kindness and had always given them the necessary passes without restrictions. They testified under oath that, although Wirz used profane language and occasionally spoke harshly to some of the prisoners, they had not seen him inflict any personal harm that caused death, nor had they heard of such injury. Whelan added that it was highly probable that during his four months there he would have heard of any violence had it occurred. It seems that Whelan regarded Wirz as merely a symbolic scapegoat, made to pay for all the suffering endured by the citizens and soldiers of the North during the war. During the trial, Wirz, a Catholic, asked that Hamilton and Whelan be allowed to visit him. When they saw his broken condition, they appealed, unsuccessfully, that he be granted a few days rest from the harsh trial, which had already dragged on for more than two months. In spite of their positive testimony, along with that of many ex-prisoners, Captain Wirz was executed by hanging. He was the only officer in the Civil War executed for war crimes. Final days On March 10, 1866, Whelan became ill with a severe attack of "congestion of the lungs." Before this outbreak he had written to Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, asking for $400 to pay back his loan from Henry Horne to procure bread for the Federal prisoners. Horne, who was very sick himself, needed the money. Stanton replied late in October, asking for sworn vouchers and bills of purchase for the wheat flour. The priest told Stanton to keep the money because he had, "neither the health nor the strength ...to run over Georgia to hunt up vouchers and bills of purchase." Unable to make any headway, the priest informed the Secretary that the "good God" had provided him with another way to repay this debt. Because of his worsening lung condition, his doctors had recommended that he go north to escape the humid air. His friends in Savannah provided him with the necessary funds in order to make the trip to New York. Instead, the priest informed Stanton that, preferring justice to health, he used the money he had been given to refund Mr. Horne. When his health improved slightly, Whelan became pastor of St. Patrick's in Savannah and served there until 1868. He was never his former self, however. The cathedral register in Savannah shows that Whelan