Captain Bezaliel G. Brown, Company I, 7th Virginia Infantry was wounded in the left leg at Gettysburg on 3 JUL 1863, captured and treated in a Gettysburg army field hospital . He was soon handed over to the army provost marshal, transferred thru Baltimore to the POW camp for officers at Johnson’s Island near Sandusky, Ohio arriving there on 2 AUG 1863. Brown remained at Johnson’s Island through the winter of 1863/1864 until transferred on 9 FEB 1864 back to Baltimore and delivered to Point Lookout POW camp on 14 FEB 1864. He remained at Point Lookout until 23 JUN 1864 when he was transferred to Fort Delaware.
Captain Brown arrived at Fort Delaware on 25 JUN 1864 and was admitted the next day to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital. He was released from the hospital on 7 JUL 1864 with the notation in the records of “possible pox”. On 20 AUG 1864, Captain Brown was sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina as part of the Immortal 600. After being held on Morris Island, he was delivered to Fort Pulaski on 20 OCT 1864 and was listed among the POWs present at Fort Pulaski on 26 DEC 1864. He arrived back at Fort Delaware on 12 MAR 1865 from Hilton Head. Brown was admitted to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison hospital on 11 APR 1865 and released on 1 JUN 1865. It would appear that he asked to take the Oath of Allegiance sometime after learning of Lee’s surrender and while he was sick in the Fort Delaware hospital. At the direction of General U. S. Grant, he was allowed to take the Oath of Allegiance on 30 MAY 1865 (apparently while still in the hospital) and was released. Transportation was to be provided to his home which was given as Albermarle County, Virginia. Brown was described as having a light complexion, dark hair, blue eyes, and standing 6 feet 2 inches tall.
Confederate company records show that at age 24 years he was enrolled in Virginia state service on 3 JUN 1861 at White Hall (Charlottesville), Albemarle County as a 2nd Lieutenant in Captain John J. Winn’s company (aka Holcombe Volunteers). This company became Company I, 7th Virginia Infantry when the regiment was mustered into Confederate service on 1 JUL 1861. The regiment was re-enlisted and re-organized on 26 APR 1862 under the terms of the Confederate Conscription Act passed 16 APR 1862. Brown was elected Captain of the company as part of the reorganization and served in that capacity until his capture at Gettysburg on 3 JUL 1863.
I am away from my personal archives visiting with family for Thanksgiving. I am sure you will find mention of Captain Brown in John Ogden Murray’s “Immortal 600” as well as in Muriel Philips Joslyn’s modern work on the Immortal 600.
A source of confusion in the Compiled Military Service Records may exist because there was a Bezaliel G. BROWN, Jr., age 26 years, enrolled in Captain Winn’s company as a private. He was appointed 2nd Corporal in April 1863 and was present with the company through 1864. No relationship between these two men is stated in the records and it was not clear what happened to this individual. War Department archivists have added to the confusion by showing “Captain Bezl G. Brown, Jr., Captain, Co. I, 2nd Regiment Virginia” as the officer who took the Oath at Fort Delaware on 30 MAY 1865.
If Captain Bezaliel G. Brown died near the end of the war, it was after his release from prison at Fort Delaware. I would be interested in learning more about Captain Brown.
Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Website: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: society@fortdelaware.org