The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-07
AN INCARNATE FIEND

J.
How Capt. Henry Wertz Murdered
Our Pr1sOners---Viy1l Picture OF the
Great Torture POn.--The BIaek Hole
OF Calcutta OutJlO1le-..I1lfamyN Never
Equa1etl INT the History of NIan--.Gen.
Wtnder and His Son ON Rotting Yam
keeS---The Testimony of Loyal
Georgia Planter. us ..,t T.,
New YORK, Thursday, Aug. 3, 1865. al
To the Editors oftIte Ne1O York Post:
There appears to be disposition on
the part of some of the public press to
mitigate the offences and crimes of
Maj. Henry Wertz, late the responsible
keeper of the stockade at atAndersOnville,
Ca, and to throw upon others the re-
sponsibilities that justly attach to those
alone who were in Immediate command
bof that prison. Being personally ac-
quainted with most of the officers who
were stationed at AndersOnyille, and
knowing much Ofthe treatment of those
who were so unfortunate as to have
been confined in that pen Of horror, /
have thought that a condensed state
ment of how things were managed and
prisoners of war were treated there
might not be entirely unacceptable to
your readers. -"
! l wish to be understood as not desir-
| GUS to fOrstaQ the action or the opinion
of the commission which is about to in
Vestigate this matter, or to add ANYTHING
to the feeling entertained toward Major
! WertZ. 1t is enough for him to rest,
now and forever, under an oblouuV
that no time and no repentance can OBJ
| fliterate; to feel within himself the un-
enviable pangs which the recollection
OF his poWerless murdered victims will
ever arouse, and to know that Whatever
may be the award of a human tri bunal,
his punishment is already dccreed. {,
~ The prison of fAndersonVi1le is q stock
ade ofabOut eighteen feet high, the posts
comprising it being sunk in the ground
five feet; it originally comprised an
area of eighteen acres, but was subse-
lquently enlarged to twenty-seven acres.
The inclosure is upon the side of II hill,
looking toward the south, at the foot OF
which is q small brook about five feet
wide and as many inches deep, which
furnished the water for the use of the
prisoners. within this inclosure were
turned the prisoners as they arrived,
and left to provide for themselves, there
being no shelters, or arbors, or any kind
of protection afforded by trees or other
wise against the burning rays of the
Southern sun, the furious storms or the
freezing winters. 4"
The position was selected by Captain
Winder, son of Gen. John II. Winder,
who was sent from Richmond for that
it was suggested to him by a disinter-
ested but humane spectator OF
his operations. that it would
perhaps be- better to leave the
trees standing within the, proposed
stockade, as they would afford shade to
the prisoners, he replied; I" That was
just what he was not going to do; ldhe
was going to make a pen for the -
Yankees, where they could rot faster
than they could be sent there"
And admirably did he accomplish his
mission. as,' ,.-a-,.--17tl 80
The first commandant of the post was
Col. Persons, who was soon succeeded
by John IT. Winder, with his son as
Adjutant, his nephew as. Commissary
and sutler, and Henry Wertz in imme-
diate command of the prisoners. There
We're generally y stationed there for guard
duty from three to six regiments Of in
fantry, with one company of artillery,
having a battery of six pieces, accord
ing to the exlgencies of the case, the
number of prisoners then confined, or
the fears entertained of an attempt to
set them at liberty by raiding parties OF
United. States troops. 0- - 70.
= When prisoners were firstreceived it
was usual to subject them to a search
for money, Valuables, &C., which osten-
were released from captivity, but which
| in reality went into the pockets of those
who controlled the prison. INotwfth-
standing a law of the COnfederacy ex-
pressly prohibited 'the dealing in
'sgreenbacks," yet the initiated, few
whose "loyalty" was unQuestiOned
could always obtain for a consideration
the greenbacks they required. -rr-.
/ The writer of this was the foreman ot
1 the last grand jury which. was en-
i panneled for Sumner county, Ga, and
in the performance Of his duties he had
Ito investigate n large number of pre-.
lsentments for dealing in the forbidden
currency, which was brought against
poor Union men in every instance
Struck by this fact, he resolved to ex.
4 anime, as his position gave him a right
Ito do, into all the circumstances; where
the money Originally came from, who
did the selling. of it, indeed the whole
ngIOdLS OperGTdi, and he elected the fact
above stated, how the money was OBJ
tained, that the Winders and VERT
We're the principals, acting through
subordinatesy in gathering bushels o
lplums, in the way of premiums, &c
Meanwhile the prisoners were left tt
the tender mercies Of, the jailor anC
cO1ninissary for their food, which might
least, If their money had been left ii
their own possession.
AT firstit was customary to send {
wagon into the stockade every morning
: at 10 o'clock loaded With the Fationi
for the day-bacon and corh&bread
nothing else; but as the number, O
prisoners increased and the greed o
gain grew! upon the trio above men
toned gthe corn-bread was reduced il
its quality, being then manufactured o
equal proportions of ground field peas
Y and corn, funbo olted, unsifted; tunG cleans
, ed, indeed, from the dirt and trasI
! (which peas natural u accun late; an6
8 at last, when the number of prisoners
d Increased to over $1,000, the hdeat IA,
Shs bacon gr e @ sio man Ieu ebout "a fbre liG S
rt FETEfs. tI5f ~ & ss,AjA NM Dtt
-l :. gitlsE&f:i.Jtt La.l1 w. =