New photography by Pat Cagney captured with a digital camera.

Execution of Captain Wirz, Adjusting the Rope

Artist Alexander Gardner (American (born Scotland), 1821 - 1882)

CultureAmerican | Scottish

DateNovember 10, 1865

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 7 1/8 × 9 1/2 in. (18.1 × 24.1 cm)
Overall, Support: 10 3/4 × 13 1/2 in. (27.3 × 34.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of David L. Hack and Museum purchase, with funds from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., by exchange

Object number98.32.263

Collections

Photography

Not on view

DescriptionThe David L. Hack Civil War Photography Collection. This photograph shows the preparations for the execution of Captain Henry Wirz. The building is on the left side of the photo while a platform rises high above the men below which are holding their rifles upright. A stairway leads up to the top of the platform where many men are standing. The information beneath it reads "Adjusting the rope." This is from _Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War_ (Hack Collection No. 2].

Label TextAlexander Gardner American (b. Scotland 1821-1882) Execution of Captain Wirz, Adjusting the Rope, November 10, 1865 Albumen print on original mount 98.32.263 Wirz was placed in the Old Capitol Prison on May 10, 1865, and after a sixty-three day trial, was sentenced to death by hanging for atrocities committed while Commandant of Andersonville Prison. The night before his execution, he rejected an offer of a pardon conditioned on his agreement to testify that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was responsible for the deaths at Andersonville. Guarded by four companies of soldiers, Wirz was led to the gallows in the Old Capital Prison yard before 250 witnesses who chanted "Remember Andersonville." Major Russell, who read the death warrant, commented that he "deplored this duty." Wirz replied that, "I know what orders are, Major. And I am being hanged for obeying them." A hood was placed over his head and a rope around his neck. The trap door was released at 10:32 in the morning. His neck did not break from the fall and he slowly died of strangulation. Alexander Gardner was the only photographer allowed to document this event. The David L. Hack collection includes all five photographs that comprise this sequence. Due to space considerations, only one is shown here. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 01/2006Exhibition History"Civil War Photographs from the David L. Hack Collection and Civil War Redux: Pinhole Photographs by Willie Anne Wright," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, February 3 - October 29, 2006; Cape Fear Museum, Wilmington, NC, February 15 - May 28, 2007; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, July 26 - September 21, 2008. "Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs 1859-1872," Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, September 18, 2015 - March 13, 2016.