'The best of human nature': This Georgia woman cared for a Yankee POW at Andersonville while his friends tended to her brother at a Northern prison. How did this come to be? There is no single answer (and there's a Henry Wirz angle)

Living history at Andersonville (NPS) and Peter Kiene (Courtesy Mark Warren Collection)

Mary Rawson stepped into the witness stand at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., near the completion of Capt. Henry Wirz’s trial on charges of murder and conspiracy.

By this point, a parade of witnesses had pilloried the stockade commander at Andersonville prison. They said he personally killed men, was cruel and withheld food. A book published after the sensational case pulled no punches, labeling him “The Demon of Andersonville.”

But the Confederate officer had his advocates: They argued Wirz did the best he could with meager supplies, showed acts of mercy and had no control over certain aspects of the notorious operation in central Georgia.

Rawson’s testimony in early October 1865 was meant to buttress the defense claim their client was a human – not a monster.

The woman from Plains – hometown of Jimmy Carter -- told the military tribunal that beginning in early 1865 she would take the train 30 miles to the prison to bring food to  -- of all things -- a Union prisoner, Peter Kiene of the 16^th Iowa Volunteer Regiment. With Mary’s help, Peter was able to get letters to his family

How did that come to be? Rawson encountered Wirz at the camp depot and asked whether she could care for a sick prisoner, according to her testimony. Another source provides a description of what could have led her there.

A New YorkTimes article cited Rawson’s testimony that “Capt. Wirz had never refused or denied her any privileges that she had asked of him; he was always agreeable and willing that she should bring anything to the prison; she never heard of Capt. Wirz treating any lady in an unkind way.”

Andersonville National Historic Site recently made a Facebook post about Rawson and Kiene timed to Women’s History Month in March and the 160^th anniversary of the prison’s existence and Rawson’s visits.

There was a fascinating twist here: Mary’s brother, Pvt. Joseph Rawson of the 51^st Georgia Infantry, was a Federal prisoner in Rock Island, Ill., after having been captured in Deep Bottom, Va. “Thoughts of Joseph suffering in an enemy prison led Mary to want to comfort a prisoner at nearby Andersonville,” says the social media post.

Park officials initially told the Picket they do not know why Mary Rawson chose to care for Kiene, who was just a teenager when he enlisted. He was reportedly captured in summer 1864 during fighting around Atlanta. 

After searching a bit more online and coming across a February 1882 edition of the Americus (Sumter County, Ga.) Reporter newspaper, I made an interesting discovery.

A brief entry indicates a Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kiene had traveled from Iowa, “that region of frost and snow,” solely to visit Mary Rawson, who lived in Magnolia Springs outside Americus.

"It seems that Mr. Kiene was a prisoner at Andersonville during the war, and that Mrs. Rawson had a brother who was imprisoned in Rock Island. This brother (Joseph), finding out from friends of Kiene's that Kiene was in Andersonville, wrote to his sister to provide for him particularly, as by so doing Kiene's friends would make his lot easier.

"Mrs. Rawson did so, and made Mr. Kiene as comfortable as possible, his friends reciprocating the favor by take care of her brother until the war was over and both released," it says. Kiene and his family lived in Dubuque, Iowa, about 50 miles from the prison camp.

There's yet another version from a 1964 article entitled "How a 15-Year-Old Dubuquer Survived Andersonville," in the Telegraph Herald newspaper.

It states the boy's father, Peter Kiene Jr., intervened to help Joseph Rawson after Mary Rawson learned Kiene was from Dubuque and then reached out. He arranged for that assistance, says the article.

From Mary Rawson's testimony it is difficult to tell whether she had learned of Kiene's name beforehand.

Regardless of the circumstances, the episode is remarkable.

“For a prisoner of war, survival depends on emotional resilience as well as physical sustenance,” said the site’s Facebook post. “Mary Rawson’s kindness may have been the difference between hope and despair, helping both soldiers survive the hardships of imprisonment and return home to their families.”

