Father Peter Whelan (Side 2)

FATHER PETER WHELAN (1802 - 1871)(Continued from other side). 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]