Fort Delaware in the Civil War: Gen. Pettigrew and the 'Bull Pen'

From Wikipedia.

Fort Delaware saw its main use during the war as a prison for captured Confederates, convicted federal soldiers and local  political prisoners as well as  privateers.  The first prisoners arriving were housed  inside the fort in sealed off casemates, empty powder magazines and two small rooms inside the sally port.  In those small rooms Confederates carved their names and you can still see them.

According to the Philadelphia  Inquirer, the islands "contained an average population of southern tourists, who came at the urgent  invitation of Mr. Lincoln."

And, the fort also held captured Confederate generals.  The first  one housed there was Brigadier General  Johnston Pettigrew.  He was the first of about a dozen held at the fort.

In 1862 and 1863, two separate phases of construction took place  at Fort Delaware.  A barracks for enlisted men known as the "Bull Pen" by Confederates was built.  Most of the Confederates captured at the Battle of Gettysburg spent time there.

Some Tourists Indeed.  --Old Secesh

Fort Delaware

I wrote about improvements to be made at this fort in my last post.

From Wikipedia.

A former harbor defense facility designed by U.S. Army Chief Engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten and located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.

During the Civil War, it was used as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, federal convicts and privateer officers.

In the 1890s, a three-gun concrete battery of 12-inch guns named Battery Torbert was erected in the  fort.  By 1900, the fort was a part of a three-fort concept, the first forts of the Coast Defenses of Delaware,  working in conjunction with Fort Mott in Pennsville, New Jersey, and Fort DuPont in Delaware City, Delaware.

--Old Secesh

Fort Delaware Getting a $3.7 Million in Improvements

From the September 11, 2021, Delaware Business Now.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has begun  construction on several Fort Delaware State Park projects.

Areas of the fort, located on an island in the Delaware River that are normally open to the public will remain open.

The fort is best-known as a prison for Confederate soldiers captured by the Union during the Civil War.  It was originally built to protect the City of Wilmington, Delaware.

The $3.7 million project, funded by multiple sources, includes the following enhancements:

**  The tram path, which brings visitors from the pier to the fort, will be stabilized and repaved.

**  Trails between the restrooms, fort, barracks and heronry will be constructed with aggregates to be durable and prevent soggy shoes.  (A heronry is a nesting ground for herons.  I had to look this up.) 

**  The heronry observation platform will be rebuilt to be safe and inviting.

**  A new maintenance building will be constructed for a better, safer place for staff to support public access to the cultural and natural resources of the island.

**  A new screened pavilion will be constructed to provide suitable space for groups to eat lunch together.

Way to Go, Fort Delaware.  --Old Secesh

76 Iowans Joined the Confederacy

From the Oct. 28,2019, Iowa Public Radio  "New Research shoes that at least 76 Iowans joined the Confederacy during the Civil War" by Ben Kieffer, Rick Brewer and Julia Digiacomo.

Despite Iowa's status as a Union state during the war, at least 76 Iowans threw in their lot with the Confederacy.  This number is the result of research done by David Connon who has just written the book "Iowa Confederates in the Civil War."

He delves into the reasons why these men did what they did.  According to Cannon, they became active in all branches of the Confederate military, even the Confederate Navy.  Some even achieved honors for their service.

David Connon was on the Iowa NPR show "River to River" with a 44-minute talk on his book where he gives their stories and also delves into the political and historical trends in Iowa during this time.  The 1840 Iowa Territorial Census showed 17 slaves listed with their owners.

The only people to say they had slaves in Iowa in that census were from Dubuque County.

The article was accompanied by a photograph of one of the Iowa Confederates named Albert H. Newall who was captured and died at the Fort Delaware prison camp.  The town fathers of Danville, Iowa, didn't want him buried in the local cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Murder of Col. Edward P. Jones, CSA While Prisoner at Fort Delaware

I was going back through my November 2013 posts in this blog and came across a prisoners diary where he recounted  this man's "murder" at the hands of a prison guard at Fort Delaware for not moving fast enough.

The Virginia Military Institute has a page listing alumni from that institution who were killed or died while serving the Confederacy.

It reads:

"JONES, EDWARD POPE, M.D., from Middlesex County, Virginia.  Colonel of Virginia Militia.  Captured and imprisoned  at Fort Delaware, and while a prisoner was murdered by his guard."

--Old Secesh

A Prison Diary: 15 Months At Fort Delaware-- Part 9: Murder of a Confederate Officer

In July 1864, Isaac Handy recorded what he referred to as the murder of Colonel Edward Pope Jones who was lame from a disease that affected his feet and was killed by a guard at the prison latrine.

The guard shot Pope from the roof of the outhouse building apparently for not moving fast enough. The soldier was not punished for the shooting.

--Old Secesh

A Prison Diary: 15 Months At Fort Delaware-- Part 7: Starvation

In his memoir, Confederate Private George H. Moffett, while held prisoner at Fort Delaware, recalled seeing an order posted from the War Department in Washington, D.C., saying that "in retaliation for hardships imposed on Union soldiers confined in Rebel prisons...commanders of Federal prison posts to reduce the diet of Rebel prisoners under their charge to one-fourth of the regulation allowance for army rations, and to allow no luxuries nor permit surplus comforts. The order was signed 'E. Stanton, Secretary of War,' and was attested by 'A. Schoepf, Brigadier General Commanding' and G.W. Ahl, Assistant Adjutant General."

On August 10, 1864, Stanton ordered the elimination of package deliveries to prisoners.

In September 1864, Isaac Handy wrote: "Since the embargo on boxes, we have had a constant complaint of hunger. Some men require a great deal more food than others, and these are suffering more or less, all the time, as the Yankee allowance is barely enough, even for those whose appetites are not so keen."

The Starving Times. --Old Secesh

A Prison Diary: 15 Months in Fort Delaware-- Part 1

From the September/October Confederate Veteran Magazine "Fifteen Months in Fort Delaware: The Prison Diary of Isaac Handy" by Karen Stokes.

Not just Confederate prisons were bad. Life at this northen prison was no bed of roses eaither.

"In 1863, Reverend Isaac William Ker Handy (1815-1878) a civilian clergyman was incarcerated as a political prisoner of the United States government. He was a middle-aged man close to 50 years old, and his health suffered during his confinement, but during the fifteen months he was held at Fort Delaware, he kept a diary in which he faithfully recorded his war experiences and observations.

After the war, it was published and now serves as a useful and reliable source of information on the conditions of the prison from July 1863 to October 1864."

--Old Secesh