| raducci | 20 Apr 2008 5:58 p.m. PST |
I'm reading about Andersonville at the moment.
Should Wirz have been tried and executed?
Should he have been the only one?
Im interested to hear people's views. |
| doc mcb | 20 Apr 2008 6:10 p.m. PST |
Victors' justice. The death rate at Northern POW camps such as Camp Douglas was almost as high, and they had far greater resources. And Grant's refusal to exchange prisoners (probably justifiable as strategy, but inhumane) was the root cause. But it is more remarkable that Wirtz was the ONLY Confederate officer executed; and Grant gets a lot of credit for that restraint. |
| Lord Ashram | 20 Apr 2008 6:17 p.m. PST |
How funny, I've been watching Andersonville while painting; actually watched it once, then once with the director commentary, and now widway through the section commentary. Commentary version FTW. |
 John the OFM  | 20 Apr 2008 7:44 p.m. PST |
All evildoers should be hanged. The mere fact that some are not is no excuse to not hang them. Whether or not Wirz was an evildoer is a bit harder to prove.
Was he incompetent? If he was a good soldier, he would have been fighting. Probably yes. |
| DJCoaltrain | 20 Apr 2008 8:41 p.m. PST |
IIRC – Major Wirz was injured/wounded and couldn't fight. I have a copy of the Andersonville Trial, starring William Shatner and Directed by George Scott. Kind of interesting. |
| doc mcb | 21 Apr 2008 3:08 a.m. PST |
Wirtz had been wounded in combat. Being a poor administrator isn't quite the same thing. |
| raducci | 21 Apr 2008 6:24 a.m. PST |
From my probably limited understanding he seemed to be callous more than evil. And overwhelmed by the job.
I would think if the inmates of Andersonville had of gotten their hands on him, hanging might have seemed a preferable fate to Wirz. |
| John the OFM | 21 Apr 2008 6:51 a.m. PST |
So Wirz was hanged for being a poor administrator? Too bad we don't do that more often. |
| highlandcatfrog | 21 Apr 2008 10:53 p.m. PST |
3 of my ancestors ended up at Andersonville. Two died there, the survivor was crippled for the rest of his short life. Yes Wirz deserved hanging. And so did those in charge of the Northern POW camps as well. |
| EJNashIII | 22 Apr 2008 9:15 a.m. PST |
It was interesting that even among southern prisons Andersonville had rivals. Why wasn't anyone from Belle Island VA hanged? Conditions there were no better than Andersonville plus it could be assumed the commander might have had access to supplies (Richmond being only a mile away) that simply were not available to Wirz even if he wanted to do the the right thing. |
completes a Confederate river ironclad.