Evening star., 1908-01-25
WAS W|RZ. A DEM0N2
Union Veterans Execrate the
JaiIer of AndersonvilIe.
monument TO HIS MEMORY
Inscriptions Laud His Character and
Achievements.
CAUSE STORM OF PROTEST
Compare Statistics of Union and
Confederate Prisons to the Dis
advantage Of the Former.
MONUMENT TO HIS MEMORY
CAUSE STORM OF PROTEST
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
SAVANNAH, Ga. January 25.-The in
scription to be placed upon the monument
OF Mai Henry Wirz c. S. A.. which is to
be erected at Andersonvile. Ga. was Sc
lected this afternoon by committee rep
resenting the Georgia Division, Daughters
of the Confederacy. Mrs Sarah Lamar
Hull of Savannah. while head of the Geor-
ga Division conceived the idea of erect
ing monument to Maj Wirz, and it was
through her efforts that the fund for it
was raised
The monument is to bear inscriptions on
it's four sides. and it is believed that at
least one of these will cause much con-
troversy. These Inscriptions were written
the Georgia Division. L. y. c. On one
side will he the inscription on bronze
tablet: I'm Memory of Mai. Henry Wirz
C. S. A., Born in Zurich. Switzerland
tried by Illegal court-martial. under false
charges of excessive cruelty to Federal
prisoners. sentenced and judicially mur-
dered at Washington, d. c., November 10
1865.
Clearing His Memory.
THAT the United States goverNment not
Maj WirZ is chargeable with the suffer
ing at Andersonville. there is abundant
proof furnished by friend and foe Let
the fact that ale chose an ignominous
death rather than bear false witness
against President Davis speak for high
qualities of honor fortitude and self-sac-
rifice.
To rescue his memory from the stigma
attached to it by embttered prejudice and
ignorance, and to restore it to it's rightful
place among men, the Georgia Division of
the United Daughters of the Confedcracy
has raised this shaft
On the second tablet will be engraved:
Had the efforts of the Confederate gov
ernment for an exchange for prisoners
been successful there would have been no
prison at Andersonville. The following
words Of the commander of the Federal
army show why these efforts failed. 1T is
hard OH our men held in southern prisons
not to exchange them, but it is humanity
10 lIOSe le1I III the ranks 10 Hgllt our bat
TIES. At this particular time, to release
all rebel prisoners north would insure
Sherman's defeat and would compromise
our safety here.
(SignedD ULYSSES S. GRANT,
Prison Statistics.
The third tablet will contain "Confed-
crates in northern prisons, 10000. Union
soldiers in southern prisons, 10000. Ex-
cess of Union prisoners, $4,000. Deaths in
northern prisons. &c, $50. Deaths in south
ern prisons. 22.G56 (Stantons report, July
10. 1860. Twelve per cent of all Confed-
crate prisoners died in prison. Less than
8 per cent of Union soldiers died in south
ern prisons. Facts are eternal"
On the fourth tablet this will appear:
Letter of President Davis: I have often
felt with poignant regret that the south
ern public have never done justice to the
martyr Maj. Wirz. He was tempted by
the offer of pardon If he would incrim-
nate me and thus exonerate himself from
charges of which he was innocent and
with which l had no connection.
Respectfully and truly yours.
JEFFERSON DAVIS, Oct. 5, 1SS3'"
The monument will be unveiled on JEFF
ferson Davis birthday.