern prisons. And here is what he wrote after he got back from Andersonville and visiting southern prisons. He said this. The southern authorities are exceedingly desirous of an immediate change of prisoners. Their urgency is unbounded. In other words, we wanted to get rid of them.

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• We could not support them. Their urgency is unbounded, but it is the poorest policy for our government to deliver to them 40,000 prisoners better fed and clothed than ever before in their lives, in good condition for the field, while the United States received in return an equal number of men worn out with privations and neglect, barely able to walk, enjoying their last breath, and unfit to take to the field as soldiers. It is much wiser to leave the prisoners where they are.

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• Now, let me back up. He said we would be delivering to the South 40,000 prisoners better fed and better dressed than they had in their entire lives. Well, I've got news for you. There are a number of Confederate prisoners that would argue with the fact or about the fact that they were better fed and better clothed. If you will read the prison documents and the prison diaries, and you find out that Confederate prisoners were reduced to eating rats, cats, dogs, maggots, rotten food, and wearing gunny sacks? I don't think that would qualify as being well-fed and well-dressed. If you don't believe what I've just said, read about Point Lookout, Elmira, Camp Douglas. Read the Immortal 600 written by Muriel Jocelyn. You will be amazed at how Confederate prisoners were deliberately placed under cannon fire of our own cannon, hoping that our own cannon would deliberately kill our own men. They were placed there by the North, purposely, deliberately. General Ulysses S.

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• Grant said this concerning the prisoner exchange. Listen, the exchange of prisoners would mean a reinforcement of the rebel army. An exchanged rebel soldier behind barricades and fortifications fighting on the defensive was equivalent to three Union soldiers attacking him. Here's what he said. If we hold these men caught, they're no more than dead men. As the time of enlistment is over, if we liberate them, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. He continues, it is hard on our men held in southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. At this particular time to release all rebel prisoners north would ensure Sherman's defeat and would compromise our safety here.

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• Oh, now who are we concerned with? One of the orders that had been issued by General Ulysses S. Grant, and he wrote this to Edwin Stanton, who was the Secretary of War, and it can be found in the official records there, but he was writing that General Foster would not be allowed to exchange Confederate prisoners. The orders dated August 21st, 1864, and he said this, please inform General Foster that under no circumstances will he be authorized to make an exchange of prisoners of war.

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• Exchanges simply reinforce the enemy at once, while we do not get any benefit for two or three months and lose the majority entirely. I telegraphed this from just hearing that some 500 to 600 prisoners have been sent to General Forrester. Wow. What do you guys think? No. No. These were the 600 who were the immortal 600 that were confined here in the South. But, oh man, did they suffer. Read the book, The Immortal 600. You'll find out.

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• Again, it was the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, who said this. Now he's talking about Yankee soldiers. Listen to what he says. There's reasons of fear that many, that is many Yankee soldiers, there's reason to fear that many voluntarily surrender for the sake of getting home. What is he saying? There are northern soldiers who are voluntarily surrendering so they can be exchanged and go back home.

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• Now, James Madison Page was a second lieutenant in Company A of the 6th Michigan Cavalry. He was a union man, he was a federal officer, he was a prisoner at Andersonville, and he wrote a book entitled The True Story of Andersonville Prison. In his book, he vindicates Major Wirz and demonstrates how the fault basically lay with the federal government. Listen to what he said. Here's a quote.

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• This may surprise you, but in July of 1864, Henry Wirz had paroled five prisoners to act as emissaries for the others. These emissaries carried a petition to Washington that was signed by almost every Union soldier in Andersonville demanding that the United States government abide by the original exchange agreement. Their efforts were not successful. And some of them returned to Andersonville to report to their fellows. When the Andersonville emissaries returned from Washington, there was not one word about the exchange of Negro soldiers being in the way of our release.

