Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Wirz Annual Memorial Service Andersonville Georgia

Wirz Annual Memorial Service Andersonville Georgia
Compatriots,
 
The Americus Georgia SCV camp has scheduled the annual memorial service for Andersonville POW camp commander Henry Wirz for Sunday Nov.4, 2012 at the monument in Andersonville. The Lee county band "A Joyful Noise" will play Southern Gospel and period Confederate music as a tribute to Capt. Wirz from 2-3PM and the formal memorial service will be held at 3PM. The speaker will be Mrs. Cassy Gray who is the publisher of the monthly e-newsletter "The Stainless Banner". The Albany SCV camp is assisting the Americus camp with promotion of the event. You are invited and encouraged to attend. This event has been held annually since 1978.
 
The Albany Herald newspaper is publishing a pre-event article. You may read the quote below that I furnished for the article.
James W. King
Commander SCV Camp 141
Albany Georgia
To: James Gaston--Chairman Wirz Memorial Service Committee-Americus Georgia SCV Camp
James,
  
I met with journalist Jim West at the Albany Herald newspaper office this morning. I summarized the facts concerning Andersonville and Capt. Wirz and loaned him the book you sent to me to use for info. writing the article. The pre-event article is scheduled to be published in the Albany Herald prior to the memorial service in Andersonville on Sunday Nov.4, 2012.
  
He has your phone # and also the # for Capt. Wirz's great nephew Col. Wirz in Switzerland as contacts for a phone interview for information or quotes to use in the article. He may contact one or both of you.
 
I am sending the quote posted below to Jim and you may also e-mail him a quote.
Quote by James W. King-Commander of Camp 141 Sons of Confederate Albany Georgia.
"The trial of Andersonville POW Camp Commander Capt. Henry Wirz was a travesty of American justice and a complete farce in which the outcome of being found guilty was predetermined. This trial remains a dark chapter in the American justice system and especially highlights immoral and unethical proceedings and conduct by military courts of this time period. It places the names of the members of the military court in the "Infamous" category and their names are forever stained in the perspective of all Americans who truly understand and care about this gross miscarriage of justice and the willful execution of an innocent man. The key witnesses for the prosecution committed perjury and the star witness was a deserter from a New York regiment who had never been at Andersonville. He presented himself as a grandnephew of Napoleon under the assumed name of Felix de la Baume and blatantly lied vividly describing  atrocities committed by Wirz but the victims were always "name unknown". The vast majority of witnesses for the defense were barred from testifying. These witnesses included former Union prisoners who had been at Andersonville and included James Madison Page, a Michigan cavalryman, who later wrote a book completely exonerating Wirz and placing the blame for Andersonville hardships and death squarely upon the Lincoln Administration and especially Sec. of War Stanton and Gen. Grant. Capt. Wirz was a scapegoat for misinformed  Northerners who demanded revenge for what they wrongly believed were intentional acts of starvation and murder of Union POW's. The death rate of POW's at Andersonville was approximately 25% whereas the death rate of Confederate POW's at Elmira New York was about 44% and intentional. The Elmira commander bragged that he had killed more Confederates than any soldier on the front lines. Camp Douglas at Chicago was another "Death Camp" in which Confederate POW's were deliberately starved, frozen, tortured, and murdered as accurately portrayed by the recent History Channel presentation "80 Acres Of Hell".  The Union commander's of these camps were never tried for war crimes. It is my opinion that they should be tried posthumously and their dastardly deeds made known to Americans. Furthermore the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution SR97 stating the intent to deliberately cause the death of Confederate POW's by starvation, exposure to inclement weather, and disease. After the execution of Capt. Wirz the barbarian Yankees cut up his body parts and exhibited them at various places in the North and charged a viewing fee. It took Wirz's attorney four years to get enough body parts returned so that a Christian burial could be conducted for  this unfortunate Southern martyr who was offered his life if he would implicate Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the plot to assassinate Union President Abraham Lincoln. In a final act of honor Wirz refused to lie and implicate an innocent man. Had Wirz been a dishonorable man he could have saved his life and avoided the gallows".
James W. King
Commander SCV Camp 141
Lt. Col. Thomas M. Nelson
Albany Georgia