The Trial of Henry Wirz

The Trial of Henry Wirz

On August 23, 1865, a Military Commission of the War Department, on the orders of the President, filed two charges against Wirz, the first alleging that Wirz had conspired with Jefferson Davis, John H. Winder, and various other high ranking Confederate officials to "impair the health and destroy the lives" of Union prisoners of war. The second charge had thirteen specifications, alleging that Wirz had murdered thirteen Union prisoners of war at Andersonville by shooting, stomping, subjecting such prisoners to the mauling of bloodhounds, and various other mistreatment.

Not a single one of the specifications could name even one of the alleged victims, nor describe their unit, rank or any other details about them, in spite of the thousands of Union prisoners who would have witnessed the alleged atrocities.

Henry Wirz was defended by a competent Washington, D.C. attorney,  Louis Schade,  who promptly filed for dismissal of the charges on the grounds that a military tribunal had no jurisdiction to try a civilian, that the charges were vague as to time, place and manner of offense, and that as a Confederate officer Wirz was entitled to the terms agreed to between Generals Sherman and Johnston upon the latter's surrender. All of these pleas, though valid, were overruled, and Wirz then pleaded not guilty to all charges. Wirz's trial began on August 25, 1865. Col. N.P. Chipman, USA  Judge Advocate, headed the prosecution.  Louis Schade, a Washington attorney and Swiss countryman of Wirz was counsel for the defense.  Schade acted in this capacity without pay and as a volunteer since the penniless Wirz had no funds with which to pay him.

The government presented 160 witnesses, nearly all of whom had been prisoners at Andersonville; but their key witness was one Felix de la Baume. This witness was good-looking, had a pleasant voice, was a good speaker, and captured the court. "De la Baume" (for that was not in fact his real name) testified to the manifest cruelty of Major Wirz, as de La Baume witnessed most of the killing attributed to the defendant, or so he claimed. Page wrote of this witness: "His omnipresence while at Andersonville seemed something bordering on the supernatural. Nothing escaped him. Witness de la Baume held the surging crowd like an inspiration."

Before the trial was even ended, "de la Baume" was rewarded for his testimony on the  government's behalf and given a position in the Department of the Interior, a blatant payoff for services rendered. Soon after Wirz's execution, some Union soldiers of German ancestry identified Monsieur "de la Baume" as a deserter from the 7th New York Infantry whose real name was Felix Oeser.  Oeser, who had never set foot in Andersonville Prison, was then fired from his job in the Department of the Interior and quickly disappeared from the public's eye.  

Of the 160 witnesses called by the prosecution, only ten or twelve testified to any alleged cruelty on the part of the defendant. Approximately 145 of the government's own witnesses, almost all of whom were former inmates of Andersonville, testified that they had no knowledge of Wirz ever murdering or killing a prisoner with his own hands or otherwise.

James Madison Page (a former lieutenant with the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, former Andersonville inmate and the author of "The True Story of Andersonville Prison" (1908)) was subpoenaed, but after being interviewed, was not called as a witness.  Page stated that any act of cruelty that was described in the specifications could not possibly have taken place without his knowledge, and he heard nothing of the alleged murders until Wirz's trial. The Andersonville prisoners had little to do all day but talk, and any events within the prison that affected prisoners would be the subject of intense, widespread discussion.  Acts such as those alleged against Wirz could not have  happened  without  the widespread knowledge within the inmate population.  But Page never heard of the alleged incidents, for one clear reason: they never happened.  It should be further noted that of the eleven Union prisoners whom Wirz was convicted of murdering, none were ever identified as to name or any other particulars.  Fictitious men do not need names.

The defense was forced to operate under a different set of rules than the prosecution.  Where the prosecution could call anyone of its choosing as a witness, potential witnesses for the defense had to be approved in advance by the prosecution!  Witnesses who could have helped Wirz's cause, like the former Confederate Commissioner of Exchange Robert Ould who could have testified about prisoner exchange and the offers of unreciprocated  prisoner  releases, were not allowed to testify.  The defense, like the prosecution, was a farce, but not due to any lack of effort on the part of Wirz's selfless and dedicated attorney.  The trial was a show trial, whose decision had already been rendered before one word of testimony was heard in court.

The  trial  ended  on November 4, 1865. Henry Wirz was found guilty on the first charge of conspiring with other Confederate officials to murder the prisoners even though not a shred of evidence or testimony of any kind had been presented in support of this theory during the trial.  On the second charge, Wirz was found guilty of eleven of the thirteen alleged murders of Union prisoners.  The sentence was that he be "hanged by the neck til he be dead."