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Father Whelan was an Irish priest
serving the Diocese of Savannah at the outbreak of the War Between
the States. He volunteered to serve as chaplain to CSA troops
at Ft. Pulaski and was taken as a POW when the fort fell to Union
forces. After being held over a year at Governor's Island and
Ft. Delaware, he returned to Savannah where he answered the plea
to minister to the prisoners held at Camp Sumter. Whelan came
to Andersonville on 16 June 1864 and he remained here for four
months daily tending to the needs of prisoners in the stockade.
After the war, Whelan publicly defended Capt. Wirz as an innocent
scapegoat. His life was cut short by a lung disease he contracted
here and died on 6 February 1871. He was remembered by Confederate
and Union soldiers alike as truly a "Good Samaritan."
[ANDERSONVILLE GUILD
1994] |
