“The journey [to Fort Delaware, November 1864] . . . occupied perhaps a week or more. It was made with a number of other prisoners on a prison ship. The route was down the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay; thence down that bay by Fortress Monroe through Hampton Roads to the Atlantic; thence up the coast of Virginia to the mouth of Delaware Bay; thence north up the bay to the fort, making a journey of many hundreds of miles. The weather at the time was very bleak and stormy. The sufferings of the wounded prisoners were terrible. Reagan had undergone a double amputation at Winchester and was from loss of blood in a very weakened condition. He was exposed to the cold winds on the upper deck without sufficient clothing. The officer in charge of the prisoners was asked to allow him to be moved to a more comfortable place or to furnish covering for him. His refusal was very brutal and positive. A companion, who was almost unknown to Reagan, then took off his own coat and spread it over him, thereby as he [Reagan] thinks saving his life. Owing to this kindly act he himself took pneumonia which terminated fatally. So it often happens that war and suffering bring out the best as well as the worst qualities in humanity. Conditions were not much improved on arrival at the prison. One might think from reading some of the prisoners’ letters that the stay there was rather pleasant than otherwise and that they were in no hurry to get away; but that was far from being the case. No criticism of guards or officers was allowed in any correspondence. Complaints of bad treatment to occasional inspectors only intensified the rigors of their prison life. The food furnished by the government often did not reach them. It was ‘grafted’ and sold. Money and boxes sent prisoners by friends were partially or wholly appropriated. They had no remedy. Fort Delaware from accounts of those who were there was one of the worst prisons. The guards were short term men or foreigners who could scarcely speak English so as to be understoood, and thought they would be commended for cruel treatment of prisoners.”
(History of Sweetwater Valley, Tennessee, William B. Lenoir, 1916, reprinted 1976, Baltimore Regional Publishing Company, pp. 303/4}