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• It was then not even thought of. I know that for the past 42 years, that matter has been published and broadcast in the North as a reason we were not exchanged. Grigsby, who was a prisoner there, is right in this. The Washington authorities had concluded to stop the exchange before there were any Negro prisoners. In spite of all the Northern post-war moralizing, the real reason the Union soldiers were not exchanged is because the Northern government considered them expendable. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton said, we will not exchange able-bodied men for skeletons and we do not propose to reinforce the rebel army by exchanging prisoners. Now this is a Yankee, this is a northern soldier saying the fault is with our own government. Lincoln of course was against the exchanges and after him, Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War. He was primarily against the exchange of prisoners for two basic reasons. Number one, he thought exchanging prisoners recognized the existence of the Confederacy as a nation. And by the way, it was a nation because we had lawfully seceded from the Union.

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• Secondly, he said that Union soldiers basically only served for a year. And after that year, they were sent home. Whereas Confederates fighting on their own turf, when they were released, they went back in the army. So he is saying the Union then believed it was getting the lesser part of the bargain, so to speak, to exchange the prisoners. So that basically then left all of these prisoners in southern prisons. Again, Lt. James Madison Page says this, When we heard Secretary of War Stanton's reply in regard to the exchange, we felt we were forsaken by our own government. The War Office at Washington preferred us to die rather than to exchange us. Many of the prisoners, being but human, raised their clenched fists trembling hands toward heaven and with fearful oaths cursed the authorities at Washington and the day they were born. Oh, what hatred was engendered for our Secretary of War. Another prisoner, John W. Urban, said this, a Yankee prisoner in Andersonville, we sometimes felt embittered against the government for not making a greater effort to release us.

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• And among ourselves, we often were tempted to say bitter things. But in the presence of our enemy, any insinuation of this kind against our own government would excite air and indignation. It was a sad fact, however, that hundreds died feeling in their hearts that the government they loved so well and fought so hard to save was indifferent to their sad fate. Has anything changed? What about the prisoners in Vietnam? No. The government is indifferent to the sad fate of those. Do you realize that the prisoners, now we're talking about northern prisoners, Yankee prisoners in Andersonville, drew up some resolutions and sent them to the United States, not only government, but also to the Sanitary Commission. I want you to listen to just two of these resolutions. Remember, this is from Andersonville Prison.

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• Resolved that while allowing the Confederate government all due praise for the attention paid to the prisoners, numbers of our men are consigned to early graves. Resolved that 10,000 of our brave comrades have descended into untimely graves caused by the differences in climate, food, etc., and whereas these difficulties still remain, we would declare our firm belief that unless we are speedily exchanged, we have no other alternative but to share the same lamentable fate of our comrades. Must this thing go on? Is there no hope? Resolve? We have suffered patiently and are still willing to suffer if by so doing we can benefit the country. But we most respectfully beg Lee to say that we are not willing to suffer to further the ends of any party or clique to the detriment of our families and our country. Signed by P. Bradley, Chairman of the Committee on Behalf of Prisoners. Wow. Did you hear that? That while allowing the Confederate government all due praise for the attention given to the prisoners. It was Pastor J.

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• William Jones who was a pastor, chaplain, author, historian who said this, The Confederates were anxious to exchange man for man. It was the settled policy on the other side not to exchange prisoners. The Confederates offered to exchange sick and wounded. This was refused. In August 1861, we offered to send home all the Federal sick and wounded without equivalent. In other words, we wouldn't get anything back, we'll just send them home.

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• This offer was not accepted until the following December, and it was during that period that the greatest mortality occurred. The Federal authorities determined as their war policy not to exchange prisoners. They invented every possible pretext to avoid it, and they at the same time sought to quiet the friends of their prisoners and to fire the Northern Heart by shamelessly charging that the Confederate government refused to exchange and by industriously circulating the most malignant stories of rebel barbarities to helpless veterans of the Union.

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• I ask again, has anything changed? I could offer a multitude of quotes, but I'm sure that you understand the reason there were so many prisoners at Andersonville and other southern prisons was because the North would not exchange them. They would not even take them back when we offered to give them without exchange. Let me point out an additional circumstance. It is true that there were men in Andersonville that died from starvation, malnourishment, and disease. But do you realize it was not just the prisoners who died, but the guards as well. Out of a thousand guards at Andersonville Prison, 226 of those guards died of the same diseases and the same privations as did the federal prisoners.

