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Henry Wirz State Historical Marker
- Henry Wirz State Historical Marker
- Located on Ga. 271 in Andersonville, Ga.
(Text)
- CAPTAIN HENRY WIRZ
- 1823-1865
Captain Henry Wirz, under the immediate
command of Brigadier-General John H. Winder, C.S.A., absent on
sick leave, August 1864, commanded the inner prison at Camp Sumter,
April 12, 1864 to May 7, 1865. To the best of his ability he
tried to obtain food and medicine for Federal prisoners and permitted
some to go to Washington in a futile attempt to get prisoners
exchanged. He was tried for failure to provide food and medicines
for Federals imprisoned here -- though his guards ate the same
food -- and mortality was as high among Confederate guards as
among prisoners. Of him, Eliza Frances Andrews, Georgia writer,
said, "Had he been an angel from heaven, he could not have
changed the pitiful tale of privation and hunger unless he had
possessed the power to repeat the miracle of the loaves and fishes."
Refusing to implicate others he gave his life for the South,
November 10, 1865.
- 129-2 GEORGIA HISTORICAL
COMMISSION 195?
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