Above: Fort Delaware, June 1863 / Harper’s Weekly 1863-06-27: Vol 7 Iss 339 The fact is, Fort Delaware was never designed to be used as a prison. That, and the amount of space it occupied on tiny Pea Patch Island in the Delaware Bay, meant it was destined to become a chamber of horrors when…
“During the perilous and unsettled period through which Delaware passed in 1863,” begins historian J. Thomas Scharf, “there was less disposition to enter the service of the country voluntarily than the preceding year, and it soon became evident that a draft would have to be ordered to fill up the quota.” The draft bill that…
To my mind, it’s the perfect American Civil War border state story. Take a look at this 1970 aerial photo of Georgetown, DE’s Public Square and Circle. The two circled buildings are the Brick Hotel (bottom) and the site of the Eagle Hotel (right side). “One local folk tale concerning the [Brick],” says its National…
