Fort Delaware

Fort Delaware
File:Fort delaware circa 2010.jpg Fort Delaware (circa 2010)
Active	1813-1945
Country	United States
Branch	Regular Army
Type	Third System Fort
Role	Seacoast Artillery
Part of	United States Army
Garrison/HQ	Pea Patch Island
Engagements	War of 1812 Civil War Spanish-American War World War One World War Two
Commanders
Current commander	N/A
Notable commanders	Captain Samuel Babcock Major Andrew C. Fanning Major Benjamin K. Pierce Captain Richard Delafield Major John Sanders Captain John Newton Captain Augustus A. Gibson Major Henry S. Burton Lt. Col. Delevan D. Perkins Colonel Robert C. Buchanan Brig. General Albin Francisco Schoepf Captain Alanson Merwin Randol Colonel George Ruhlen

Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
File:Fort Delaware LOC 384066pu.jpg
Fort Delaware is located in Delaware File:Red pog.svg
Location:	Fort Delaware State Park, Pea Patch Island, New Castle County, Delaware, USA
Nearest city:	Delaware City, Delaware
Coordinates:	39°35′24″N 75°34′19″W
Built:	1848-1859
Architect:	Joseph G. Totten
Architectural style(s):	Third System Fort
Governing body:	State
Added to NRHP:	December 16, 1971
NRHP Reference#:	71000226

Fort Delaware is a harbor defense facility, designed by Chief Engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten, and located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River. During the American Civil War, the Union used Fort Delaware as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, and federal convicts. The fort and the island currently belong to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and encompasses a living history museum, located in Fort Delaware State Park.

History

In 1794, the French military engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant was surveying for defensive sites. He identified an island that he called Pip Ash "as an ideal site for the defense of the prize of American commerce and culture".

The island that L'Enfant called Pip Ash was locally known as Pea Patch island. This island was mostly unaffected by humanity with one exception. Dr. Henry Gale, a New Jersey resident, used Pea Patch as a private hunting ground. Gale was offered $30,000 for the island by the US military, but he refused. The military was determined to get the island, so they appealed to the Delaware state legislature, which seized the island from Dr. Gale on May 27, 1813.

Second System Fort Construction

File:Fort delaware.jpeg

Fort Delaware, Delaware by Seth Eastman (1808-1875), painted 1870-1875

Construction of a star fort on Pea Patch island began sometime before Dec 8, 1817. Chief Engineer Joseph Gardner Swift mentions a fort on the "Pea Patch in Delaware river" among forts that are progressing nicely. Construction was delayed years past the proposed date due to uneven settling and the marshy island environment. In 1831, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent Pt. Stephen Tuttle, West Point Class of 1820, to evaluate the foundation issue and offer solutions. On February 8, 1831, A fire originating in Lt. Stephen Tuttle's quarters, destroyed much of the work, burning until the next morning. Major Benjamin K. Pierce, post commander, was allowed to use the arsenal in New Castle, Delaware as barracks until "Fort Delaware can be reoccupied." Captain Richard Delafield asked for $10,000 to tear down the remaining structure the following year. The structure was torn down in 1833.

Third System Fort Construction

File:Engineer department overlay of the three Fort Delaware structures.jpg

Engineer drawing of the three versions of Fort Delaware. The original star fort, larger Delafield version, and the Totten fort that still stands today.

Captain Delafield desired to "erect a marvel of military architecture on Pea Patch." Delafield's fort was never built due to a decade long legal battle over island ownership which halted construction. The present structure was erected between 1848 and 1859, becoming the largest fort in the United States at the time. Major John Sanders, Captain George B. McClellan, Major John Newton, Lieutenant William Craighill, and Lieutenant Montgomery Meigs are a few of the army engineers that were involved with the project. According to official records, Major Sanders even utilized the rubble from the old star fort to reenforce the seawall around the island. The sandstone remnants can still be see today.

In 1862, during the Civil War, the island became a prison for captured Confederate soldiers and sailors, convicted federal soldiers (Company Q), and local Southern sympathizers. Originally prisoners were housed inside the fort and later in wooden barracks that soon covered much of the island. Most of the Confederates captured at Gettysburg were imprisoned there. By August 1863, there were 11,000 prisoners on the island; by war’s end, it had held some 33,000 men. The conditions were decent, but about 2,400 prisoners died at Fort Delaware. Statistically, confederates had a better chance of dying from disease on the battlefield than a prisoner at Fort Delaware. (See also: Civil War POW Prisons and Camps)

The fort was also used to organize and muster troops from the first state. Ahl's Independent Battery of Heavy Artillery was organized there for garrison duty and served there during its entire service. Other units stationed at Fort Delaware during the Civil War include, Collis' Zouaves de Afrique, 19th New York Volunteers, Mlotkowski's Independent Battery A, Young's Independent Battery G Pittsburgh Heavy Artillery, 5th Delaware Infantry, 6th Delaware Infantry, 9th Delaware Infantry, 5th Maryland Infantry, 11th Maryland Infantry, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, 157th Pennsylvania Infantry, 201st Pennsylvania Infantry, 215th Pennsylvania, 157th Ohio Infantry, 196th Ohio, and zouaves of the 165th New York Infantry.

