The National tribune., 1908-08-27

of my blood boil to think that a Unior
soldier would acknowledge authorship
of such book. The author says il
part in his preface: During the pas
40 years have read a number o.
stories of Andersonville prison and o.
Maj Wirz, who had subordinate charge
of the prisoners there. Nearly all o.
these histories were written by com.
rades who We're confined there as prs
oners of war. I do not propose in thi:
work to question the accuracy of theil
portrayal of the. great suffering. priva-
tions and of the mortality, but it is
painful to me that my comrades who
suffered there and who have written
| their experiences are to man wild in
their charges that Maj. Wirz was re-
sponsible and that he was the sole
cause of the suffering and mortality en-
dured at Andersonville." Then he raves
on for spell and says, In this work
l shall take the stand not only that
| WirZ was unjustly held responsible for
the hardship and mortality of Ander-
sonville. but that the Federal authori-
| ties must share the blame for these
| things with the Confederates, since they
knew the inability of the Confederates
TO meet the reasonable wants OF their
prisoners of war. The reader may eX-
pect only the plain, unYarnished tale of
soldier. The writer, with malice to-
ward none and charity for ALL denies
conscious prejudice and makes the sin
cere endeavor to put himself in the
other fellows place, and such a state
ment of the matter in( hand as will
satisfy lovers of truth and Justice"
Think of it that man should have
served in our army as an officer and
yet write such honest, unvarnished"
stuff. In face of all the proofs this
one man put up his unconvincing and
far from true testimony as to Wirz's
s To-, l.
sleep in unknown graves could only tes
tify, | think this rebel at heart would
hear few things for his own good. and
then probably he wouldn't defend a
murderer who taunted and tortured
some of the best men who wore the
Union blue. I am the daughter of a
Union soldier and an army nurse. both
of whom are living. 1 am the wife of a
soldier who also wore the blue. l
haven't drop of rebel blood in my
veins, and / cannot see how a man can
wear the Union blue and yet by his
writings and his talk defend the very
cause he fought to kill and praise a
vile, brutal enemy of his country.
Among other things this Union" man
says: I'VE profess unstinted friendship
toward the South. and we are anxious
that amity and good feeling between
all sections prevail. and that all the
bitterness of war feeling shall be OBJ
and sincere by asking Congress to en-
act a law granting a pension to our
brave mistaken brother. the MANNED
and forgiven Confederate brother"
Think of it, shall our beloved land
pay man for trying to destroy the
Union and trample :'Old Glory" into
the dust? 1 would rather that all
the glorious history of our land should
pass into utter oblivion than that such
a thing should be done. The South |
was wrong and they admit it-all but
a few like the Union" man who wants
Wirz; and while l personally know
many good men who fought against our
Union, and know them to be good, |
loyal men. yet I'd do all in my power |
to prevent any one of them being PEN |
stoned by our Government for fighting |
against our Flag. 1 believe in justice, |
and / think Wirz got what he deserved, |
and / know ~reat many men who en- |
dured the tortures of Andersonyille |
who believe as / do. In fact. l. never |
saw a man who knew him who gave for |
WirZ a decent word. There are a kind |
of people who spend their lives defend |
ing the outcasts of the earth. most of
of hysterical sympathizers ready to
laud their brutal deed. When the
of the Confederacy build
their monument to Wirz they will only |
add fuel to the flame of indignation |
that all loyal Americans must feel If
every rebel flag had been burned and
truthful histories were placed in the
schools of our Southland we could hope
for future day of peace; but the day
Is not at hand. What we need Is more
loyalty to our Flag and less .smoothin-
things over" They have been handled /
with gloves too long. Let the South
come back as the prodigal. but don't
kill the calf before the DrOdigal ar
V. G. Gray. Gibson City. |
ILL.,; wife of private Co. Il, 33d ILL.,;
daughter of private Co. c, S3d Ill,
Proctor, Ill