Andersonville: The Last Depot by William Marvel is the best account I've read of all that transpired at Andersonville. Henry Wirz wasn't as monstrous as the made for TV movie makes him out to be. He was a German who had the misfortune to enter the U.S. through the Port of New Orleans and to sign on with the Confederacy. His skills were s…
Andersonville: The Last Depot by William Marvel is the best account I've read of all that transpired at Andersonville. Henry Wirz wasn't as monstrous as the made for TV movie makes him out to be. He was a German who had the misfortune to enter the U.S. through the Port of New Orleans and to sign on with the Confederacy. His skills were such as could have been useful in the North where the overwhelming majority of Germans served. His trial and hanging on the spot that now houses the United States Supreme Court might have gone differently if German-American veterans had spoken up on his behalf for a little leniency in view of the circumstances under which he worked. The brother of my mother's great grandfather died at Andersonville in April 1864, two months after the camp opened. Abraham Steele was among the first five hundred of the more than 10,000 prisoners who died there. Sherman's march could have intervened and didn't. My relative was one of eight soldiers from the 80th Ohio captured at Tunnel Hill in the Battle of Chattanooga. Five of the eight survived Andersonville. Two were shipped north on the overloaded Sultana when it exploded on the Mississippi. One drowned. The other made it to shore. My Civil War ancestor's unit, the 27th Wisconsin, lost roughly one quarter of its manpower to disease, ten times its losses to combat and those were not unusual casualty figures.
Andersonville: The Last Depot by William Marvel is the best account I've read of all that transpired at Andersonville. Henry Wirz wasn't as monstrous as the made for TV movie makes him out to be. He was a German who had the misfortune to enter the U.S. through the Port of New Orleans and to sign on with the Confederacy. His skills were such as could have been useful in the North where the overwhelming majority of Germans served. His trial and hanging on the spot that now houses the United States Supreme Court might have gone differently if German-American veterans had spoken up on his behalf for a little leniency in view of the circumstances under which he worked. The brother of my mother's great grandfather died at Andersonville in April 1864, two months after the camp opened. Abraham Steele was among the first five hundred of the more than 10,000 prisoners who died there. Sherman's march could have intervened and didn't. My relative was one of eight soldiers from the 80th Ohio captured at Tunnel Hill in the Battle of Chattanooga. Five of the eight survived Andersonville. Two were shipped north on the overloaded Sultana when it exploded on the Mississippi. One drowned. The other made it to shore. My Civil War ancestor's unit, the 27th Wisconsin, lost roughly one quarter of its manpower to disease, ten times its losses to combat and those were not unusual casualty figures.