| Notes |
- John Henry Winder
Highest Rank: Brig-Gen
Birth Date: 1800
Birth Place: Somerset County, Maryland
Biography:
John Henry Winder, provost marshal general, was born in Maryland in 1800, son of General W. H. Winder, a soldier of the war of 1812. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1820; served at Fort McHenry and on the Florida frontier; resigned in August, 1823; was reappointed with rank of second- lieutenant of artillery, 1827; was promoted first-lieutenant, 1833; served in the Florida war; was promoted captain, 1842; served in the Mexican war at La Hoya, Ocalaca, Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec and City of Mexico; was brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel for gallantry; promoted major November 22, 1860; resigned April 27, 1861.
He entered the Confederate service, was made brigadier-general and given command at Richmond, where he had charge of the Libby and Belle Isle military prisons. Subsequently he was assigned to command the prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. He died at Columbia, South Carolina, February 7, 1865.
Source: Confederate Military History, vol. 1, p. 630
From findagrave.com:
John Henry Winder
b. February 21, 1800. d. February 7, 1865.
Civil War Confederate Major General. As the officer responsible for Confederate Prisons, he is almost universally vilified for the deplorable conditions in nearly all the prisons in the South. He has been accused of deliberately starving Union Prisoners, and creating the brutal and deadly conditions in stockades such as Andersonville. In truth the conditions were created by the entire breakdown of the Confederacy in general, who at times could not even feed its own troops and people, much less its prisoners. There is no evidence that Winder deliberately created the conditions. Also overlooked is the fact that many Northern Prisons had just as deadly and deplorable conditions for its Southern Prisoners. Had General Winder survived the War, he most certainly would have been unjustly tried as a war criminal.
Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Specific Interment Location: Beech Area # 1, Lot 13.
Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 13:44:51 -0500
From: "M. E. Potter"
Hi Ann:
This is an entry from the Willimantic (CT) Journal some editions of which have been posted on the Web. Any relation?
Fri Jul 24 1863: The rebel General Fitz Hugh Lee and Capt. Winder, have been placed in close confinement at Fortress Monroe, and notice sent to the rebel government that if they execute Captains Sawyer and Flynn, whom they now have in close confinement and under sentence in Richmond, that Gen. Lee and Captain Winder will be executed in retaliation.
Margaret
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 14:59:59 -0500
From: "M. E. Potter"
Hi Ann:
Here's another blurb concerning Capt. Winder's fate from the Willimantic (CT) Journal. (I've been slowly working my way through the issues of the Journal that are posted on the web.)
Margaret
1563. Fri Aug 21 1863: It is thought at Washington that Capts. Sawyer and Flynn, condemned to death by the rebels, will be executed. Upon receiving official notice of their death, Gen. Lee and Capt. Winder, held as hostages, will surely meet with a similar fate. On this point the decision of the Government is said to be fixed and unalterable.
According to John Kirkpatrick, Ellsinore, MO, posting in the ANDERSONVILLE-L discussion group:
… Interestingly, had General Winder not suffered a heart attack while inspecting Salisbury Prison on February 6, 1865, he would have suffered the same fate as Wirz (according to historians) [War Trials---A.W.]. Gen. Winder had a relative Capt. Richard B. Winder who he had appointed the quartermaster of Andersonville, charged with the building and provisioning of the prison. He left Andersonville in February 1865. At wars end he too was arrested for war-crimes and held many months in prison awaiting his trial. However, he never went to trial, with the North being satiated by the trial of Wirz…
|
1800 - 1865 (64 years)
[1]