Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-10-13
sE,, The Wirx Trial.

|
buckets; also urging a supply of shoes for
paroled prisoners, who were at work fol
the Confederacy, thus saving expense and
relieving rebel soldiers. n
4 Col. +. G. Rubin teetiiied that he re-
sided near Richmond, and during the war
was Lieut.. Colonel in the Subsistence De-
partment of the Confederate States army.
There was q deficiency of commissary sup
plies, and from, the beginning of the
war more or less scarcity. He would
not say that any one was on the point
OF starvation, but that there was much pri-
vation. Thirty thousand barrels of flour
had adaccumulated at Richmond in the spring
/; OF 1864, but the whole of that reserve was
consumed by the Union prisoners; there
lore the army of General Lee had to sub
sist on corn bread, the meal having to be
brought mainly from Georgia. At Coal
Harbor vegetables were so scarce that Gen.
Lee made an urgent application for them
to the War Department. The men, for
| want OF vegetables, were suffering from
scurvy. diarrehea, &c. Their recovery was
necessary in order that they might return
to the field. The Commissary Department
then imported onions from the Island of
Bermuda through the blockade. The wit
ness also testified that supplies were short
throughout, the entire South, for reasons
Wnlcn lie SCaucd. 4 Il .ttfh uh W
Cross-examined by Col. Chapman: wit
ness knew nothing about the Andersonville
prison, but the prisoners were removed
from Richmond thi:her because supplies
were drawn from Georgia. He did not
know that any Of the Confederate soldiers
starved because of an insutficiency of food,
but he had heard that some of t EN- lost
their lives becauseof its unwholesomeness
r. III. Kellogg, who had testified for the
prosecution, was called for the defense.
Question-During the time that you were
at Andersonvlle did you ever hear or know
of Capt. Wirz kicking, striking or shoot
ing man so that he died? Answer-I did
not.
Cross-examined: Wirz had a character
for cruelty and brutality, and was profane
and insulting to the prisoners. They were
badly treated, and naturally supposed that
he was responsible for the abuses. Sher-
mans raiders, who had been brought in,
were robbed of nearly everything they had.
Some had on merely shirts and pants. Wit
ness did not say that Wirz did not kill or
shoot any one; but that he did not see him
do 1t. yE. f- e.
AT the suggestion of Judge Advocate
Chapman, the crOss-eXamination of the wit
! ness was suspended in order that the book
written by Mr.. Kellogg, relative to the suf-
fering of, and cruelties to the Union priS-
oners at Andersonville, could be sent for.
Major S.-B. French. an officer in the Con-
federate Commissary Department, testified
to the deficiency of supplies in the win
ter of 1868 and spring OF 1864. The rations
in the army were reduced and vegetables
imported from Bermuda through the block
ade. For five months preceding the evacu-
alton of Richmond there was never ten
ho Il
Lee. Gen. Lee complained of the reduction
of the rations.
oss-examined: Witness said it was Ow-
ing to the want of facilities that corn was
scarce in Richmond. They did not import
wheat flour. He knew nothing about An
Jacksonville. The meal furnished the army
of Gen. Lee was not bolted.
By the Court: Gen. Lee had bread every
day, but several times telegraphedto to Rich
mond that he was out of meat. In such in-
stances the people of Richmond would COL
lect a supply. Gen. Lee informed him
| (witness) that he had frequently been pre-
vented from moving because of not having
subsistence for his army.
DR.. Ray was called for the defense. Capt.
| Wirz, he said, was sick two-thirds, if not
the whole Of September. He had never
dressed in the Andersonville hospital. a
| with pistol or revolver. Witness said he
told Capt. Wirz that he ought to have his
right arm treated, but the Captain thought
it would get well by his own treatment, he
being Doctor. ,,- rr.-..'
Captain WirZ, at the request of Mr.. Ba-
ker, stood up and exposed his right arm,
| which is much SWOLLEN and intlame1. r.
| Z DR.. Ray, after looking at the arm, said it
was as bad as the first day he saw it. He
| looked on it as a gangrenous ulcer. Tive
| of the fingers were disabled then as now.
| He thought the prisoner could not strike
anybody with that arm or with anything
in it.. He might feebly defend himself, but
could not grapple any one with that arm.
Cross-examined: Witness had never seen
the prisoner in any belligerent position.
He judged of the conditioned Capt. Wirz's
arm from the appearance of it, He,exam-
ined the arm for The first time in Septem-
Der, 1864, but had no idea what caused the
wound. Capt. Wirz, during that month,
came to. the prison whenever he could
probably once or twice a week.
Mr.. Kellogg here returned with copy of
his book, and resumed his place on the
stand.
Question by Colonel Chapman: Did I'M
derstand you to mean, in saying you never
heard of certain things having been done
by Captain Wirz, that such things did not
occur? Answer-Not9 by any means be it
understood that Captain Wirz was brutal,
cruel and overbearing1 man. The witness
further said that after the six raid
ers were hanged they had a season of
comparative peace, but the prisoners soon
learned to look on the regulators as equally
bad. 1t was diamond cut diamond. They
were the same class of men. The regulators
did good at first by hanging the raiders.
Col. Chipman intended to, but did not,
examine the witness as to any part of the
book. 10 -,-i,...- IT. '-.,,,p ...--.i
j. w. Armstrong, Jr., of Macon, Ga, a
Captain in the Commissary's office of the
Confederate service, testified that when he
first went to Andersonville the rations
issued to the Confederate soldiers and the
Union prisoners were the same. Several
boards of survey condemned the food there.
Capt. Wirz had nothing to do with the COM
missary supplies, excepting to receive them.
Wirz made remonstrance against the
quality of the food. Wirz was sick in July
how long he could not say; but he was out
of his head. Witness knew nothing about
Wirz being sick in August, as he lett the
post the lst of that month. He never heard
of Capt. Wirz beating or shooting pris-
oner so that he died, nor did he ever hear of
a Confederate soldier obtaining furlough
for shooting Union prisoner.
Cross-examined: He did not know wheth-
er the same rations he delivered at the post
were supplied to the prisoners. We had not
so much difficulty in procuring subsistence
lar with the matter of issuing furloughs if
it had been done. ,n. se hGs ~
"..scs