The Fort Delaware Society database (NARA Tape 40) shows that a Private S. F. MAUDDON/MAUDDIN, Company E, 42nd Virginia Infantry was captured at Gettysburg on 3 JUL 1863 and joined the 3rd Maryland Cavalry on special orders from the War Department while at Fort Delaware. No dates were assigned to any of these statements beyond his capture date. Your research strongly suggests to me that this a record belongs to the man you have identified as Private Samuel F. MADDOX, Co. I/E/F, 42nd Virginia Infantry.

You wrote: >>>Union POW records also indicated he was captured at Gettysburg, Pa., 7/3/63 or “gave up at Chambersburg, Pa.,” on an unspecified date. Received at Fort Delaware, Del., 7/6/63. There on 8/30/63 was “desirous of entering the service of the U.S.” Joined G/3rd Md. Cav. U.S, Fort Delaware, 9/18/63, age 30, under name of Simeon F. Mattox, Pvt. Although his enlistment papers were lost, he was transferred to the 3rd Md. and sent from Fort Delaware 9/22/63. He was examined again for enlistment and was rejected by the surgeon; was re-examined and received, but was not mustered into the unit by 12/2 or 8/63 when he deserted at Camp Schenck, Baltimore, Md. <<<

I have re-examined my notes on the records of several other men who joined the 3rd Maryland Cavalry in September and October 1863 from the Fort Delaware prison pen. All of the information you have presented on MADDOX/MATTOX fits the pattern shown in these other records. A point to be emphasized is that they were required to take the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware as the first step to being transferred. They were turned over to LTC C. Carroll TEVIS, formerly of the 4th Delaware Infantry, who was leading the effort to get these new recruits into the 3rd Maryland Cavalry. Colonel TEVIS then transferred these “citizens” to the recruit camp in Baltimore. There are several different transfer dates to Baltimore in these records and 22 SEP 1863 is one of them.

When Simon/Simeon F. MATTOX failed his first physical examination, he created a problem for the Federal military authorities. He was no longer a prisoner of war having taken the Oath of Allegiance and could not be sent back to the POW pen at Fort Delaware. So he apparently was passed and accepted on the second examination. His not being mustered into the 3rd Maryland Cavalry after passing his physical seems a bit odd, but could be factual. He would have been kept in the recruit camp until he “deserted” in December 1863. A significant number of ex-Confederates enrolled in the 3rd Maryland Cavalry deserted from Camp Schenck in December and January because they had learned that the regiment was to be transferred to New Orleans. The regimental organization completion date for the 3rd Maryland Cavalry is given as January 9, 1864. By March 1864 they were in Louisiana.

So far, everything you have reported fits a known pattern except the next passage.

You wrote: >>>Apprehended by 1/17/64 when he “was detected…as a Deserter from the U.S.A. as above name and organization [Samuel Merritt, 3rd Md. Cav] while a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware, Del., under name of Maddocks, 42Va…” Sent from Fort Delaware to Washington, D.C., on 1/19/64 for trial. <<<

The name “Samuel MERRITT” does not appear in the Fort Delaware Society database. I have read and re-read this passage from the document you sent, and this “detected as a Deserter from the USA —while a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware” still makes no sense.

After MADDOX/MATTOX deserted from Camp Schenck, he would have tried to disappear into the local population, not sneak back into Fort Delaware. Your earlier summary suggests that he physically left Fort Delaware in September 1863 and went to Camp Schenck in Baltimore where he failed the first physical examination, but was passed on the second. If, in fact, he were found hiding among the POWs at Fort Delaware in January 1864, then all of the above, including his desertion could not be true. Once he signed the 30 AUG 1863 “desirous list”, he would have been separated from the loyal Confederates in the prison pen and placed in the “citizens barracks”.

My assumption is that the physical examination took place at Camp Schenck, not at Fort Delaware. Without the enlistment papers to examine, it will be hard to be sure. The galvanized POWs who were enrolled in the 1st Connecticut Cavalry from Fort Delaware took the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware and were then sent to Baltimore for the enlistment process. They were first enlisted in Federal army service as recruits in Baltimore. A day or two later, they were enrolled in the 1st Connecticut Cavalry.

If he failed to pass the physical examination the first time, but passed the second time, all of this at Fort Delaware, he might not have ever been sent away to Baltimore in the first place. But he would then represent a special case – having taken the Oath of Allegiance, he was now a U. S. citizen. At this point in time, only those willing to enroll in the Union army were allowed to take the Oath. The problem then would be to figure out how this special case would be handled by the staff at Fort Delaware. I can’t conceive of any rational argument that would place him “undetected” back among the loyal Confederate POWs in the Fort Delaware prison pen. He could have been kept in the “citizens barracks” with others who offered to take the Oath but were not willing to join the Union army. But this group was relatively small and it seems to me that it would be hard to go “undetected” in the citizens barracks for four months unless some Union staffer was trying to cover something up.

I am inclined to think that this is just a poorly worded passage by some bored Federal clerk.

Let’s assume that he went to Camp Schenck in September 1863, deserted in early December, and was apprehended as a deserter from the USA on 17 JAN 1864. Depending on where he was apprehended, he could have been sent temporarily to Fort Delaware as a Union army deserter, held briefly until identified, and then forwarded to Old Capitol Prison in Washington on orders from the War Department.

You wrote: >>>Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C., to 5/3/64 when ordered to his regiment for trial as a deserter. Under name of Samuel F. Maddox, Pvt., I/42Va, at Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C., by 11/13/64 through 8/5/65. During this period, was hospitalized there, diarrhea, 11/13 to 23/64 when released back to prison; hospitalized, intermittent fever, 12/10/64 to 8/5/65 when released; named 4/20/65 as Simeon F. Maddox, Pvt., 3rd Md. Cav. U.S., on a descriptive list of deserters “not taken up on Co. M[uster] R[oll] of Regt.”; and had his charge of desertion ordered removed 7/29/65. 6’ 1”, dark complexion, grey eyes, dark hair in 1863. <<<

This all sounds like he was sent to Old Capitol Prison to await trial and kept there without ever being tried by an Army court-martial. “Ordered to his regiment to stand trial” meant being sent to New Orleans for a trial. Perhaps they did not want to be bothered with him. His army enlistment papers would have included his taking the Federal enlistment oath which was a separate step taking place after having taken the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware. The Oath at Fort Delaware canceled his enlistment oath to the Confederate States and gave him “citizenship” thus making him eligible to volunteer for Federal army service. The loss of these enlistment papers may explain why he was never brought to trial and why the charge of desertion was dismissed on 29 JUL 1865 after the war was over.

You have uncovered a bizarre but interesting tale!! Thanks for sharing all the data!!

Hugh