The National tribune., 1882-11-30
he would have obsysd any call Of duty without
wIRZ AT NOME.

his home to live. / replied that he could, ant
that evening l accompanied him when he re
turned from headquarters. L found that hi
family consisted of himself, wife and three
children. Susan and Cornelis who were re
spectivsly eighteen and sixteen years old, anC
were familisry known in the household a.
Puss" and "Tug," were the daughters o
Mrs Wirz by her former husband, Mr.. Wolf
Cora her daughter by Wirz, was only about
eight years old. The two former were well
educated girls, refined in their manners
and able TO converse intelligently upon almost
any subject. Cora, on the other hand, was
willfu!, impatient and spiteful in her disposi
tion, and indeed, did not seem to possess 8
single winning quality.
l was now occupied in taking care of old
Wirz's horse at night and doing all sorts o
little chores around the house during the day
In the middle of the day l was in the habit Of
taking Wirz's dinner over to headquarters in a
basket, and as mine was usually put up with
his we generally ate together After dinner
was often dispatched with orders to various
points, and it was late in the afternoon before
l reached tho house again. The house, by
time belonged to a man named Baas, gentle
man about sixty years of age, who belonged to
one Of the Georgia reserve regiments that had
been detailed to guard the prison. l have al
ways thought Wirz confscated the house to his
own use 1t was divided by an old-fashione ed
hall, and Wirz lived in the best portion of it,
leaving Mr.. Baas to occupy what he had no
use for.
Mrs. Wirz was always extremely bitter in
her denunciation of the Yankees, and it seemed
to give her positive pleasure to learn from her
husband that the prisoners we're dying OF so
rapidly. The men had to pass her door on the
way to the stockade and they usually raised q
cheer as they passed. Whenever l could get
the opportunity l used to take position at the
side of the house, where she could not see me,
and answer their salute by waving my cap at
which, of course, they would cheer the louder.
THE RAIDERS.
Meanwhile the lot of the prisoners within
the stockade was growing more and more I'M
endurable. They not only had to contend with
poverty and disease, but they were kept in n
state of constant terror by the depredations OF
the bounty-umpers, or Raiders,p as they were
generally called There is nothing more shock
ing in the history of Andersonville than the
Outrages which they committed. Organized
into bands numbering from ten to thirty men
each, and led by scoundrels of the most un-
scrupulous and desperate character, they in
auguratcd reign of terror that almost bafied
description. Each band took its name from its
leader, and the Collins Raiders, the Delaney
Raiders, the Mosby Raiders" the " Sarsfeld
Raiders and the Curtis Raiders soon be-
came bywords within the 5tockade.
In the early days of the prison they met
with poor success, but later arrivals gave them
every opportunity which they could desire to
plundcr At first their operations were con-
fined to waylaying Of prisoners at night, and
despoiling them of any article of value which
they might possess; but gradually they be
came emboldened by success, and it was
common thing to see them set upon prisoner
in broad daylight, and despite any resistance
which he or his comrades might make, strip
strip him of everything about his person. If
he did not take it quietly they thought
nothing of knocking him on the head, and it
was q common thing to find three or four
men lying dead at the gates with their skulls
crushed in or their throats cut. Indeed they
kept every prisoner who was suspected of
having any money or owning valuables of any
description under constant espOinage and at
the first favorable opportunity-that is, when
he had strayed away from his Comrades-they
were sure to attack him. As the raiders were
well supplied with such weapons as slung-shots
30
make efectual resistance. Some of them had
managed to smuggle bowie-knives into the
prison, and therefore had the rest of us at
great disadvantage
1t happened sometimes, of course, that their
victims would call for help, and a pitched bat
ile would then ensue, but the raiders were al
most invariably successful. As often as a dozen
times day the cry of Raider, RAIDER" would
be raised, and as often it was raised some poer
fellow was sure to fall victim to these insatia-
Bile rufians. With the proceeds of their depreda-
tons the raiders managed to live very well
indeed, as compared with the rest of the in
mates, and while hundreds were dying from
they actually grew sleek and fat.
With the blankets which they stole they con
,tructed comfortable tents and escaped in that
way the priyation which the rest had to
undergo.
THE REGULATORS.
Southern men have often claimed that one of
he great causes of the terrible mortality at
tndersonvilio was the climate, but the fact that
hese raiders kept perfectly well and hardy
would seem to show that it was the lack of food
clothing and shelter, rather than the oppres-
iveness of the weather that brought about such
sickness and death The raiders
inally became so audaCious that the men could
tand it no longer. 1t was evident that some |
hing had p be done to crush out this lawless-
less and as nothing could be expected from the |
the men resolved to put it down |
themselves. | have thought sometimes that |
he cOnlederates were rather pleased than other /
wise Mt this state of things, for had they chosen
o do so they could have suppressed the raiders |
Without the slightest difficulty. At the time |
f which | write there was little or no attempt /
t prison government. The highest rank in |
he stockado was that of sergeant, and it carried |
10 authority with it. However Sergeant LEROY !
!. Key, of company n, Sixteenth Illinois in
lntry, resolved to take the matter in hand, |
nd organize a movement to crush out the .
aiders. He was = printer from Burlington.