Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-08-24
Avermont Soldiers RecoIIections of
Capt. Wertz,

We find letter in the st. Adams Mes
senger written by Vermont soldier who
was captured at Shiloh, giving an &C
count of prison experience under Capt.
Wertz, whose trial commenced at Wash.
ington yesterday for starving the Union
prisoners at Andersonville
On the 7th day of April, 1862, the wri-
ter was one OF some two thousand Union
soldiers who found themselves prison
ers of war In rebel hands, part of the
results of the previous days fighting at
| Shiloh Soon after we were lodged in
military prisons at Tuscaloosa, Ala, I'M
der the command Of Capt II, Wertz c,
S. A., who has since gained some notori-
| ETY. for his extreme cruelty towards
prisoners of war under his charge, and
now lies in prison awaiting trial for his
crimes, On contemplating the suffer-
ings and tortures Of our soldiers while
incarcerated in Southern death pens the
heart grows faint, and the mind turns
away in sorrow. No pen can picture in
! its true colors the misery of rebel prison
life. How hardly can any one believe
such barbarities, such slow, yet cease
less, torture, could ever be practiced, or
even tolerated by people protesting
civilization and christianity? Truth
and facts cannot be denied, nor the re-
collection of suferings endured erased
from the minds of its victims. Such re-
| collections impel the writer to give his
impression Of prison life under Captain
Wertz. Capt. WertZ claims to be a
Frenchman, is apparently forty-five
years Old below the medium height,
rather stout and compact built, round
shoulders, thick, short neck, black,
bristly hair slightly sprinkled with grey,
| low forehead, small, black, sinister eyes,
| looking out from under heavy, shaggy
eyebrows; dark compleXion-iust such
man as instinct would select to do
| mean act-such is the picture fixed in
the writer's mind Of Capt. Wertz; only
add cOwardice and it is complete. His
nature seemed well calculated to fit him
for tool Of JEFF. Davis, and to execute
his hellish purpose of incapacitating all
Union soldiers who fell into his hands as
prisoners Of war from any further ser
vice in the field after release Captain
WertZ was not content to starve and
expose his victims to the inclemencies
Of the climate, but it pleased him to add
insulting and haunting language. Hence
it gave him pleasure to kick the dead
body of prisoner, and grinning, Che
could not laugh say, "Ah ha, another
id 9ank gone to hell. He'll will soon
be so full of them that his Satanic Mai
esty will have to annex New England to
his dominions, for want of room"
To man writhing in agony of pain
he would say "You id Yankee fool,
I reckon you wish you had staid at
home, and minded your own business,
and not come down here to steal our
niggers. love to see you Yankees here,
-or we will learn you decent manners
and gentlemanly department, provided
you don't all die in course of disci-
pine"
To the surgeon he would often say
''The more that die the less we shall
have to feed Or night; anu take good
care to parole them all, so as to count
them in exchange"
One act of his, more tlendish than
some, recall. 1t occurred on the Levee
at Tuscaloosa, Ala, while the prisoners
were waiting to embark on transports
en- route for Montgomery, as we thought
to be paroled. There was a boy some
fifteen or sixteen years old belonging to
the 18th regiment Iowa infantry. His |
genialty made him the special favorite
of all the prisoners. He was a good
singer, and contributed not little to
dispel the irksomeness Of prison life by
songs. His singing was a great irrita-
tion to old Wertz, and he tried various
modes Of punishment to stop it. He
would confne him in the dungeon "a or
48 hours at time without food or
water still up through those dungeon
bars would come the words Of the Star
Spangled Banner No punishment could
make young Allen desist from singing.
As we stood on the Levee, all talking
was forbidden The thoughts Of home,
however, were too strong for young
Allen to resist to sing that good old
tune, "Home, Sweet Home" A blow |!
from old Wertz's revolver felled him to
the ground. He was badly cut on the |
head. We cared for him as best we
could. He lived to reach Nashville,
Tenn, and there died beneath that old |
flag he loved so well, victim of Capt.
Wertzs viudiCtive hatred of American
soldiers.
l might 90 on and relate many more
similar cases that came under my own
observation, but for the present will
leave him TO his own reflections, in the
hands Of just but indignant people.