Thanks for the information on the letters from these three Confederate officers who were held briefly as POWs at Fort Delaware!

Colonel William Henry Forney, 10th Alabama Infantry and Major T. E. Upshaw, 13th Virginia Cavalry were among the "First Fifty" who were sent from Fort Delaware to Hilton Head for the purposes of retaliation on 25/26 JUN 1864. A deal was struck and these fifty officers were not held under the guns at Morris Island. They were instead delivered and exchanged by name for fifty Union officers of equal rank being held in Charleston by the Confederates.

The First Fifty were delivered to Confederate authorities in Charleston Harbor from the US Steamer Dragoon on 3 AUG 1864 and declared exchanged at the point of delivery. This enabled them to immediately return to duty, if physically able to do so. The First Fifty are not properly part of the Immortal 600 who departed Fort Delaware on 20 AUG 1864 and endured deliberate mistreatment at Morris Island, Hilton Head and Fort Pulaski. The Immortal 600 survivors were returned to Fort Delaware on 12 MAR 1865.

Hugh Simmons

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