To: letters@macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2013/11/13/2771607/this-is-viewpoints-for-wednesday.html
Editors:
Jim Sandefur of Lizella always presents as the stalwart defender of "official history" who's quick to dismiss any departure from it as "revisionist nonsense." Writes Sandefur, "The only thing unfair about Wirz' hanging is that a lot of other Confederates weren't hanged with him." Sandefur's preaching of the Sherman/Sheridan genocide 'gospel' is more ignorant than persuasive. Sheridan denied saying that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," but Sherman expressed in writing more or less the same attitude about southern "rebels" … as does Sandefur.
Sandefur can overlook the log in his own eye and justify the atrocities of Sherman and Sheridan, all the while listing the alleged crimes of Wirz, crimes detailed by known perjurers and while suppressing almost all defense exculpatory evidence and testimony--- including the fact that Wirz was on sick leave when many of the alleged 'by his own hand' crimes took place. The Wirz 'trial' was a sham from start to finish, a shameful witch hunt for vengeance. The U.S. government's own official records document this and no informed reader denies it.
The prosecution's "star witness," one Felix Oeser, was a deserter from the 7th New York. Oeser was an accomplished orator and a total fraud. He testified under the name Felix De La Baume… and was rewarded with a cushy government job… until his true identity and perjury were discovered.
The barbaric mutilation of Wirz' body by Sandefur's noble yanks is beyond dispute. Wirz' right arm is on proud display in a Maryland U.S. Army museum at this moment. President Grant ordered the whole body returned to the family for burial, but it hasn't happened yet. Somehow, I imagine that Sandefur approves of such ghoulish displays as a warning to all the hard headed rebels who just don't buy his official history lessons.
Steve Scroggins
Macon, GA
Stevescroggins2003@yahoo.com
http://www.army.mil/article/95430/ <<< U.S. Army museum where the Wirz arm is on display
http://atlantagonewiththewind.blogspot.com/2013/08/henry-wirz-body-parts-on-display.html
