A Prison Diary: 15 Months In Fort Delaware-- Part 2: The U.S. No Longer Represents Its High Ideals

The Reverend Isaac Handy's journal is over 600 pages long where he recounted almost daily the events in camp. He kept his writings carefully hidden and was able to smuggle out parts with his wife when she was allowed to visit.

During the war,Handy was pastor of a church in Portsmouth, Virginia, an area under Union control after its capture in 1862. In June 1863, he was given a pass to visit family and friends in Delaware. While there early one morning in July 1863, he was arrested and sent to Fort Delaware.

His crime was that in a private conversation he had made remarks critical of the government of the United States. These comments were overheard and sent to a newspaper and printed. What he had actually said was that the U.S. no longer represented the high ideals that it originally had.

Fifteen Months a Prisoner. --Old Secesh