Owner offers a $20K reward for Henry rifle stolen from National Civil War Museum

(Photos: Harrisburg, Pa. police)

A $20,000 reward has been offered for the recovery of an 1860 Henry repeating rifle that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war and was stolen from a Pennsylvania museum.

The private collector made the offer for information that leads to the gun, Harrisburg police announced Monday. Pennlive.com said the rifle, engraved with Simon Cameron’s name, is valued at between $400,000 and $500,000.

The rifle and two revolvers taken from the National Civil War Museum in February 2016 were presented to Cameron, secretary of war from March 5, 1861, to Jan. 14, 1862.

While the revolvers were owned the city, the rifle was on loan as part of the “Guns and Lace” exhibit sponsored by the National Rifle Association. The thief used a sledge hammer to break a window and display cases.

WPMT-Fox43 said one of guns is a .44-caliber army revolver, while the other is a .36-caliber Colt 1861 Navy revolver.

Police asked that anyone with information about the rifle should call them at 717-558-6900.

#WirzTrial: Andersonville reflects on first week of live tweets, interaction with followers

#WirzTrial recap of Week 1! pic.twitter.com/lbaF1tgdCA

— Andersonville NHS (@andeNHS) August 30, 2017

Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia has begun its second week of “live tweeting” the trial of Capt. Henry Wirz, the stockade commandant at Fort Sumter during last year of the Civil War. Park guide Jennifer Hopkins (in a video summarizing the first week, above) talks below with the Picket about how the effort to enhance the site’s social media use has gone thus far: #WirzTrial.

Q. Overall, how the experience gone over the first 7-8 days?

A. The first week of tweeting the Wirz trial went pretty well. We gained some followers on Twitter, and received more interaction with them than usual. I'm hopeful to see what the coming weeks will bring. 

Q. Can you briefly summarize what followers had learned so far, and what type of testimony will follow the next week or so?

A. I think our followers are learning how not so black and white Wirz's trial was. However, some who are following the trial have stated that the positive testimonies about Wirz desn't change their negative view of him. But we've seen a good balance of positive and negative testimonies. In the coming week, we'll be hearing more from Confederate guards who were stationed at Andersonville. We'll also see an argument between, Mr. Baker (Wirz's lawyer), the judge advocate and the president of the tribunal. Mr. Baker points out that the majority of the testimonies are so general they shouldn't be considered when time comes for the verdict. 

Q. I see there have been a few Twitter replies and likes during the past week. How would you describe the reaction thus far? Do you get more on Facebook, though obviously almost all of this is on Twitter?

A. We have about 8,000 more followers on Facebook, so naturally Facebook posts will receive more likes, comment and shares than our Twitter posts. Through Twitter analytics. we are seeing an average of about 13 people following the trial, which is a great thing -- especially since most of the tweets don't include photos. Our other non-photo tweets get around 1-6 people clicking on (them). 

Henry Wirz

Q. Any tweaks planned moving forward, or is everything on track?

A. So far, everything is on track. We'll be talking less about conditions moving forward and start to focus a bit more on Wirz and what people have to say about him and his control over the prison specifically. We'll weave prison descriptions in there every once in a while, but I think everyone gets that the conditions here in 1864-65 were pretty horrible. The video I did at the end of week 1 was on a whim, but I think I'll keep that going each week. It received a lot of traffic and I think it's good to keep a running summary of what's happening. 

Q. Any reaction the staff has heard from other sites or visitors?

A. So far, everything is quiet. There are a few tweets where we'll start tagging other parks because that tweet pertains to them, so we might get some feedback then. 

Q. Any other thoughts?

A. I'm really hoping conversations pick up pertaining to the trial. It was one of the most talked about trials of its time, and yet there are still a lot of questions surrounding it. But I'm pleased with the reactions and comments from our followers so far. 

Henry Wirz: Monster or scapegoat? You can decide, talk about it as Andersonville NHS 'live tweets' stockade commander's trial

Beginning Wednesday, Capt. Henry Wirz will be retried for his actions as stockade commander at the infamous Confederate prison at Andersonville, Ga.

The staff at Andersonville National Historic Site will begin “live tweeting” highlights of the proceedings against Wirz, considered a cruel, indifferent commander by some and a scapegoat by others. A military tribunal in Washington, D.C., began hearing the case against the Swiss-born officer on Aug. 23, 1865.

The staff will typically tweet 15-20 posts for each day the court was in session, said park guide Jennifer Hopkins. The tag will be #WirzTrial.

