Sold – Johnson Orders the Daily Transcripts

During the Civil War, it was common knowledge that conditions in the prisoner of war camps were abysmal and that many thousands had died of disease, neglect and starvation. However, it was only when the war ended that the full extent of the disaster became apparent.

The public learned that a staggering 56,000 men had died in the camps, and saw with their own eyes the many thousands of pale, starved, skeletal-looking p.o.w.’s who struggled their way home in mid-1865. This was an era that saw itself as civilized, and people were shocked by the cruelty and unnecessary death and demanded that those responsible for these outrages be punished.

The most notorious of Civil War prisons was the Confederate military camp at Andersonville, Ga. Awful photographs of this prison and its sick, emaciated inmates gained wide circulation at war’s end and the statistics showed that more men had suffered and died there (13,000) than at any other military prison. Henry Wirz was the commandant at Andersonville and a natural lightning rod for calls that the evil-doers be punished.

The Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army accused Wirz of conspiracy to destroy prisoners’ lives in violation of the laws and customs of war. Named as co-conspirators were Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon and others. The second charge against Wirz was murder in violation of the laws and customs of war. This charge contained allegations of specific deaths caused by Wirz or guards acting on his orders. The prosecution’s trial strategy was to create a "parade of horrors" to illuminate the terrible conditions at Andersonville, with all of the disease, malnutrition, filth, overcrowding, misery, and death being described in detail. The broader point was to show knowledge on the part of Confederate officials and therefore their complicity in the crimes.

The Wirz trial began on August 23, 1865, and an important policy decision had to be made. As a rule military proceedings like the Wirz trial are not open to the public; this practice increases prosecution control and prevents any undesired information from being disclosed. However, since a key aspect of the trial was to illustrate Confederate callousness and culpability, secrecy would be counterproductive. Open trial or closed trial? Here is the letter in which President Johnson determines the policy and makes history.

Letter Signed as President on Executive Mansion letterhead, 2 pages, Washington, August 26, 1865, to T.J. Eckert, ordering that the daily proceedings of the Wirz trial be made available to the public. This would guarantee their wide dissemination in the newspapers. Eckert was the chief of military telegraphy during the Civil War; in 1864 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War under Stanton, and received this letter as Acting Secretary of War in Stanton’s temporary absence. "The Judge Advocate General informs me that he considered the publication in full of the proceedings of the Wirz Court as important. Should you upon consultation with him deem it necessary to a full understanding of the case by the Public, you are authorized to arrange for the publication of the daily proceedings of the Court in extenso in such manner as is best adapted to secure the end desired."

The proceedings were thus released in a trial that continued until October 23, 1865, at which time Wirz was convicted of virtually all of the charges and sentenced to hang. Some feel the case was more of a kangaroo court than a trial: a scapegoat had to be found, and Wirz fit the bill. Others think he was at best criminally neglectful and at worst outright guilty. In any case, he was hanged on November 10, 1865, with four companies of U.S. soldiers chanting “Remember Andersonville.” He was the first person tried and executed for war crimes in an American proceeding and the only one during the Civil War.