Wirz, Henry (1822–1865)

US physician and army officer. He was the only person executed after the American Civil War for war crimes for his running of a Confederate jail. Born in Switzerland, he was a physician in Louisiana before he was wounded at Fair Oaks and Seven Pines in May 1862. After some time in Europe as a Confederate agent, in January 1864 he became superintendent of Andersonville prison in South Carolina; it became notorious for its appalling conditions and high death rate. He was later convicted of conspiring to murder prisoners and hanged in November 1865.