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• Supplies were short in the South. The North had blockaded the South. They had destroyed crops. They even made medicine a contraband of war. It was not just Yankee prisoners who died. It was Confederate fighters that died and Southern civilians that died. Many children died. The simple of course, you could not get quinine. You could not get any medication. So he's vindicated by the circumstances. Thirdly, he's vindicated by his captives.

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• Again, James Madison Page said this, this is in his book, he said, Captain Wirz was unjustly held responsible for the hardship and mortality of Andersonville. But the federal authorities must share the blame for these things with the Confederate, since they well knew the inability of the Confederates to meet the reasonable wants of their prisoners of war, as they lacked a supply of their own needs, and since the federal authorities failed to exercise a humane policy in the exchange of those captured in battle. Augustus Mosner, another prisoner from Andersonville, said this, I swear positively that I never heard of Captain Wirz kicking or shooting a prisoner, nor in any way maltreating him, except as I have stated. Mr. Kanzler, who was a compagnie of the 1st Regiment of Illinois Light Artillery, who was also a prisoner at Andersonville, said this, In my estimation, Captain Wirz did the very best he could to do under the circumstances, and few could have done as well as he did.

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• He was not a deliberately cruel man and no cruelty originated with him. When I say this, I say what I know from my personal observation to be true. He had to carry out his orders. And he had to keep the prisoners from escaping. Captain Wirz was a good-hearted man by nature and had nothing cruel about him. Listen to what else he said. Had I not been confined to my bed with sickness at the time of Captain Wirz's trial, I should have gone voluntarily and testified on his behalf.

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• I had no idea of the fate that was hanging over him and never understood why so many gave false testimony against him. These men either knew better than to testify as they did, or they were absolutely ignorant of the truth in regard to the matter. Men who testified strongest against him had absolutely no acquaintance with him and knew nothing about him. They were not capable of judging him or his treatment of the prisoners. Wow.

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• Let me point something out. Numerous Confederates and other captives were willing to testify on behalf of Major Wirz. However, they were not allowed to testify because of the judge advocate. The judge advocate, if he found out you were going to testify favorably, would dismiss you. There were men with subpoenas in their hand who went there to testify. And the judge advocate took the subpoena from them and said, you're dismissed.

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• We do not need your testimony. I'm going to point this out just momentarily, but fourthly and very quickly. Captain Wirz is also vindicated by his compassion. Listen to what Lieutenant Page from Michigan said, I met Wirz while on one of his visits to the hospital. He stopped his horse and I explained briefly the situation and the condition of my comrades. Said I, if something is not done for them at once in a few days, death will be the result.

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• And this is the substance of his reply. I'm doing all I can. I am handicapped and pressed for rations. I am exceeding my authority now in issuing supplies. I am blamed by the soldiers for all this suffering. They do not realize that I am a subordinate governed by orders of my commanding officer. Why, sir, my own men are on short rations. The best I can do is see that your sick comrades are removed to the hospital.

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• God help you, I cannot. And his eyes were filled with tears. I was crying myself. I saw how deeply he felt. He was pale, emaciated. His wounded arm was troubling him. He said nothing about the fact that gangrene had set in. I said to myself, here's a man obliged to endure the odium resulting from the sins of others. Wow. Listen to what else he said. There were some guards from Alabama, originally the Andersonville, who were reassigned. And Page said this about these guards, these horrible guards. We parted with our Alabama guards early in April. It was a disappointment to us, for we had found friends among them, real friends who shared with us their scant allowance, others who had nothing gave all they had a tear. Those horrible guards sharing their scant allowances with the prisoners and those who had nothing to give wept for the prisoners. At Major Wirz's trial, the defense showed to no avail that the prisoners and their guards received the same rations with the similar deleterious effects among them both.

