First reports usually showed a man to be missing and presumed to have been captured based on observations by their comrades in the ranks. Eventually, months after the capture, lists of POWs being held in certain prisons would be provided to the two War Departments with this information then flowing down the chain of command to the soldier's company. But these communications seemed to have been sporatic and incomplete. Sometimes word came back to the company of a missing man's whereabouts via a comrade who had been captured with him and later released on parole. Eventual confirmation of capture and place of incarceration appears in the various company muster rolls I have examined via the Compiled Military Service Records. The captured lists published in the newspapers don't usually tell you where a man was being held. Once the company received information on where a member of their unit was being held, individuals present for duty with the company would write home. Frequently, however, the company never did learn that an inidividual was actually captured and where he was being detained. Sadly, many families never learned what happened to their loved ones.
From the beginning, letters home from the Federal military prisons were generally restricted to a single page to keep the work load for the prison censors down to a manageble level. In the summer of 1864, letters home from Fort Delaware were further restricted to members of the prisoner's family. This was an attempt to reduce the enormous number of outgoing letters which had to be read and approved by a small clerical staff. POWs at Fort Delaware were also allowed to correspond with individuals in northern states asking for assistance in the form of money, food, and clothing. Letters addressed to civilians in northern states suddenly took on the salutation of "Dear Cousin" if closer kinship could not be claimed. Letters from Fort Delaware that I have read most most often included the return address showing the individual prisoner's name, rank and unit of service at Fort Delaware in care of Captain George W. Ahl who was the officer immediatley responsible for prison operations on Pea Patch Island from July 1863 until July 1865.
Letters home depended on literacy of the POW. There were those among the POWs who would write letters for those who could not, but they usually wanted something in return. There was an active barter system operating within the confines of the prison pen. Letters home from those who were literate frequently included comments about others from home who were also in the same prison with the individual writing the letter. That way the information could be spread by word of mouth among the folks at home. Surprisingly, letters were written and delivered between POWs in a different prisons.
Mail from home was critical to the morale of the POWs! Mail from home is critical to the morale of GI's everywhere!!
Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Website: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: society@fortdelaware.org