Execution of Henry Wirz

Date: November 10, 1865 • Location: Oglethorpe, United States

Henry Wirz, the Confederate superintendent of Andersonville Prison, was hanged after a controversial conviction, becoming the only American Civil War officer executed for war crimes.

Henry Wirz was a Confederate States Army officer 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 new wife and her two daughters, working as an overseer on a slave plantation.