(Picket photo)

“We'll have discussion-prompting questions almost every day, at least once,” said Hopkins. “The questions will usually come after a testimony to try to get our Twitter audience involved in the trial and voice their opinions on the testimonies, objections, and rulings.”

(NON-SPOILER ALERT: This Picket post will not divulge the verdict in the case.)

Nearly 13,000 soldiers and civilian captives died at Camp Sumter over 14 months -- an average of more than 30 a day in that span. I visited the central Georgia site on Aug. 13. The 1864 tally for that day, during the heat of the summer, was 109.

Reporters who covered trial (Library of Congress)

Wirz’ controversial trial was a national sensation, covered by newspapers just a couple months after the trial of accused conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Officials who decided to try the officer in a military -- rather than a civilian -- court said the country was in some ways still in a state of war. The defense considered itself at a disadvantage on the rules of evidence.

A litany of accusations was made against Wirz for his management of the prison.

The first was a conspiracy charge, claiming he “maliciously, willfully, and traitorously conspired to injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States, then held prisoners of war; in violation of the laws and customs of war.”

Did he, for example, wantonly withhold food and shelter and aid for those inside?

The second was murder, with specific allegations of personally killing or ordering guards to shoot prisoners.

A.J. Riddle photo of the prison in August 1864

“One of the great paradoxes of the Wirz trial is that both prosecution and the defense sought to prove that Wirz was following orders,” the National Park Service says. “The prosecutors hoped to convict higher-ranking Confederate officials and Wirz hoped to absolve himself by passing responsibility up the chain of command.”

This will be the first time the park will do a live tweet. The project will go well into the fall, and the hope is that it will help facilitate discussion on controversial topics. Some of the conversations also will be carried on the park's Facebook page.

Walking careful line on testimony

Hopkins said she and a few other staffers have spent a few months poring through testimony of about 140 witnesses, which included prisoners, guards, civilians and Confederate and Federal officials.

“We are trying to stay to as close to the transcript as possible so people will not accuse us of being biased,” she said.

Stocks along recreated wall (Picket photo)

There is no question that conditions at Camp Sumter were horrendous. Foul water, the heat, poor sanitation and contaminated water made life miserable for those held in the stockade. Wirz’ defenders say he did the best he could and he could not control decisions made by superiors outside the stockade, such as putting too many POWs on the site. Also, command at Sumter was compartmentalized, making it difficult to control all aspects of the camp.

The end of prisoner exchanges led to the rapid overcrowding.

The officer had a track record of inconsistent treatment of prisoners, even before he arrived in Georgia.

“At times, he proved helpful and sympathetic. On other days he flew into what one prisoner described as a ‘spasmodic rage,’ the park says of his tenure at Andersonville. “Unable to carry out his orders to maintain the stability and security of the stockade by military means, Wirz used his reputation and behavior to maintain order.” That included withholding rations or ordering harsh punishment for minor infractions.

The commandant was accused of personally killing or ordering the shooting or mistreatment of POWs. During his trial, some of that was found to be hearsay. On the stand, Wirz was asked about a guard shooting a prisoner. He said he issued the order, but meant it as a threat and thought the soldier would not do it.

“The guards hated him,” said Wade Barr, a volunteer on site.

Entrance to national cemetery at Andersonville (Picket photo)

The different sides of Henry Wirz

The officer also tried to help those suffering inside, said Hopkins. He wrote to superiors asking for help and tried to have dams placed in a stream to improve sanitation. That request was denied. Wirz testified he allowed captive drummer boys to be kept outside the stockade.

But then there was the other side of Wirz: “He turns away wagons full of supplies,” Hopkins said, including an offer of assistance from women living near the camp.

Paul Finkelman, a professor at Albany Law School in New York, told an audience in 2014 that defense lawyers said Wirz did the best he could under terrible circumstances and a lack of food.

“Georgia is full of food,” said Finkelman, adding that Wirz could have had prisoners bring in barrels of fresh water. “Instead, he thinks of new ways to harass prisoners and prevent them from getting basic nutrition and any kind of basic health.”

To this day, the fact that Wirz was the only officer to be tried over conditions at Andersonville remains controversial. Defenders said plummeting conditions in the Confederacy in the last year of the war and the lack of materiel assistance made the commandant the target of a vengeful nation.

A monument (right) in the small hamlet of Andersonville was dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909. One panel said Wirz showed humanity under “harsh circumstances.”

Hopkins acknowledged many are passionate about the Civil War, Andersonville and Wirz.

She said the trial tweets are designed to have people do their own research. “Here is what the trial says. You can make your own decision.”

