Hi Stan:

You and I have corresponded before concerning your family members who were "guests of the government" at Fort Delaware during "the late unpleasantness". I did a quick check of the Society database and we have information on Captain James Lile LEMON, Company A, 38th Georgia Infantry supplied by another family member. Captured at Knoxville on 29 NOV 1863, he was received at Fort Delaware on 25 MAR 1864. Housed in "Division 35" [a barracks room in the Officers pen], he was released upon taking the Oath of Allegiance on 12 JUN 1865 under General Orders No. 109. We have a photo of him presumably in uniform, but I will have to take a look at it to say with certainty. If you have now, or obtain in the future, a copy of his CMSR, the Society would appreciate receiving a photocopy from you for our archives.

I did not find "Alexander BORING" listed in the database. If BORING was not his surname, tell me what was and I will take another look. Released in June 1865, he, too, would have been covered by General Orders No. 109 and taken the Oath of Allegiance in order to secure his personal release.

>>> Fort Delaware Clothing Issues <<<

I can't comment on clothing issues at Fort Delaware prior to July 22, 1862 when the Dix-Hill Cartel was signed, but I have not yet come across any documentation that confirms that the Union War Department issued "army surplus" or other Union military clothing to the POWs at Fort Delaware during the last two years of the war (i.e., the post-Cartel period from July 1863 to June 1865). What they did, instead, was to allow substantial amounts of clothing to be provided to the prisoners from outside the prison by local people who were either Southern sympathizers or members of local church groups. These folks lived in the Loyal states, or in areas of the Confederates states firmly under the control of the Union army (West Virginia, mainly).

The Reverend Dr. Isaac W. K. Handy, pro-Confederate and outspokenly opposed to Mr. Lincoln’s war, was a Presbyterian minister from Portsmouth, Virginia with deep family roots in Delaware (below the C&D Canal) and eastern Maryland. Dr. Handy kept an extensive diary of his observations and experiences while held as a civilian detainee (political prisoner) at Fort Delaware from July 21, 1863 until October 13, 1864. Handy was housed inside the Fort in comparatively comfortable quarters (Spartan and far from luxurious) until May 15, 1864 when he was transferred to the barracks in the Officers Pen which were far less comfortable than his former quarters. Thereafter, Dr. Handy was able to report first hand on conditions in the Officers Pen. Prior to being transferred to the Officers Pen, he was allowed to minister to the prisoners in the Post & Prison hospital and to wander about Pea Patch Island during daylight hours. He was not, however, allowed to visit the two prison pens (Officers and enlisted) out on Pea Patch Island. These privileges were withdrawn on May 15th. Deported to Confederate held Virginia in October 1864, he was one of the very few political prisoners allowed to leave without taking the Oath of Allegiance.

Reverend Handy wrote from inside Fort Delaware in his diary on March 24, 1864:

"General Thompson [M. Jeff Thompson of Missouri] is corresponding with a New York lady--Mrs. Medora Thayer--a sister of General Frank Cheatham, who proposes to furnish any articles of clothing, little or much, that may be needed for the comfort of the prisoners at Fort Delaware. Her liberality will only be restrained by the veto of the Commandant, or the prohibition of the Washington authorities. The General has accepted the generous offer, and the clothing will be distributed under his advisement."

"Colonel Duke [Basil Duke of Kentucky] received a splendid [gray] military overcoat, today, from his friend, [Roman Catholic] Bishop Wood of Philadelphia. The authorities say that they had to strain a point to permit its reception."

The Federal War Department saved bundles of money by allowing food, clothing, and money to be sent to individual POWs housed at Fort Delaware by outsiders. These "boxes" (the Civil War version of modern day care packages) were temporarily cut off during the late summer of 1864 as part of the War Department's policy of retaliation. But deliveries to the prisoners of boxes and packages containing clothing and money (but no food) were resumed on September 25, 1864, and continued to the end of the war. There was an almost overwhelming flow of correspondence passing through the Fort Delaware Commandant's office back and forth between prisoners and "friends" in the North. Civilian clerks were hired using money from the Prison Fund to supplement the military staff and tend to this chore.

Handy distributed clothing and other goods from time to time as he received them from outside correspondents for that purpose. Actually, the Union authorities, through the Confederate sergeants in charge of the various barracks, handed these out, since Handy was not allowed inside the prison pens on the Island until sent there himself.

Prior to June 1864, based solely on the judgment of each POW camp commander, prisoners received only "what they required" of a full daily food ration, and the monetary savings was accumulated in a Prison Fund account. Purchases of “articles necessary for the prison barracks and hospitals, and for meeting other necessary expenses of the prisoners” were to be made from the accumulated Prison Fund and a smaller, separate Prison Hospital Fund. A severely reduced prison food ration was ordered by Colonel Hoffman, at the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, on June 1, 1864 as a measure of retaliation against conditions in Confederate prisons. This ration was the standard until the end of the war. However, the Post Sutler was allowed to set up shop at the sally port of both the Officer's and the enlisted prison pens and sell various goodies like apples, potatoes, beer, and ice cream to those who had the money (sutler store credits) to pay.

U. S. Army Surgeon C. T. Alexander inspected Fort Delaware on June 28, 1864 and reported that the Fort Delaware General Prison Fund (established in July 1862) contained just over $17,000 at the end of May 1864. Commissary-General of Subsistence, Brigadier General A. B. Eaton reported to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton on October 20, 1865 that a grand total of $1.845 million had accumulated and remained unspent in all prison funds accounts under the “able and judicious management” of Brevet Brigadier General William Hoffman. Fort Delaware’s share of these unspent funds was $317,000 putting it in second place behind Point Lookout which topped all Federal prison camps returning nearly $570,000. Camp Douglas returned $180,000.

Gilbert S. Clark, a Union volunteer officer from Pennsylvania, was appointed Acting Assistant Commissary of Subsistence (AACS) and Acting Assistant Quartermaster (AAQM) for Fort Delaware in July 1862. At the beginning of the "Schoepf Period" at Fort Delaware (May 1863), Clark was promoted to Captain and Assistant Commissary of Subsistence. Captain Samuel R. Craig joined the staff as Assistant Quartermaster in September 1863. I have not seen Captain Craig's records, but Captain Clark was brevetted from Captain to Major on October 28, 1865 “for faithful and meritorious services” to rank from October 20, 1865. Major Clark was then released from active duty. I haven't seen Captain Craig's CMSR file, but I imagine that he was likewise rewarded.

A strange world indeed!!

Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Website: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: society@fortdelaware.org