LIBBY PRISON, RICHMOND, VA: manuscript notation "Soldiers letter Prisoner of War" and manuscript endorsed by prisoner "Wm. D. Wilkins Capt U.S.A. & A.A. Genl", bold "Due 3" straightline on cover to Mark Fisher, Trenton, N.J.; additional "Exd HW." (Henry Wirz, later commandant of Andersonville Prison); illustrated on page 92 of Prisoners' Mail from the American Civil War by Galen Harrison; signed Brian Green. Ex Harrison. $850.

Henry Wirz (1823-1865) was a Swiss-American who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war, Wirz was tried and executed for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of Andersonville. This made him the highest-ranking soldier and only officer of the Confederate Army to be sentenced to death for crimes during their service. Nearly 13,000 Union Army prisoners of war died as a result of inhume conditions and Wirz was the scapegoat. There is much more info’ on him available widely on the internet.

William Duncan Wilkins was a U.S. Army officer and lawyer. His papers 1847-1863 are in the Library of Congress. Wilkins, a native of Detroit, had served during the Mexican War as a lieutenant in the 15th U.S. Infantry and was serving on the staff of Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams. Gen. Williams, another Detroiter, commanded the First Division of the 12th Corps at Chancellorsville. Capt. Wilkins was wounded and captured on May 2, 1863, and brought to Stonewall Jackson for interrogation just as Jackson was lining up his troops for the late evening assault on the broken Union line. Stonewall was accidentally shot by his own men that evening and died May 10th.