Coming soon: A closer look at the case for, against Wirz

150 years ago: Arrest of Capt. Henry Wirz began assignment of blame for Andersonville

Harper's Weekly illustration of Capt. Wirz stomping on prisoner, based on testimony at his trial in 1865 (NPS)

On this day, 150 years ago, the commandant of the stockade at Andersonville prison was arrested, setting off a chain of events that remains controversial to this day.

Union cavalry Capt. Henry Noyes took Confederate Capt. Henry Wirz into custody at the site at war’s end. Wirz was sent to nearby Macon, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and then Washington, D.C., where he was tried and convicted of conspiracy and murder.

Accounts by prisoners during the Civil War are full of stories of horror, heroism and extraordinary efforts to survive. At Andersonville alone, nearly 13,000 men died over 14 months -- an average of more than 30 a day. 

Conditions at Andersonville deteriorated quickly by the summer of 1864. Food often was scare and the staff was always short of supplies – matters not directly under Wirz’s control. And the Union army had largely ended prisoner exchanges.

But Union survivors testified he was cruel and would order some of them shot when he became enraged, or did the shooting himself.

“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,” says a National Park Service article.

The officer was hanged on Nov. 10, 1865, after insisting those higher up the chain of command were responsible for the prison’s appalling conditions. He was punished for matters he could control – his own inconsistent behavior, actions and dehumanizing of prisoners.

Wirz has his defenders, and a statue in his memory still stands in the small hamlet of Andersonville near the national site.

The Georgia historian for the United Daughters of the Confederacy wrote an essay in 1921 about what she termed an injustice – suborned testimony and exaggerations at the trial.

She wrote that Wirz did not fearing going to Macon with Noyes because “he was conscious of having done all for the prisoners that was possible under the conditions.”

Before they left, Wirz invited Noyes to share a small meal of bacon and cornbread with his family.

“With a woman's instinct, Mrs. Wirz did not like the ominous silence of Captain Noyes, and became greatly agitated when her husband bade her goodbye. Wirz tried to comfort his weeping wife and children, assuring then that all would be well. After an affectionate goodbye, he left for Macon.”

This portrayal of a hospitable man just following orders did not match the memories of many who were guards or prisoners at Andersonville.

One Confederate soldier testified that Wirz ordered a prisoner into the stocks during a rainstorm. The soldier, observing the prisoner was drowning, placed an umbrella over the prisoner and approach Wirz, who was said to reply, "Let the damned Yankee drown."

Forgotten Fort Heiman briefly stood as sentinel, but has a 'fascinating story'

One of three "sister” forts that Confederate forces defended on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers is the subject of talks this weekend at Fort Donelson National Battlefield.

Fort Heiman, built in Kentucky just across from Fort Henry, is considered a “forgotten” or “unfinished” fort, said Douglas Richardson, chief interpreter with the park.

The National Park Service this month is marking the 150th anniversary of the first significant Union victory in the war, when Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, opening the way to Nashville and the South’s interior. Along the way, he earned the sobriquet “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.

Fort Henry is long gone, under what is now called Kentucky Lake. But visitors can still see entrenchments at Heiman, which was hastily constructed to protect Henry.

“The bluff provides a spectacular view,” said Richardson. “You will see some very good examples of Civil War earthworks.”

At 1 p.m. this Saturday-Monday (Feb. 4-6), rangers will lead vehicle caravans from the park headquarters at Donelson (Dover, Tenn.) to Heiman, about 22 miles to the west.

Slaves began constructing it in January 1862, mere weeks before Grant’s forces approached Fort Henry. About 1,100 Confederates at Fort Heiman were ferried across the Tennessee River back to Henry when one of two Federal divisions moved toward the high ground on the Kentucky side.

Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, Henry’s commander, left a few troops at Heiman (click map to enlarge) “to taunt and harass any of the Union advance guys,” Richardson said. The first Union units to reach the post found some stew and bread, apparently still warm. “They had a Confederate-made dinner.”

Tilghman sent a large contingent of troops to Fort Donelson when he realized he was outgunned, outmanned and in a poor location. Fort Henry was a good deal underwater because of flooding.

Fort Henry fell on Feb. 6, 1862, but the loss 10 days later of Donelson, and about 12,000 troops who surrendered, was much costlier.

“It wasn’t in the most ideal spot,” Richardson said of Fort Henry. “The commanding general was fighting both Mother Nature and the ironclads.”

Slaves sought refuge at Heiman once it was in Union hands. Eventually, the site was abandoned, only to be used by Nathan Bedford Forrest (left) and his Confederate cavalrymen.

