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Image / Hanging of Capt. Henry Wirz (C.S.A.) ; adjusting the rope

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Title
Hanging of Capt. Henry Wirz (C.S.A.) ; adjusting the rope
Alternative Title
Henry Wirz execution. Adjusting the rope
Creator
Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882, photographer
Date Created and/or Issued
1865-11-10
Contributing Institution
Huntington Library
Collection
United States Civil War
Rights Information
For information on using Huntington Library materials, please see Reproductions of Huntington Library Holdings: https://www.huntington.org/library-rights-permissions
Description
A view of the scaffold inside the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., with the condemned, Confederate Captain Henry Wirz, his lawyer Louis Schade, and about eight other men on the platform. One of the men is is adjusting the noose around Wirz's neck, and a large number of soldiers are standing on all sides of the gallows. There are people watching from the trees outside the walls of the prison.
Title written in ms. below the image and on the verso. A further ms. note on the verso reads "Wirz, Capt. Henry ; Confederate prison keeper hanged ; 1865." Wirz was in command of Andersonville Prison, officially known as Fort Sumter, in Andersonville, Georgia, from April 1864 to the end of the Civil War. Wirz became one of the few Confederates to be put on trial after the war; he was found guilty of murder and conspiracy, and was hanged on November 10, 1865.
Type
image
Extent
1 print: albumen; 26 cm x 36 cm (10 in. x 14 in.)
Identifier
photOV 10420
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16003coll6/id/4998
Subject
Gallows
Executions and executioners
Wirz, Henry, 1823?-1865
Schade, Louis, 1829-1903
Albumen prints. (aat)
Place
Washington (D.C.)
Source
Oversized Items
United States Civil War, Huntington Digital Library

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