Freed Union soldier returned to Georgia years later

Ranger Sherri Barnhard said Wirz allowed Mary Rawson – who came about every two weeks -- and Kiene to dine outside the prison walls. The commandant did not allow women inside the walls and was known at times to protect the vulnerable. Wirz testified he allowed captive drummer boys to be kept outside the stockade.

Joseph's compiled military service records indicate he was captured in December 1863, near Knoxville, Tenn., said Barnhard.

“The last record I have is the record showing ‘name appears as signature to an Oath of Allegiance to the United States, subscribed and sworn to at Rock Island barracks, ILL., June 20, 1865,” she said.

Photographer unknown, "[Peter Kiene seated at his desk]," Loras College Digital Collections, accessed March 18, 2025, https://digitalcollections.loras.edu/items/show/5235

By that time, both soldiers were beginning a new life after captivity.

“Kiene returned to his family in Dubuque and joined with his father in the iron business,” says an article about Iowa Civil War volunteers published in Military Images magazine. “Kiene went on to become successful in real estate and insurance, and active as a philanthropist and in the Grand Army of the Republic. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 1912 and succumbed to its effects at age 66. His wife, Caroline, and two children survived him.”

(See Iowa Civil War Images on Facebook here)

Sadly, the park has not yet learned anything much about the lives of Joseph and Mary Rawson after the war, but Barnhard said she is continuing research.

An 1870 U.S. Census entry lists a Mary Rawson, the mother, as keeping house. The younger Mary is described as being 40 years old, while Joseph, at age 35 or 36, was a farmer.

Graves of Joseph and Mary Johnson (Courtesy Brenda Darbyshire, Findagrave)

Joseph and Mary are buried near their parents at Lebanon Cemetery just outside Plains. Their headstones do not indicate when they were born and died. Barnhard said Mary is not believed to have married.

Interestingly, the cemetery is the resting place for James and Lillian Carter, Jimmy Carter’s parents.

Teri A. Surber, park guide at Andersonville, told the Picket why she believes the story of the Rawsons and Kienes resonates with people

“It shows the best of human nature shining against the darkness of one of the worst places in history, and that even though both families were on opposing sides, they could set that aside and help one another. Mary looked at Peter Kiene and saw her brother. She saw that they were not very different from one another after all. The story is full of hope. Hope that people will do what is right. Both families had to trust that a stranger, far away, was fulfilling their part of the bargain and taking care of the one they loved. There had to be trust, and in the end, the story has a happy ending. There's so much bad news today. Sometimes people need a happy ending.”

Commandant was a truly polarizing figure

Henry Wirz reclines (left) during his 1865 trial in Washington, D.C.

At some point between Wirz’s arrest and trial, his lawyers called upon Mary Rawson to speak on his behalf.

Rawson recalled seeing the captain occasionally during her visits to Kiene.

“I was there in the month of March 1865. I had on a brown dress. The captain always recognized me and asked me if I was going to see my prisoner. I would say ‘Yes,’ and I would carry another basket up and leave it. He never refused me.”

"I used to tie up a bushel basket and leave it, and my prisoner said that that would last him two weeks,” Rawson testified.

The park has told the story before and I asked Barnhard about this year’s timing with Women’s History Month. She said Mary Rawson’s story goes toward that, but there were larger results of the Civil War, including women largely filling the ranks of teachers and nurses. The park is holding a living history event this Saturday (March 29) and among the topics is the Woman’s Relief Corps, a charitable auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic.

But back to Wirz ...

In the end, the testimony of those defending him could not save him. The Swiss-born soldier was convicted of both charges and executed in the prison yard on Nov. 10, 1865. (At left, Old Capitol Prison, Library of Congress)

A National Park Service page calls him a complicated figure. “Wirz was unable to control the bureaucracy that plagued the Confederate military prison system, so he controlled the prisoners in the only way he could – through intimidation and punishment.”

Barnhard said Wirz demonstrated both kindness and cruelty. She wonders whether medication he took for a severe arm injury led to a “shift in moods.”

“The more I read about him, the more confused I become about him.”