The general used the fort as a base on Oct. 28, 1864, to capture a Union steamboat. Forrest also raided the Federal supply depot at Johnsonville, about 30 miles south on the east bank of the Tennessee River.

The National Park Service acquired Heiman’s 163 acres in 2006 after Calloway County (Ky.) residents, concerned about a possible residential development, rallied to protect the land.

At the time, park superintendent Steven McCoy said Heiman has "a fascinating story. It helps illustrate the bigger picture of the war, the struggle of brother against brother. That to me is what's exciting." The Civil War News had an article about the acquisition.

The property features trenches and a redoubt considered to be in very good condition.

Richardson said the park eventually would like to increase Fort Heiman’s visibility.

“We need to do some infrastructure work to give folks a good idea of what is happening here,” he said. Crews also are cleaning up from 2011 storm damage.

Trenches are currently hidden in forestation and there is little visitor information on the site, accessible by a Kentucky road. The area is mostly visited by recreational users.

The NPS has no historic images of any of the three forts – and, for that matter, few primary documents about Heiman. They are seeing some of those documents, including those regarding troop movements, on auction sites such as eBay.

“When it comes to research, it is a work in progress,” Richardson said.

Photos of Fort Heiman earthworks and map courtesy of National Park Service.

• More information on all the anniversary events this month at Fort Donelson
• Contact information, address, park info.
• Animated account of Henry, Donelson battles

The rise of Grant and Forrest

I just completed this 2007 account of the Fort Henry and Fort Donelson campaign in Tennessee that author Jack Hurst contends "slashed an ever-widening mortal wound that split the Confederacy asunder."

Hurst does an admirable job of capturing the politics swirling behind the 1862 battles that propelled Grant toward greatness, with a few nervous moments two months later at Shiloh. The writer portrays Grant as an unassuming, understated general who survives critics, particularly on accounts of his drinking. In Hurst's view, Grant's boss, Henry Halleck, is as much as enemy as the Confederates, scheming to undercut Grant's role and reputation. Always, Hurst writes, Grant, unlike many Union colleagues, pressed the fight.

I found the sections on the battle-tested Forrest a bit disappointing. You learn little of his character, ambitions and impact on the war. A reader might be surprised Hurst spent so few pages on this, given the book's title and a presumption of comparisons between the generals.

Still, "Men of Fire" is an excellent history of the soldiers, sailors and military leaders who battled for control of vital river and railroad lanes in the South.

Georgia man recalls stories from his father, a guard at Confederate prison camp. Isham Booth was 71 when Henry was born.

Henry V. Booth is 92. He is the son of sharecroppers and is a retired car dealer. He’s lost two wives, two children, and has three grandchildren. He lives in Elberton, Ga., owns a push mower and -- most days-- has oatmeal, bananas and hot chocolate for breakfast.

Booth also is a rarity. He is the son of a Confederate soldier. It is believed he is one of only two in Georgia.

When people learn that fact, they say, “Wow. What about that?” Booth told the Picket in a phone interview this morning.

Booth’s dad, Isham Johnson Booth, was 16 when he arrived for duty in 1864 at Camp Sumter, the official name for Andersonville military prison.

Pvt. Isham Booth of the 1st Georgia Reserves witnessed the horrors of the camp, where 45,000 Union soldiers passed through its gates. Almost 13,000 died and were buried in the nearby cemetery. About 226 Confederate guards, not immune to disease and meager food supplies, died over 14 months.

“He said it was the awfulest place he ever saw,” the younger Booth said. “People were dying like flies.”

The former Confederate private also mentioned the scarcity of clean water when he talked of his war days.

Isham got sick at Andersonville, and rode a mule back to Elberton to convalesce. After he became well, in 1865, he started walking back toward middle Georgia.

When Isham passed a store, someone said, “Where are you going, soldier?”

They told him that the war was over.

More than 145 years later, at the end of April this year, Henry Booth (right, click to enlarge) toured Andersonville National Historic Site and also spoke to a local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

It was his third visit to Andersonville.

“With all those dead people, it puts a funny feeling over you,” said Booth.

Isham Booth was just shy of 72 when Henry, his 12th and last child, was born on Dec. 28, 1918. Isham’s second wife, Miranda Lue, was 38. She died in 1968.

The elder Booth usually spoke about his guard experiences only in the presence of adults, but Henry occasionally heard stories.

Henry lived with his family in a one-story home with four or five rooms. They raised cotton, vegetables and hogs at the Elbert County homestead, which is long gone and is now covered by pine trees.

