A couple of weeks ago, in a post about
an 1865 baseball boxscore in The Philadelphia Inquirer, I mentioned in passing that there was also an article about the trial of a
Confederate officer for war crimes at
Camp Sumpter, a prisoner-of-war camp he commanded in Andersonville, Georgia, during the Civil War.
The man on trial was
Heinrich Hartmann Wirz, who was better known as Henry Wirz. For some reason, The Inquirer spells his last name
Werze throughout this edition of the newspaper. It would be interesting to know how that misspelling came about, because I can't find much other evidence online of that spelling being used. It's not even the most common misspelling of Wirz — there are some instances of his last name being spelled
Wertz in the historical record.
So, anyway, I'll use
Werze today, because I'll be quoting this 148-year-old issue of The Inquirer.
From August through November of 1865, Werze was tried, convicted and
executed in Washington, D.C., for "combining, confederating, and conspiring ... to injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States" and for "murder, in violation of the laws and customs of war."
You can read about Werze on
Wikipedia, on
an official report about the tribunal housed at the Library of Congress, and at
CivilWarHome.com.
What I'm including here are three excerpts from The Inquirer's coverage of the Werze tribunal. It's a long article that features 10 headlines, including "A Fresh Accumulation of Horrors!" and "Further Details of the Rebel Slaughter Pen."
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WASHINGTON, AUG. 28 — The Werze Commission reassembled this morning.
The cross-examination of
Robert H. Kellogg was resumed by Mr. Baker. The witness said he entered the United States service on the 11th of March, 1862, and was discharged on the 1st of June, 1865.
Question — Were you at any other prison than Andersonville?
Answer — I was at Charleston and Florence.
Question — Was the treatment at those places materially different from that at Andersonville?
Judge Advocate Chipman objected.
Mr. Baker — I thought my question was a little out of the way, but that no objection would be made.
The Judge Advocate — This manner of cross-examination will not be tolerated. If the counsel persists, I ask for the enforcement of the rule that reduce his questions to writing.
Mr. Baker — The intention of my question was to show that the treatment of prisoners was equally good as that of other prisons.
Judge Advocate Chipman — That is a point of your defense, but not proper in a cross-examination.
Mr. Baker — The indictment charges Captain Werze with acting contrary to the laws and usages of war. This is the gist of the whole thing. No matter how destitute the prisoners were, or how much they suffered, if we show nothing was done contrary to the laws and usages of war, then this man cannot be punished, as we think.
Judge Advocate — The question is improper. There is no evidence as to the treatment in other prisons.
The Court sustained the objection.
The cross-examination was resumed and long continued, during which the witness said that unless men sent out to cut wood were strongly guarded, they would overpower the guard, and would have been fools if they had not attempted to make their escape; the proper guard for a squad of twenty men would be an armed corporal and six men; he did not know of his own knowledge that Captain Werze prevented men from going out to cut wood; he knew that the men dug a well with whatever they could get, such as half canteens and tin plates and spoons; the water at the wells was fair; there was not room enough to dig all the wells which were needed; the space was required for the prisoners; he never saw Captain Werze order or take away from the prisoners anything which contributed to their health and comfort; he thought the police regulations might have been better; on one occasion Captain Werze did him a kindness; he had been in the woods and had left his knife there, and Captain Werze was the means of his recovering it; he did not himself know, from his own observation, of any willful or inhuman act by Captain Werze.
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