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• It was also showed at his trial where letters were sent to his superiors demanding and asking for more rations and more food for the prisoners. So he's vindicated by his compassion. Fifthly, he's vindicated by his condemnation. Major Wirz was convicted on all counts. It must be pointed out, and I want to emphasize again, that any witnesses that would exonerate Major Wirz were excluded from the trial by the judge advocate. Are you listening? Mark this down.

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• Write it in your mind. A simple truth is this. If you can control the testimony at the trial, you also control the outcome of the trial. So when judges in our day and time say, well, I will determine what evidence can be allowed. Oh, what they're saying is I will determine the outcome of the trial. When I say that he's vindicated by his condemnation, out of 160 witnesses called by the government, not by the defense, but out of 160 witnesses called by the government, only 10 or 12 testified to any alleged cruelty on the part of Major Wirz. Approximately 145 of the government's own witnesses, almost all of whom were former inmates at Andersonville, testified that they had no knowledge of Wirz ever murdering or killing a prisoner with his own hands or otherwise. So 145 of their own witnesses testified for Major Wirz.

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• Now I want you to listen. The most damaging testimony against Major Wirz was from Felix Delabonde. Delabombe was the only witness who identified a victim by name who was allegedly to be directly killed by Major Wirz. Delabombe not only fabricated his identity, he also fabricated his testimony against Wirz. Delabombe, who claimed to be a Frenchman and a descendant of Lafayette, was discovered after the trial to be Felix Osner.

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• Osner was born in Saxony, Prussia, and lied in order to conceal the fact that he was a former member of the 7th New York Volunteers who had deserted during the war. Moreover, he had never set foot in Andersonville. He was not a prisoner there. His testimony was false, malicious, and perjured. He was a skilled orator and a convincing liar, and he was such a convincing liar, and he so impressed the military commission that he was given a written commendation by the military commission. Are you listening? And before Major Wirz's trial was over, he was appointed a position at the Department of the Interior, which was a payoff for his blatant perjured testimony. Once his true identity and status was discovered, only eleven days after Wirz had been hanged, he admitted to being Osner and having perjured himself in the testimony of Wirz's trial, and consequently he vanished into obscurity. So the only witness that gave any damaging testimony was a liar and a perjurer. Sixthly, Major Wirz is vindicated by his character.

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• Henry Wirz rejected an offer of pardon the night and the day of his execution, the night before and the day of his execution. In fact, he rejected the pardon three times. First, a party of four men visited Major Wirz in prison with an offer of a full pardon and full liberty if he would either directly or indirectly implicate the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. To this offer, Major Wirz replied, this offer of life could not persuade me to treason and treachery to the South nor my friend.

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• Second, his attorney Louis Shade brought a message to Major Wirz, and third time the message was carried by Reverend R.E. Boyle. Each time the offer was conditioned upon his agreement to testify against President Jefferson Davis and say that somehow Jefferson Davis was responsible for the deaths of the men at Andersonville. Wirz advised that such a statement would be untrue, and he would not base his freedom on a lie.

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• It was mid-morning, or almost mid-morning, on the 10th of November, 1865. Henry Wirz had finished his last letter to his wife. Mr. Shade, his attorney, related the offer of pardon conveyed to him. Wirz listened until he'd finished and then replied to his attorney, I would not become a traitor to him or anybody else to save my life. Later that morning, Reverend Boyle conveyed the same message of pardon to Wirz. Wirz replied, although I am innocent of these cruel charges, I will not purchase my liberty by perjury.

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• Now, I want you to think for a moment. If Wirz was the murderer and the cruel, heartless man that the government said he was, how simple it would have been for him to deliver another man into their hands and save his own life. The very fact that he refused to implicate Jefferson Davis, and he knew if he did, it would be a lie, shows you the character of Henry Wirz.