“We made enough to eat. That was hard work,” Henry said.

Henry said his father returned to see Andersonville a couple years before he died, when a friend took him in a 1931 Chevrolet. “That was a big deal to him.”

Isham Johnson Booth died in February 1934, age 86. His son was 15.

Though his father’s Civil War experience is usually the conversation starter, Henry had his own experience with war.

During World War II, he was assigned to a Navy LST, a vehicle landing craft. Campaigns in the Pacific Ocean included ones at Iwo Jima, Saipan, Guam and Okinawa.

Booth doesn’t like war. He doesn’t generally visit Civil War battlefields.

“I saw Tokyo after the war” and its devastation, Booth said.

Booth returned to Elbert County and got into business. His parents were sharecroppers, but Booth moved away from the farm to work at a Ford dealership, which he later bought. The Ford dealership eventually closed “under tough times.” One of his sons worked in the granite industry.

Booth is now retired from a lengthy stint as a night manager for a senior citizens complex. He enjoys lunch at the senior citizen center with friends and has seen a lot of changes in the years since his father passed away.

Elberton’s population has grown to nearly 5,000. Walking trails have replaced a lake near his home in northeast Georgia. Booth likes them.

“It’s the best part of the world to live in,” he said. “Life’s been good to me.”

Although he may be best known as the son of a Civil War soldier, Booth said that fact is “just a little of who I am.”

Editor's note: Booth died in June 2015 at age 96.

Photographs: NPS/Andersonville National Historic Site. Top photo is Henry V. Booth at about age 3 with his father. Second photo is an interview being videotaped in late April at Andersonville National Historic Site

• More about Booth's recent visit to Andersonville

Here's one from the archives

I don't fancy myself as much of a photographer, but I do like this one from summer 2009 during the Battle of Atlanta at Nash Farm in Henry County, Ga. Tough these days to get to many such events, but I will try to get to at least one or two this year. To read more about the event, type in "Nash Farm" in the Search This Blog part of this page. Than return to top of the blog to find the articles, photos and videos. Enjoy!

Battle of Ezra Church and the 'New South'

A field trip to the site of the Battle of Ezra Church in western Atlanta requires imagination, a visit to the largest cemetery in the Southeastern United States and the reading of a biblical verse.

Interstate 20 slices through much of the battlefield. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Mozley Park and other residential streets and small homes stand where columns of gray troops vainly smashed into an entrenched Union force.

As in much of Atlanta, only historic markers tell of the Confederacy’s litany of woe in the vital city.

Sunday, we spent a couple of hours in Westview Cemetery, built in 1884, some 20 years after the July 28, 1864, fighting at Ezra Church. Many famous Georgians are among the 110,000 souls resting on 582 acres.

(If you make a visit, stop by the beautiful abbey-mausoleum in the back part of the property. It’s breathtaking.)

Rebel troops under Gens. Stephen D. Lee and Alexander P. Stewart, days after losses at Peachtree Creek and the Battle of Atlanta, pushed through what would become Westview as they made an attack at Ezra Church.

Previously, Union Gen. William T. Sherman had ordered Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard to move from the left wing to the right and cut Gen. John Bell Hood’s last railroad supply line between Atlanta and nearby East Point.

Hood moved to intercept the Federals and ordered the assault. Howard was ready for them and repulsed the Confederates after fierce fighting, inflicting more than 3,000 casualties compared to about 700 for the North. It was another costly Southern loss.

Westview includes a small section of trenches and a large monument of a soldier looking toward battle.

The inscription on the base speaks of peace, much it from Isaiah 2:4: "Nation shall not rise up against nation. They shall beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Of Liberty born of a Patriots dream; of a storm cradled Nation that fell."

A semicircle of graves surrounds the memorial.

Interestingly, the graves are of white-bearded veterans who died in the early 20th century and the dawn of a new era in the South and Atlanta. Westview years ago allowed people of color to be buried on its grounds. The city became home to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Morehouse College and other African-American institutions are only two miles away from Ezra Church.

The family of Henry Woodfin Grady, an orator and editor of The Atlanta Constitution, rests in a small crypt at Wesview.

Grady, who died at only 39 in 1889, believed in white supremacy but spoke of the need of the cooperation between races “because of a mutual appreciation of the rewards that lay ahead.”

He is remembered for pushing northern investment, Southern industrial growth and an important speech in New York in 1886.

"There was a South of slavery and secession - that South is dead. There is now a South of union and freedom - that South, thank God, is living, breathing, and growing every hour," he said.

• See 1964 map superimposing Battle of Ezra Church over streets and highways.