Notable Fort Delaware Personalities

Name	Allegiance	Year(s)	Notes
Captain George B. McClellan	North	1851	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Captain Charles H.T. Collis	North	1862	Collis' Zouaves de Afrique, Medal of Honor recipient
Julia Anne Jefferson	North	1862–1865	Contributed to health and welfare of confederate prisoners
Lydia Anne Jefferson	North	1862–1865	Contributed to health and welfare of confederate prisoners
Private Alexander J. Hamilton	North	1862–1865	Independent Battery G, Pittsburgh Heavy Artillery
Sergeant Bishop Crumrine	North	1862–1865	Independent Battery G, Pittsburgh Heavy Artillery
Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew	South	1862	First Confederate general imprisoned
Robert Wood	North	1863	Civilian contractor, Robert Wood & Co. Iron Works
John McArthur Jr.	North	1863	Philadelphia Architect, designed fort's "U.S. Hospital"
Captain Lammot du Pont I	North	1863	Company B, 5th Delaware Infantry
Private Max Neugas	South	1863–1865	Jewish Confederate and sketch artist
Brigadier General James J. Archer	South	1863 & 1864	Captured at battle of Gettysburg
Major Washington G. Nugent	North	1863–1865	Surgeon, "My Darling Wife: Letters of Washington Nugent"
Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson	South	1864	Known as the "Missouri Swamp Fox"
Brigadier General Robert B. Vance	South	1864–1865	Longest imprisoned Confederate general
Major General Franklin Gardner	South	1864	Captured after the fall of Port Hudson
Major General Edward Johnson	South	1864	Captured at battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Brigadier General George H. Steuart	South	1864	known as George "Maryland" Steuart
John Lawrence Gihon	North	1864–1869	Extensively photographed soldiers, prisoners, and fort
Private Baldwin Coolidge	North	1864	6th Massachusetts Infantry (fort sketch artist)
Private William J. Fletcher	North	1864	6th Massachusetts Infantry (published letters post-war)
Brigadier General Robert Page	South	1865	N/A
Brigadier General Thomas James Churchill	South	1865	Held as POW during the Mexican-American War
Brigadier General John R. Jones	South	1865	N/A
Lieutenant General Joseph Wheeler	South	1865	Highest ranking Confederate general held
Reverend Isaac W.K. Handy	South	1863–1864	Political prisoner, published "United States Bonds" (1874)
Colonel Francis Lubbock	South	1865	Ninth Governor of Texas (when captured)
Colonel Burton Harrison	South	1865–1866	Last Confederate prisoner released
Lieutenant McHenry Howard	South	1864	grandson of Francis Scott Key
Captain Samuel Taylor	South	1864	grandson of President Zachary Taylor
Colonel Basil W. Duke	South	1864	General John Hunt Morgan's brother-in-law
Private Bailey Peyton Key	South	1864	Youngest (14-years old) Confederate combatant held

The Fort today

File:FortDelaware.jpg

Fort Delaware.

Delaware acquired the fort from the United States government in 1947 after the Pentagon declared it a "surplus site". Today, Fort Delaware State Park encompasses all of Pea Patch Island, including the Fort. Transportation to the island is provided via ferry. Once at the island, visitors are brought to the fort on a jitney. Tours and special programs are available to visitors. For example, visitors may see, daily, the 8 inch Columbiad gun fired which is located on the northwest bastion. Park staff, AmeriCorps members, and Fort Delaware Society volunteers interpret the roles of people who were at the fort during the Civil War.

Beach erosion affecting Pea Patch Island was recognized as a potential threat to the Fort in 1999. The United States Army Corps of Engineers erected a 3,500-foot-long seawall during the Winter of 2005-2006 which now protects the historical fort site and a migratory bird rookery, considered to be the largest such habitat north of Florida.

Each year in the second week of June, there is an "Escape from Fort Delaware" triathlon, where entrants follow in the footsteps of the 52 escapees from the Civil War prison. A boat shuttles the athletes out to Fort Delaware, a Civil War historical interpreter fires a musket to start the race, the swimmers jump into the Delaware River, and swim back to land and then do the bike and run events, finishing on the town green in Delaware City, Delaware.

Fort Delaware has its share of ghost stories and has recently been under investigation for paranormal activity. The Sci-Fi Channel investigation series Ghost Hunters conducted two cases there including a live televised investigation on Halloween in 2008.

The British series Most Haunted also did an investigation of the fort in their 11th series of the show.

Books

• William J. Fletcher, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, wrote "A Soldier for One-Hundred Days" published in 1955.
• Isaac W.K. Handy, former political prisoner, wrote "United States Bonds Or Duress By Federal Authority: A Journal Of Current Events During An Imprisonment Of Fifteen Months, At Fort Delaware" in 1874. It is published by Turnbull Brothers.
• Bruce Mowday and Dale Fetzer wrote Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware's Prison Community in the Civil War in 2000. It is published by Stackpole Books.
• Laura M. Lee and Brendan Mackie wrote "Images of America: Fort Delaware" in 2010. It is published by Arcadia Publishers.

References

• Parts of the article adapted from a Senate website, a product of the US Government
• History of Ft. Delaware at the Wayback Machine (archived September 15, 2006).

External links

• Fort Delaware Society
• Listing and aerial photograph at the Historic American Engineering Record
• Listing and photographs at the Historic American Buildings Survey
• Escape from Fort Delaware triathlon

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