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• The execution took place on the 10th of November, 1865. The gallows was surrounded by Union Army soldiers who throughout the entire procedure chanted, Wirz, remember Andersonville, remember Andersonville. He was accompanied by a Catholic priest. Wirz refused to make a last minute confession complaint claiming that he was not guilty of committing any crime. Before he was hanged, Major Russell read the death warrant and then told Wirz, he deplored his duty. Wirz replied, I know what orders are, Major, and I'm being hanged for obeying them. Wirz displayed no fear and faced his death stoically.

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• He said, I die innocent. When the trapdoor was sprung, his neck was not broken. He did not die instantly. To the shouts and the taunts of the mob, he slowly swung on the rope until he choked to death. Father Boyle wrote in a letter to Jefferson Davis. He said, I attended the major to the scaffold. And he died in the peace of God and praying for his enemies.

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• I know that he was indeed innocent of all the cruel charges on which his life was sworn away, and I was edified by the Christian spirit in which he submitted to his persecutors. Let me make just a couple of applications. Listen carefully. The vindication of Captain Henry Wirz is the condemnation of a corrupt, abusive, unconstitutional government. If Wirz is vindicated, Washington is condemned. It cannot be any other way.

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• Corruption is not something new. Wherever there is no rule of law, there is tyranny. Wherever there is governmental corruption, there is governmental tyranny. And when you stop and think today that a multitude of governmental crimes are disguised and hidden under the realm of national security, and governmental immunity. Times have not changed. And I want you to consider this great irony. Ironically, today, over the spot where Wirz died, symbolic of the justice in which he was denied, the very spot stands the United States Supreme Court.

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• Undoubtedly, we should understand, as it was then with the South, so it is now with the South. Men may pervert justice and men may pervert righteousness, but yet they cannot escape the just penalty of God. And God says, if a man perjure himself and give false testimony, Deuteronomy 19, verses 16 through 20, it shall be done to him as he thought to have done to his brother. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, or 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 24, some men's sins are open going before the judgment and some men they follow after. So those who think they have gotten away in time and history will face their sins in eternity because the word of God says in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 23, be sure your sins will find you out.

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• And the truth is that the sovereign God of heaven and earth, he is the great vindicator and he will make sure that everything is set straight because there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. Let me just quote one last thing in closing. Many of you remember Sam Davis. I have a message on the death of Sam Davis, but it was L. O'Wheeler Wilcox who wrote a poem about Sam Davis. This same poem, I believe, could be applied to Major Wirz. I want to mention Sam's name, but I want you to think about this in relationship to Major Wirz. Here's the poem. When the Lord calls up Earth's heroes to stand before his face, O many a name unknown to fame shall ring from that high place.

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• And out of a grave in the Southland at the just God's call and beck shall one man rise with fearless eyes and a rope around his neck. For men have swung from gallows whose soles were white as snow. Not how they die or where, but why, is what God's records show. And on that mighty ledger is writ Sam Davis' name. For honor's sake, he would not make a compromise with shame. You could say, and on that mighty ledger is writ Major Wirz's name. For honor's sake, he would not make a compromise with shame. Let me skip down.

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• They offered life and freedom. If he would speak the word in silent pride, he gazed aside as one who had not heard. They argued, pleaded, threatened. It was but wasted breath. Let come what must, I keep my trust, he said, and laughed at death. He would not sell his manhood to purchase priceless hope. When kings dragged down a name and a crown, he dignified a rope. Ah, grave, where was your triumph? Ah, death, where was your sting?

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• He showed you how a man could bow to doom and stay a king. The transcripts of Andersonville Prison are public record. The transcripts of the trial are public record. They can be read. Where are the transcripts for Elmira, Fort Douglas, Fort Delaware? Point and look out. There are 13,000 graves that stand in orderly rows in Andersonville, Georgia. Where are the graves in Michigan, New York, and Maryland? Can I tell you, they dug one hole and dumped them all.

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• Major Wirz deserves to be honored and deserves to be vindicated. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your truth. We thank you for your word. And we ask, Father, You would indeed teach us to love righteousness, to love truth, to love holiness, and give us grace that, Lord, that we may serve Thee effectively with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray. Amen.

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• This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, PMB 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-0995.

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• You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:41:41Z