The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-26

Among the many criticisms by North
ern people and newspapers in con-
demnation of the erection of a monu-
ment to Captain Henry wirz. we Sc
lect the following from The New Bed
ford Standard. as being among the
most moderate:
The erection of monument to Henry
Wirz who was in command of the Con-
federate prison at Andersonville dur
ing the Civil War. has little the air
OF a piece of unnecessary defiance.
Wirz was not of the heroes OF the Con-
federacy. The only service he render
ed to the Inflated cause was that of a
TALLER. Allowing that the indisputable
on was not primarily his fault. but
that he was merely the executant of
policy determined by men higher up,
thers is nothing about his record that
In the least savors of the heroic. AL
lowing also that his personal brutal
ity was exaggerated. there seems not
the slightest occasion to doubt that
under his supervision the Andersonville
prison was a scene of revolving horror.
Horror is part of war. and 1t might
be pleaded In extenuation that the gl-
gantic mass OF human misery as
! Confederate surgeon described the con-
dition at Andersonville, was an inev-
table Accompaniment of the conflict,
Even so. Wirz can have no claim TO
accorded to more than one conspicuous
figure of the Confederate army by uni.
versal consent. In regret. rather than
In contempt the opinion must be ex.
pressed that the Georgia Division Of
the United Daughters OF the Confcd-
| eracy made a grievous error In seiect.
Ing for such honor a man who had
better be forgotten.
Now. TO begin with. we think per-
haps 1t would have been better not to
have erected the monument: not be-
cause Captain wirz does not deserve
it. but because there is no need of 1t.
under all the circumstances. wirz was
but while the latter was put to death
by Sne man the former was murdered
by a government. His execution was
an infamous act which will never be
forgotten, and the infamy of 1t cannot
be removed by false charges against
the victim.
For most that has been charged
| against him is a tissue of falsehood
ana misstatement. No one denies that
there was much hardship and suffering
at Andersonville. but the fault does
is abased because the Federal prisoners
did not have plenty OF food. clothing
ana medicine. but those who abuse him
forget, or do not care to remember,
that our own soldiers during the last
months Of the war. rarely had sufficient
food Of any kind. were often half cloth
ed and medical supplies were sadly
lacking The Federal prisoners were
not the only ones who suffered.
Why do not the traducers of wirz
lay the blame on General Grant. where
IT properly belongs, for much of the
suffering at Andersonville? The Con-
federate authorities knew that the
prisoners suffered and were anxious to
exchange them. but Grant. with UNI
heard-of brutality. refused to exchange.
He said a general exchange would add
to the Confederate armies thirty or
forty thousand soldiers ready for SER
vice, while the North would get in
return an equal number Of unit men
who would have to be sent home for
| treatment and rest, or be discharged
from service. Grant had been inform
ed of the conditions existing at An
jacksonville, yet with the unfeeling cru
city of military despot he preferred
to let Federal soldiers die in prison
rather than exchange Confederate pris-
oners for them. The Standard and 9TH
er critics would do welt to bark back
and study some of the historical facts
OF those days.
Another unjust and unfair state
ment in the article quoted is the i'm
plication. II not the direct charge that
which so much has ben said and writ
ten, was "a policy determined by men
higher up" and that. in fact. Wirz
was merely carrying out the orders and
plans of Mr. Davis and his officers.
This charge is as false as the other.
The Confederate government knew the
terrible conditions existing at Ander-
sonville. but was powerless to better
them, and the Union leaders refused to
exchange prisoners, by which means
the prison would have becn emptied
and much suffering averted.
AS matter of fact. much of the
abuse and harsh criticism that has
been heaped on Captain wirz had an
object. That object was to clear the
skirts of the Federal government of
the infamy OF putting to death an in
nocent man. The only possible meth
cd of justifying that act, and of re-
moving the odium attached to those re-
sponsible for 1t. was to show that the
man so unjustly put to death deserved
his fate. That has been the object of
much of the abuse of Wirz, but they
may as well abandon 1t. The facts of
history are against them, and that is
all there is to 1t.
a1ONTG0MERY,S ROADS