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Defenders of the great Colonial city of Philadelphia always saw the fortification of the Delaware River as its best protection. A three-fort chain of defense was proposed in the early 1800s to ensure just such protection. Fort Delaware, located on a low lying island in the middle of the river, was the linchpin in this network of defense. The island was called Pea Patch from the supposed grounding of a boat loaded with peas which sprouted in the sandy soil. Ironically, when Philadelphia was successfully invaded during the American Revolution the British sailed south of the Delaware River and attacked overland.
The first earthworks at Fort Delaware were erected during the War of 1812 but saw no action. It was torn down and replaced with a masonry fort built in 1819. Fire gutted the structure after 12 uneventful years and it too was demolished in 1831.
Work on a substantial fort began in 1848. Solid granite walls as thick as 30 feet in some places rose 32 feet high, enclosing an area of about six acres. In all, more than 25 million bricks were used to build Fort Delaware and it stands today as one of the finest examples of 19th century masonry work in the country. A 30-foot, water-filled moat surrounded the pentagon-shaped fort and access was limited to a drawbridge.
Fort Delaware was garrisoned for the first time in 1859. Two years later, when the Civil War erupted, the Commonwealth Artillery of Pennsylvania manned the fort. It soon became obvious that the Southern rebels would not be mounting a naval assault on Philadelphia and the fort was hastily converted into a prison. The first prisoners were a group of 250 Confederates captured from General Stonewall Jackson’s army after the Battle of Kernstown in 1862.
The wooden barracks that had been needed to convert the fort to a prison were designed to hold 2,000 men but within a year more than 8,000 men were squeezed into Fort Delaware and after the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863 the number swelled to almost 13,000. Conditions were predictably horrid. Almost 3,000 Confederate soldiers and political prisoners would perish in the harsh conditions at Fort Delaware before the war came to an end.
Following the Civil War, Fort Delaware lapsed into another long period of inactivity. In 1896 the fort was modernized and its sister fort on the New Jersey banks, Fort Mott, was activated in anticipation of the Spanish-American War. After again seeing no action, the garrison departed in 1903, leaving only a token caretaking force. After brief periods of activity during World War I and World War II, Fort Delaware closed in 1944.
Fort Delaware became one of Delaware’s first state parks in 1951. Today, much of the for has been restored. Costumed guards, officers, civilians and prisoners tell the stories of everyday life at Fort Delaware in interactive “living history” presentations. During the summer special “lantern tours” explore the fort at night and visitors are immersed in the hardships suffered daily by Confederate inmates.
A ferry provides transportation out into the Delaware River from either the New Jersey or Delaware shores. This “three-fort” ferry links with Fort DuPont, a military base used to house German prisoners in World War II on the Delaware side, and Fort Mott on the New Jersey side. Near Fort Mott is Finn’s Point National Cemetery which is the final resting place for more than 2,400 Confederate prisoners who dies at Fort Delaware.
Fort Delaware is open weekends and holidays from late April through September and Wednesdays through Sundays from mid-June until Labor Day.
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