Washington sentinel., 1900-08-11

and are still willing TO suffer, if by SO
doing we can benefit the country; but
we must most respectfully beg to say,
that we are not willing to suffer to fur
ther the ends OF any party or clique to
the detriment of our honor, our families,
and our country, and we beg that this
affair be explained TO us, that we may
continue to hold the Government in that
respect which is necessary to make
good citizen and soldier.
Bradley,
Chairman OF Committee in behalf of
Prisoners.
No answer was ever given to that
request
The American soldier evidently was
not then high in the estimation OF the
Republican leaders
Jefferson Davis ordered Gen, Lee to
make an attempt to ameliOrate the
condition of the prisoners North and
South, for Of the Southern prisoners in
Northern prisons several thousand more
died than OF the Northern prisoners in
Confederate prisons. though In q land
OF plenty instead of one OF poverty and
starvation. No answer was given Gen.
Lee and no permission granted him for
consultation.
The same was the case with Vice
President Stevens who IN vain attempted
to see President Lincoln in this matter
He was not even permitted to cross the
Potomac.
In July, 1864, the misery OF Northern
prisoners increasing. the Southerners
offered to send back without an
equivalent. $1,000 of the sick Northern
prisoners, and II the number could not
be made up OF sick men, A'eH men would
be supplied,
The Confederates begged for trans
ports to be sent to Savannah. their
nearest port, but it was only in Decem-
Der that ships were sent, and during
that time three-iourths OF all the pris-
oners who passed away at tAndersOnville
died-22, 600 prisoners in Confederate
prisons against $4,000 prisoners who
uied in United States hands. This is
Grants own statement, This was a
fearful confession for the Republicans
to make to the people--that they had
been responsible for the deaths OF so
many men--but their leaders knew a
way to get out OF the difficulty. They
charged their oppOnents-and that just
after the surrender OF RIchmond-with
having caused all the misery. They
arrested a Confederate paroled and
wounded prisoner, put him in the old
Capitol prison. gave him a mock trial
before Military Co nm ission the pres
ident OF which had been one OF the cruel
hsngmen OF Mrs. Surratt, refusing sub
poenas for his mo u prominent witnesses,
such as Lee, Col. Ould and several
others. who we're not allowed to testify.
The findings the Military Commission
read as follows:
IN this, that he, the said Henry
Wirz, did combine, confederate and
couspire with them, the said Jefferson
Davis. James II Seddon, Howell Cobb,
John w. Winder, Richard B. Winder,
Isaiah H, White, w. S. Winder, w.
Shelby Reed, r. r. Stevenson, y. P.
Moore, Kerr, late hospital steward at
Andersonville; James Duncan, Wesley
M. Turner, BENJAMIN Harris, and Others
whose names are unknown, citizens Of
the United States Aforesaid, and who
were then engaged in armed rebellion
against the United States, maliciously,
traitorously, and in violation oil the laws
of war, to impair and iDjure the health
and to destroy the lives oflarge numbers
OF Federal prisoners, to WIT, the number
OF about forty five thousand, soldiers in
the military service Of the United States
Of America, he d as prisoners of war at
Andersonville, in the State ol Georgia,
Sentence.
The proceedings, findings and sen
tence of the court in the within case are
approved, and IL is ordered that the
sentence be carried into execution by
the officer commanding the Department
OF Washington, on Friday the roth day
Of November, 1866, between the hours
Of s o'clock a. m. and II O'Clock noon
ANDREW JOHNSON. President.
On the 10th OF November. 1865. Capt.
Wrz was hung at the Old Capitol prison
in Washington. None Of the others men
toned we're ever alter moIested or tried
for tee crime with which Wirz had been
indicted with them-proof that Wirz
was executed wrongiully. as he could
not alone De guilty OF conspiracy, and II
there was any guilt at all, others should
have shared his fate.
On the evening before his execution,
the Republican military conspirators
tried to purchase Wirz by an offer to
save his life II he would implicate jeff
Davis, who had been indicted with him,