Punishments

The court-martial found many guilty and issued various punishments based on offenses. On July 9th, some of the accused soldiers were released back into the camp by way of “running the gauntlet.” As these soldiers entered back into the camp, they were forced to run between two lines of prisoners holding sticks and clubs. As they ran through the gauntlet, the prisoners beat them. At least one of the punished died because of the wounds received in this manner. The court martial found six men guilty of crimes punishable by hanging. Two days later, on July 11th, the Confederate authorities permitted members of the “Regulators” to gather lumber and build a gallows for an execution.





Captain Wirz delivered the six men, the most notorious of the Raiders, to the Regulators for their execution. Prisoners remembered how the Catholic priest in attendance, Peter Whelan, asked for mercy on behalf of the six. Wirz declared it was not in his power to stop the hanging. Right before the hanging, the rope of one of the six broke and he fled into the crowd. He was quickly recaptured and returned, allowing for the execution to proceed as planned. That afternoon, these Raiders hanged to death. They were buried in the cemetery, isolated from the other 3,100 who were buried in the cemetery at that time. The events of this “day of unusual excitement,” in the years following the Civil War became a focal point of prisoners’ memoirs.

Raiders Remembered