Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-19

that during the trl2l-JnaG captain WIZ
never murdered or killed any Union pris-
oners with his own hands or otherwise. All
those witnesses about twelve to fifteen(
who testified that they saw Captain Wirz
Kill q prisoner. have sworn falsely, album
dunt proofs of that assertion being in exis-
tcnce. The hands Of Captain Wirz are
clear Of the blood of prisoners Of ,Far. He
would certainly have at least lntlmated to
INC knowledge Of the alleged murders
with which he was charged. IN most all
cases no names Of the alleged murdered
men could be given, IND where it was done,
no such persons could be identified. The
terrible scene in court when he was CON
fronted with one Of the witnesses, and the
latter insisting that Wirz was the man who
killed certain Union prisoner, which IT,
ritatcd the prisoner So much that he al
most tainted will still be remembered
That Min Grey swurc falsely, and God
alone knows what the poor innocent pris-
oncr must have suffered ut that moment
That scene WIS depicted and Illustrated i'll
the Northern papers rs if WirZ had broken
down OH account Of his guilt, Seldom has
a mortal suffered more than that frlcnhlcon
and forsaken mali.
Fearing lest this communication will be
too long, / will merely speak Of the prlncl-
pal and most Intelligent Of those false wit
ncsses, who testified to individual murder
on the part OF Captain Wirz. Upon his
testimony the Judge Advocate il his final
argument laid particular stress on account
Of his intelligence. This witness prepared
also pictures Of the alleged cruclties Of
Wirz, which we've handed to the commits
sion, and arcnow on record, copies OF which
appeared ut the time in Northern llluStri-
ted papers. He sworo that his name was
Felix dc Ii Ba4pmc, and represented himself
as Frenchman and q grand-nepheW OF
Marquis de Lafayette. After having SO we'll
testified and shown so much zeal, he re-
ceivcd q Recommendation signed by the
Commission On the 18th DAY Of October,
before the taking Of the testimony was con-
cluded, he was appointed to q clerkship in
the Department OF the interior. This oc-
cured whilst one OF the witnesses for the
defense Duncan was arrested in open
Court, and placed in prison before he had
testified. After the execution OF Captain
Wirz some Of the Germans of Washington
recognized in de IL Baume deserter from
the It'll. New York (Stuben) Regiment,
whose name was not de Ia Baume, shut fe-
lix Oeser a native of SaXony. They went
to Secretary Harland, and he dismissed the
imposter and important witness in the
NirZ trial on the DIST Of November, eleven
DAYS after the execution. Nobody who Is
acquainted with the Conover testimony, in
consequence of which the President OF the
United States was falsely induced to place
q reward of 100000 upon the head OF an
innocent man, will be astonished at the
above disclosures of the character Of tcsti-
mony before Military Commissions. So
much for charge No. Ii.
If from twelve to fifteen witnesses could
l. 4r ey tc
MANY acts of murder Oh the part of Wirz,
there must certainly have been 10 lack of
such who were willing to swear to minor
offenses. Such was the unnatural state OF
the public mind against the prisoner ut
that time, that such men regarded them
selves and were regarded, as heroes, after
having testified III the manner wo have de-
scribed; whilst, on tho other hand, the wit
nesscs for the defense were intimidated,
particularly after one of them had been al
rested.
But who is responsible for the many lives
that were lost at Andersonville, and i'll the
Southern prisons? That question has not
fully been settled, but history will tell Oh
whose heads the guilt for those sacrificed
hccatombs Of human beings is to be placed.
1T was certainly not the fault of poor Capt.
Wilz, when, i'll consequence OF medicines
the North tho Union prisoners died for
want of the same. How often have We
read during the vur that ladies, going
South, had been arrested and placed i'll the
Old Capitol Prison by tho Union author1-
tics, because some quininG OF other mCdi-
cinos had been found concealed III their
petticoats Our navy prevented tho i'll
gress Of medical stores from the seaside,
and our troops repeatedly destroyed drug
stores, and even the supplies Of private
physicians in the South. Thus the scalci-
ty of medicines became general all over the
South. Surgeon J. c. Pilot writes, Sep
TENDER 6, 1864, from Andersonville, this
letter was produced by the Judge Advocate
in the Wirz trial.: eve have but little
more than the indigenous bark and roots
with which to treat the numerous forms of
disease to which our attention IS daily call
cd. For the treatment OF wounds, ulcers,
etc, We have literally nothing, except wa
ter. Our wards, some of them, are wild
with gangronc, and We are compelled to
fold our arms and look quietly upon its IA
wages, not even having stimulants to sup
port the system under its depressing infiu-
encc: the article being SO limited III supply
that it can only be issued for cases under
the knife.
That provisions III tho South were scarce
will astonish nobody, when it is remember
ell how the war was carried on. General
Sheridan boosted in his official report, that,
in the Shenandoah valley alone, he burnt
two thousand barns filled with wheat and
corn, and all the mills i'll the whole tract of
country; that he destroyed I'LL factories of
cloth, and killed, or drove Off every ami
NAL, even to the poultry, that could con-
tribute to human sustenance. And those
desolations were repeated in different parts
Of tho South, and that SO thoroughly that
last month, two years after the end of the
war, Congress had to appropriate million
of dollars, to save the people of those re-
gions from actual starvation. The destruc-
ton of railroads and other means of trans
portation, by which food could be supplied
by abundant districts to those without it,
increased the difficulties in giving sufficient
food to our prisoners.
The Confederate authorities, aware Of
their inability to sustain their prisoners,
informed the Northern agents of the great
mortality, and urgently requested that the
prisoners should be exchanged, even with
out regard to the surplus which the Con-
federates had Oh the exchange rolls from
former exchanges, that is, man for man.-
But our War Department did not consent