Henry Wirz

Captain Henry Wirz (born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz; November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was a Confederate States Army officer, doctor, and convicted war criminal best known for commanding Andersonville Prison during the American Civil War. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Wirz immigrated to the United States in 1849 after being exiled from the canton of Zurich following a conviction of embezzlement and fraud. He worked in a Massachusetts factory for five years before moving south to Kentucky to begin a career in medicine; specializing in homeopathy, Wirz divided his time between the two states. In 1854, he moved to Louisiana with his newly-married wife and her two daughters, working as an overseer on a slave plantation.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Wirz enlisted in the Confederate army. In 1862, he was promoted to captain and placed in charge of managing Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, and two years later was made commandant of the newly-built Camp Sumter, where approximately 45,000 Union prisoners of war were kept during the camp's 14-month existence. Following the Confederate defeat in 1865, Wirz was arrested and tried by the U.S. government on charges of mistreating and murdering Union POWs in the camp. Found guilty of conspiracy and murder, he was executed by hanging in the Old Capitol Prison. Wirz's legacy has been contested since his death, with many Southerners viewing his post-war trial as being a form of victor's justice.