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THE VETERANS’ CORNER
LIKE A BENEDICTION FROM GEN.
S. D. LEE.
[Part of a letter from Gen. Steph
en D. Lee, written while the contro
versy was high in regard to the Wirz
monument. It was written when he
expected to engage in a prolonged
controversy with the Grand Army of
the Republic.]
The belief is universal throughout
the South that Captain Wirz was in
nocent of the charges on which he
was convicted by a military commis
sion: the charges, first, of conspir
acy with Jefferson Davis, Secretary
Sedon, Howell Cobb, R. B. Winder,
R. R. Stevenson and others, to kill
Union prisoners; and, secondly, of
murder in the violation of the laws
and customs of war. None of Wirz’s
alleged co-conspirators were ever
put on trial. The evidence upon
which he was convicted was, in part,
based upon mistake or downright
perjury, and the circumstances under
which he was tried made a fair trial
practically impossible in those terri
ble times.
All things considered, charity re
quires at least that either no tablet
should be erected charging the dead
man with guilt or that those who be
lieve him innocent should be accord
ed the privilege of expressing that
conviction in equally enduring form.
If evil is to be spoken of the dead,
his friends can hardly be expected
to remain silent. Bearing this in
mind, the plan has been proposed by
certain ladies of the South to erect
a counter-tablet bearing a proper in
scription to record an enduring be
lief of the Southern people in his in
nocence.
Henry Wirz had the misfortune to
be a foreigner, friendless, and ill
fitted to defend himself. His very
countryman, the Swiss Consul Gen
eral, publicly refused to accept mon
ey for defraying the expenses of the
defense. In time of peace Wirz was
tried by a military commission, and
all his lawyers except Mr. Schade
withdrew from the case, stating that
the court had predetermined the
case. At the time of his conviction
Wirz was broken in health from con
finement and from wounds received
in battle. He refused to accuse Jef
ferson Davis on account of the treat
ment of prisoners at Anderson
ville, although he (Wirz) was in
formed by persons whom he had rea
son to trust that such an accusation
would save his life. He met his
death at last like a man of courage.
Under the circumstances it seems
to us that the proposed action of
these ladies is not such as to call for
any interference by Southern sol
diers or as justly to offend the
soldiers of the Grand Army of
the Republic, who should per
haps treat the matter as the
A TALK TO THE FARMERS.
(Concluded from Page 2)
uneasy about certain things that
seem dangerous, and my purpose is
to put you on your guard.
There are some crafty, designing
men whose movements don’t look
good to me, a bit, and I advise you,
Foxy, to look out! Watcli, as well
as pray!
T. E. W.
Southern people have treated the
erection of a statue to John Brown
at Harper’s Ferry, Va., and on the
many tablets at Andersonville.
In this connection I may refer to
the resolution of the Grand Army
of the Republic adopted at the same
time requesting the Secretary of War
to issue statistics as accurate as pos
sible of the mortality of Union sol
diers in Southern prisons, and may
suggest that if he should do so he
should at the same time issue statis
tics even more readily attainable of
the mortality of Southern soldiers in
Northern prisons. It would, surely be
best for the veterans on both sides to
let such controversies sleep; but if
the facts on one side are to be given
out, justice requires that like facts
should also be given on the other.
Much of your letter is devoted to
a discussion of the sad conditions at
Andersonville. The real question,
however, is rather whether Captain
Wirz was personally able to alter
these conditions and was justly exe
cuted on account of them. The des
titution of the Confederate govern
ment at the time, unable to pro
vide food or medicine for the sol
diers in the field, must be taken into
account. When you speak of “the
sad story of unmatched suffering,”
it is fair to remind you, not in a
spirit of controversy but of impar
tiality, that the death rate at An
dersonville was 24.63 per cent. On
an official tablet at Andersonville it
is stated: “Prisoners at Anderson
ville, 52,345, Number who died, 12,-
883.” Yet in the prisons where Con
federate soldiers were confined the
death rate was higher. At Elmira
it was forty-four per cent. As
against your citation at Anderson
ville for August, I point you to El
mira, where, in February, with 8,996
prisoners, there were 426 deaths, and
in March, with 7,102 prisoners, there
were 491 deaths. In March alone
the death rate was more than five
per cent.; and combining the two
months, there was a death rate of
more than ten per cent. At Point
Lookout the death rate was 27.77
per cent.; at Rock Island, 28.33 per
cent., according to the best infor
mation I have been able to obtain
(Series 11, Volume 8, pages 991 to
1002, “Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies,” from the
“United States Government Report
of the War of the Rebellion.”)
The story of these prisons where
Confederates were confined has nev
er been “officially presented” like
the story of Andersonville. “Un
speakable cruelty and suffering”
there were in prison life, North and
South; but let us be slow to believe
that they were anywhere deliberate
ly and maliciously inflicted. I for
bear, therefore, to include in my re
ply statements similar to those in
your letter accessible to us both in
the published official records from
surgeons in the United States army
and from members of the sanitary
commission, showing a condition of
affairs in the Northern prisons which
Americans of today would read with
as much regret as the account of
conditions at Andersonville. It is
better to forget than to remember
these things. Feelings are sensitive
3effersottiaii
in the South as in the North, and ag
itation is likely to bring about the
very result which agitators least de
sire.
Now that the few survivors of the
great Civil War are nearing the end
of their days, we had better spend
the little time which remains in for
giving and being forgiven rather than
in creating new occasions for the
exercise of charity. Our memory
will be dear to our children, and
we should do nothing to cause them
regret. In my judgment, the real
enemy of our reunited country is the
man who tries to undermine the
faith of Northern or Southern youth
in the moral worth of their ances
tors. For old men to engage in an
unseemly strife over the questions
and with the passions of forty years
ago, which our country hoped had
passed away, would not be an edify
ing spectacle. For these reasons I
appeal to veteran soldiers every
where, North and South, Union and
Confederate, to avoid questions
which inspire sectional divisions and
angry disputes, remembering that if
each soldier, North or South, knew
to the utmost, the heart of the other
and understood to the utmost the cir
cumstances under which he acted,
there would be nothing left to for
give.
The future historian will deal
justly with our actions, but will
deal with them kindly as well,
remembering that these were the
deeds of brave men who loved
their country. Personally, I in
tend to have no part in recalling
matters which can do no good, but
may do much harm to the patriotism
of our reunited country. The veter
an organization over which I have
the honor to preside and whose serv
ant I am is entirely free to consider
such questions as it seems proper;
but personally I do not mean to in
troduce into its deliberations a mat
ter which might be used to destroy
much of the patriotic good which it
has slowly, but faithfully, accom
plished.—Confederate Veteran.
Extract from a speech delivered by
Alex. W. Stephens, of Atlanta, at Bu
ford, Ga., April 26, 1909:
“I take no pleasure in the result
of the war. I am not ready to pro
claim satisfaction over the South’s
defeat. With the South’s defeat she
was crippled and impoverished, her
political powers and influence shorn
and the rights of the States dimin
ished; the powers of the National
Government were increased and cen
tralized, and wealth and power con
centrated and combined, exerting an
influence upon all our institutions
well-nigh irresistible. From such ab
sorption and centralization of wealth
and power a despotism of some sort
may yet result.
“With the South’s defeat there per
ished and went down one of the
grandest civilizations that has exist
ed since the days of Pericles and Au
gustus—a civilization founded upon
the integrity of the Anglo-Saxon race
—a civilization possessing all the
ideals of a Sidney and all the vir
tues of a Bayard. Had the South tri
umphed this magnificent civilization
(Continued on Page 7)
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PAGE THREE