Commander Wirz Hanged

10 November 1865

#KnowSouthernHistory 

On this date in 1865 –  Federal authorities in Washington D.C. hanged Confederate Major Henry Wirz, commander of the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia,  after a farcical show trial  found him guilty of supposed acts that occurred before he even took over as commandant of the post.

Other Years:

• 1782 - George Rogers Clark attacked the Miami tribe with 1,000 troops along the Licking River in Kentucky. Clark’s campaign helped secure American claims to Kentucky.
• 1801 - Kentucky outlawed dueling.
• 1813 - Andrew Jackson's force of 2,000 Americans and allied Indians attacked William Weatherford's 1,000 strong band of “Red Stick" Creeks who had laid seige to a pro-white group of Creeks at Talladega, Alabama. More than 400 Red Sticks were killed in the route while Jackson's force lost only fifteen men. 
• 1973 - Burglars murdered Southern comedian and musician  David "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife in their home at Ridgetop, Tennessee.  Stringbean was 58 and had finally achieved modest financial success after a long career.
• 1982 - The newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C.

Read: Why Know Southern History?

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