Confederate Prisoners at Fort Delaware

During the Civil War, each side accused the other of mistreating prisoners of war. Today, most historians believe that there was systemic and deliberate abuse of POWs by both sides yet many base their conclusions on anecdotal evidence, much of it from postwar writings.
Drawing on both contemporaneous prisoner diaries and Union Army documents (some newly discovered), the author presents a fresh and detailed study of supposed mistreatment of prisoners at Fort Delaware—one of the largest Union prison camps—and draws surprising conclusions, some of which have implications for the entire Union prison system.

The late Joel D. Citron was a career chemist and a long-time volunteer at Fort Delaware State Park, doing first person historical interpretation of Captain G. S. Clark, the Commissary of Subsistence officer during the Civil War. He lived in Wilmington, Delaware.

Joel D. Citron
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 238
Bibliographic Info: 34 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6922-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2896-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments v
List of Abbreviations viii
Preface 1
1. Topography and Weather 5
2. Command Structure, Personnel and Administration 11
3. Prison Camp Administration and Security 19
4. The Food Ration 39
5. The Prison Fund 57
6. Shelter and Clothing 72
7. Water Supply and Sanitation 82
8. Outside Help 94
9. Medical Care 105
10. Death Rates: The Final Arbiter 138
11. Life on Pea Patch Island 154
12. FREEDOM! 175
13. Conclusions 184
Epilogue 198
Appendix: The Shotwell Fort Delaware “Diary” 205
Chapter Notes 213
Bibliography 223
Index 225