"The Demon of Andersonville" Executed for War Crimes (1865)
This Day in Esoteric Political History
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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It’s November 9th. This day in 1865, Confederate commander Henry Wirz is executed for war crimes — the only Confederate commanding officer to face such justice.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Andersonville prison camp that Wirz oversaw, and why his particular crimes were seen as out of bounds during the brutal aftermath of the Civil War.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiatopia. |
| 0:06.4 | My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 0:08.4 | This day, November 10th, 1865, Henry Wirtz, commander of the infamous Confederate prison at |
| 0:18.3 | Andersonville, Georgia, was hanged in Washington, D.C. for his crimes, war crimes. |
| 0:23.8 | And it turns out he's the only Confederate officer executed |
| 0:27.4 | as a war criminal during the entire run of the Civil War. |
| 0:31.1 | So let's talk about Wardses War crimes. |
| 0:34.0 | That's a tough one to say. |
| 0:35.0 | Worses War crimes. |
| 0:36.0 | Why they rose to this level of justice and why for such a bloody and brutal war he stands alone |
| 0:41.0 | in terms of receiving this particular form of retribution. |
| 0:45.9 | Here as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wesley. |
| 0:49.5 | Hello there. |
| 0:50.5 | Hello Jody. Hey there. |
| 0:51.5 | Kelly, and both of you, I mean, we'll get into the specifics, but I just have this kind of big |
| 0:57.4 | question and maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong here. |
| 0:59.9 | But when I first saw this story, the first thing that popped out to me was like, my goodness, only one person was ever hung for, or you know, killed or taken up for war crimes during the Civil War. |
| 1:10.3 | I mean, Kelly, what is that, is that as surprising to you as someone who really knows this era? |
| 1:14.0 | And what does that say about kind of justice during the civil war? |
| 1:17.0 | I mean, it's, when you think about reconstruction, it's not that surprising. |
| 1:21.0 | I mean, once Lincoln is assassinated |
| 1:23.4 | and Andrew Johnson takes office, you know, |
... |
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