THE IMMORTAL SIX HUNDRED
CHAPTER TWO
FORT DELAWARE is built upon Pea Patch Island, in the Delaware River, midway of the stream between the New Jersey and Delaware shores. The structure is of brick, strong and durable. In the years 1861-65 the United States Government utilized this Fort and Island as a military prison for the confinement of its prisoners of war. On the grounds of the island were built large wooden barracks separated into compartments, one of which was occupied by the Confederate officers—prisoners of war—the other by the enlisted men of the Confederacy who were held as prisoners. In the officers' side of this huge barracks, in the month of August, 1864, there were confined about 1,500 Confederate officers, captured in different battles
59
