Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware's Prison Community in the Civil War

393 Pages·2000·1.75 MB·English

by  Dale Fetzer

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Page i
Unlikely Allies
Fort Delaware's Prison Community in the Civil War
Dale Fetzer and Bruce Mowday
Foreword by Leland C. Jennings
Copyright © 2000 by Stackpole Books
Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books,
5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
Fetzer, Dale, and Mowday, Bruce.
Unlikely allies : Fort Delaware's prison community in the Civil War / Dale Fetzer and
Bruce Mowday. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8117-1823-9
1. Fort Delaware (Del.) 2. United StatesHistoryCivil War, 18611865
Prisoners and prisons. 3. Prisoners of warDelawareFort DelawareHistory
19th century. I. Mowday, Bruce.
II. Title.
E616.D3F48 1999 99-29577
973.7'72dc21 CIP
Page iii
Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice
Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
Be not dishearten'd, affection shall solve the
problems of freedom yet,
Those who love each other shall become invincible,
They shall yet make Columbia victorious.
Sons of the Mother of All, you shall yet be victorious,
You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all
the remainder of the earth.
No danger shall balk Columbia's lovers,
If need be a thousand shall sternly immolate
themselves for one.
One from Massachusetts shall be a Missourian's comrade,
From Maine and from hot Carolina, and another
an Oregonese, shall be friends triune,
More precious to each other than all the
riches of the earth.
To Michigan, Florida perfumes shall tenderly come,
Not the perfumes of flowers, but sweeter, and
wafted beyond death.
It shall be customary in the houses and
streets to see manly affection,
The most dauntless and rude shall touch face
to face lightly,
The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,
The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.
These shall tie you and band you stronger
than hoops of iron,
I, ecstatic, O partners! O lands! With the love
of lovers tie you.
(Were you looking to be held together by lawyers?
Or by an agreement on a paper? Or by arms?
Nay, nor the world, nor any living thing, will so cohere.)
Walt Whitman
Page v
Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1 1
Prelude
Chapter 2 31
1861
Chapter 3 49
1862
Chapter 4 84
1863
Chapter 5 120
1864
Chapter 6 129
1865
Epilogue 147
Appendices 151
Notes 159
Bibliography 167
Index 171

Page vii
Foreword
by Leland C. Jennings
The viewing of an artist's masterpiece is always a deeply moving
experience. The painting, the sculpture, the poem, or whatever form
the work may assume conveys the deepest instincts of the artist in
such a powerful way that the beholder cannot help being moved. It is
rare that an architectural work designed primarily for destructive
purposes would stir such a profoundly emotional response. Yet John
Sanders's masterpiece on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River is a
magnificent structure. Sanders did not live to see the completion of his
work, but from the grillage timbers of its foundations to the fine,
finished brickwork of its casemates, Fort Delaware bears the stamp of
a man whose great attention to detail and ability to overcome
incredible logistical difficulties raised it out of the compressible mud
of Pea Patch Island.
Six years ago, I began to research Fort Delaware. The primary focus
was to locate the engineering documents required for preservation and
stabilization of the old fort. Sanders's notes, his letters to the
engineering department, and his daily orders shaped a story not so
much of the construction of a gun battery but, more to the point, the
construction of a town. The story of the brick-and-granite structure is
inextricably woven with the story of those who built and maintained
it. The research project grew to encompass the lives of the workers,
the soldiers, and those who were imprisoned during the War between
the States.
The story continued and took a number of surprising twist and turns.
The postwar years found Fort Delaware in caretaker status but still
very much a vibrant town. Families and descendants of the men who
had built the fort still occupied the buildings both inside and outside
the walls. In 1860 Patrick Gunning, an Irish immigrant, came to the
fort as a carpenter. He lived out the rest
Page viii
of his life on Pea Patch Island, married a laundress, and raised five
children. Most of the children remained on Pea Patch as well. Mrs.
Paterson's inn became a hunting lodge operated by the Gunning
family, and once again proved a very profitable business.
The twentieth century took a toll on Sanders's work. Projects intended
to modernize the fort necessitated the removal of buildings both inside
and outside the walls. The most significant act took place in the first
decade, when the Army Corps of Engineers shaped a plan to prevent
storm surges from flooding the small island, creating a nearby
channel-dredging project that deposited millions of cubic feet of
dredge spoils. The muddy sludge filled the island to the top of the
seawall, simultaneously changing its topography and entombing its
most significant artifacts. The island fortress was manned and ready in
World War I and briefly during World War II. In 1943 the official
curtain finally came down.
The late 1940s and early 1950s were witness to the looting of Fort
Delaware. The war effort was in need of scrap metals, so local
"patriots" removed iron stairs, traverse rails, and even 10,000-pound
cannons for profit. Teak powder-magazine doors, as well as the oak
walls, were removed. Brass and bronze, steel, iron, and hardwoods all
fetched handsome prices. Many a home added doors or windows.
Others in the area soon sported granite steps or stoops.
Time and weather also took a toll on the hard fabric of Fort Delaware.
Chimneys toppled, water and ice split stone and brick, insects
devoured the woodwork. Fortunately, Sanders's work inherited the
staunch will of its builder. The primary structures conceived and
executed by the brilliant engineer are as sound today as they were in
1860. Sliding pocket doors in the general's office still glide
effortlessly, proving that in more than 130 years less than one inch of
settlement has occurred in this massive structure.