James J Williamson

Prison Life in the Old Capitol and Reminiscences of the Civil WAR James J Williamson

The author tells why he fought for the South in the first place: "When the grave question's which for years agitated our country had reached the crisis, and there remained but in the ultima ratio regum (the final argument i.e., war) they were submitted to the arbitrament of the battlefield. We of the South accepted the result of that contest and laid down our arms in good faith. But when we are asked, like a whipped child, to say we were wrong and are sorry for what we did, and promise to sin no more, it is asking too much. We fought for what we considered our rights and lost. Yet our men, who fought and lost, and those who died in the struggle, were just as brave and as honest as the men who wore the blue. They fought for the Union, we fought for our homes, for our wives and our dear ones. For those of our dead who were consigned to death and ignominy, we do not ask pity, but only for that justice which was denied them in life-that the blot upon their reputations be effaced and their names stand out clear and stainless." James J. Williamson was a talented diarist who recorded things that happened during his incarceration in the Old Capitol Prison. Among these is a commentary on what he considers the unjust arrest and ultimate hanging of Henry Wirz, formerly head of Andersonville, a Southern POW Camp. Included in this book are excerpts from Wirz's diary and letters to his wife. Also, the reader will find a short history of the Old Capitol Prison and what became of it.