Hanging of Henry Wirz: 'A lovelier day never dawned'

In an englargement of an Alexander Gardner image, a noose is placed around  
the neck of Henry Wirz, who appears stunned by his fate. 
(Library of Congress Civil War collection)

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"A lovelier day never dawned on the capital of the United States," a correspondent for the Hartford Courant wrote of the fall day that Captain Henry Wirz was hanged on the grounds of the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. "...Long before the appointed hour, an eager crowd of soldiers and civilians gathered on the prison, house-tops and trees adjoining, all anxious to get a sight of the condemned man." The crowd also included famed Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner, who recorded at least five glass plate images that, upon closer inspection, reveal remarkable detail of the gruesome hanging of the former commander of Andersonville prison.

Four days earlier, on Nov. 6, 1865, Wirz had been found guilty after a lengthy trial of "wanton cruelty" and murder of Union soldiers at the notorious POW camp in Georgia. Among the 13,000 men who died at Andersonville were 290 soldiers from Connecticut, including nearly 100 from the 16th Connecticut, who were captured at Plymouth, N.C., on  April 20, 1864. Survivors Austin Fuller and Wallace Woodford of the 16th Connecticut were in such wretched condition that the privates died in their hometowns of Farmington and Avon shortly after they were released. Whether Wirz was indeed guilty of the crimes he was charged with remains controversial even today, but there's no doubt that the Swiss-born soldier was viewed with particular enmity in the North in 1865. "Every paper he looked at (during his trial) cried for his execution," the Courant correspondent wrote.

The scene at Old Capitol Prison shortly before Henry Wirz was hanged on 
Nov. 10, 1865. This is one of at least five images of the hanging taken
 by Alexander Gardner. (Library of Congress Civil War collection)

Northern newspapers such as the Hartford Courant covered
Wirz's trial and hanging extensively.

As Wirz stood on the scaffold that morning, he heard the cry "hang the scoundrel" from soldiers who climbed the trees outside the prison grounds. The 42-year-old former Rebel officer appeared to listen only occasionally, the Courant reported, as Major George.B. Russell read the death warrant. A priest placed a crucifix to Wirz's lips, perhaps temporarily relieving "the agony which must have wracked the wretch's very soul."

"What his thoughts were during these brief moments there was nothing in his expression to betray," the Courant reported, "but the spectator into whose imagination the story of this man's brutalities had been indelibly burned, as with a branding iron, could vividly recall the crowded prison pen, with its scurvy-eaten, starving, vermin-infested victims; the yelling of the dogs through the woods and swamps, where poor, escaping fugitives had sough refuge from the unspeakable horrors of their confinement."

Exterior of Old Capitol Prison. (Library of Congress Civil War Collection)

Shortly before the hangman's noose was placed around his neck, Wirz was asked by Russell if he had any final words. "I have nothing to say to the public," he reportedly said. "and to you, major, I will say I die innocent; I have but once to die, and my hope is in the future." Wirz had a look of "insolent indifference" and a smile on his face as a black hood was placed over his head, the Connecticut newspaper's correspondent noted.

At 10:32 a.m., the trap door was sprung, sending Wirz to his death.

"There were a few spasmodic convulsions of the chest, a slight movement of the extremities," the New York Times reported, "and all was over."  Left hanging for 14 minutes, Wirz was cut down and taken to a hospital for an autopsy. Gardner also shot an image of the autopsy, but it was ordered to be kept from the public by the War Department.

"What a day of judgment is coming when all these devils in human form shall be brought up to the final answer for their crimes," the Courant concluded in its coverage of Wirz's hanging. "Every maimed and wounded soldier will be there, every weeping widow, helpless orphan, and every sorrowing sister will be a witness, and every starved and poisoned prisoner will raise his bony hand in judgment."

(For a terrific analysis of the Wirz hanging photos, check out this post on Andy Hall's excellent Dead Confederates blog.)

Major George B. Russell reads the death warrant to Wirz, who was seated on a stool to Russell's
  left and not seen in this enlargement of an  Alexander Gardner image.

Wirz's body dangles in the noose near the stool where he was seated minutes earlier.

An enlargement of Alexander Gardner's image of Wirz's hanging reveals bystanders in trees  
outside the prison grounds and the Capitol building in the background. 

In this enlargement of a Gardner image, the soldier at left appears bored shortly 
after Wirz's hanging. (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.)