The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-11-30
; Writes to Oppose
". CuNrsey Writes TO Oppose
Erection Of Monument 10 the
Andersonville Prison Sup
erintendent.
erintendent.

ulcGu dJu SISaoulS SaIiidSSS uiauS
for its perpesuatien have not been
Forgotten The civil war is ovei.
Nearly a half century has sped away
into the eternity of the past since
that joyous hour at AppomatoX- An
other war has come &nd 0 In it
the 'sbiue'' aud the gray stood
Side 10y side in mutual defence of
their common country. The south
has forpi ven the Mouth; the north
has forgiven them. President Nc
Kinley, speaking at Atlanta,
Georgia. in 1898. on the subject,
1.-The Confederate GraveS,'' said
"Every soldiers grave made dur
ing III unfortunate civil war is Il
tribute to American valor: and
while, when these graves were made,
we differed widely about the future
of the government, those differences
were long ago settled by the arbi-
trament of arms, and the time has
ment and feeling. under the provi-
dence OF God, when in the spirit of
fraternity we should share With you
in the care of the graves of the Con-
federate soldiers.n
Righteous man! He expressed the
sentiments of a reunited nation.
In this connection I desire TO quote
the words of Lamson:
HTime, sweet r%estorer, a victory
gaineth
Ger hearts where the walls of wrath
were outpoured:
Resentment hath vanished and
everywhere reigneth
Toe friendship of peace where once
triumphed the sword.n
But despite the happy reunion
that has taken place, there were
some things done by the south, or,
to be more fair, by individuals in
authority in the south, during that
unhappy carnage, which never have
been forgiven, and never can be.
The shedding of blood will not atone
for them. Chief among these is the
awful memory of Andersonville
prison.
The main figure in this brutal,
inhuman, and constituencies affair
was Captain Henry Wirz, of the
Confederate army, superintendent
of tile old prison. His boast, 81 can
kill the Yanks of faster in here
than they can Or the firing line,"
only proved too sadly true. The
death rate, after a few months, ran
from go to 125 per day caused mostly
from starvation and filth. A COM
mission of Confederate medical officers
inspected the prison in 1864 and re-
ported che abnormal death rate to be
caused by:
L. The large number of prisoners
crowded together.
Q. The entire absence Of all vege-
tables Is diet.
3. The want CT barracks to shell
ter the prisoners from sun and rain.
4. The inadequate supply of good
water.
8. Badly cooked food.
6. Filthy connitlon OF the prison.
els and prison generally.
I. The morbic emanations from
tie branch, or %ravine, passing
through the prison, the conditions
of which cannot be better explained
than by naming it a morass OF hu-
man excrement and mud.
Who was to llame for this condi-
tlon Of Affairs which, when disclosed,
shocked the civilized world? Henry
Wirz, the superintendent, and none
other. He is the man who, curing
his morning inspection, when a
union prisoner salute1 him politely
and asked him IL he had heard any
thing in regard to the possibility OF
their being exchanged, pulled out
his revolver and shot the fellow dead
Tor being $50 rude as to speak to a
Confederate officers" and. while the
q%ntvering form Of the innocent man
lay writhinv In death before hia,
he haughtily informed the otke1
prisoners to take warming. He is
the man who starved the union prison
ers until they finally killed aud ate
his dog. The prisoner who struck
the lucky blow and killed the snappy
u while is masters back was
turned, at the risk OF having to give
his own life as a ransom fol- the act,
lives near Plankinton, S. d. l have
seen and talked with him. Wirz is
the man who, when providence could
no longer tolerate the s%upplications
Of the living, the groans Of the dy-
ing. and the sight Of the half-buried
dead, and caused fresh water spring
to burst forth from the hard clay in
the center Of the pen, brought in a
piledriver and drove piline into the