Civil War P. O. W. ‘S
a few months ago I found that my ggggrandfather James Marcus died after he was wounded at Gettysburg (July 3, 1863) and taken prisoner, held at Ft. Delaware/Pea Patch Island (buried at Finns Point National Cemetery in New Jersey). I contacted the Ft. Delaware society to hopefully learn more about my ancestors experience there, they kindly responded with the details they were able to find which was helpful to me😊 also included in the response was the following:
“if by any chance you have a photo of James taken before he went off to war, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan of the image (200 dpi or better) so that we can display his likeness on our photo boards and in our photo album on display in the Orientation Room inside historic Fort Delaware (Fort Delaware State Park) during the summer tourist season.
I look forward to hearing back from you!!”
so my question is: does anyone know where I would begin to search for such a photo? We never knew any of this part of our family so there’s no one to ask.
i have included the details of James Marcus that we’re provided by the Ft. Delaware Society to me:
The Fort Delaware Society database contains a brief entry confirming that James MARCUS, PVT, Co. K, 8th Alabama Infantry was a POW who died at Fort Delaware and was buried directly across the Delaware River in the soldiers burial grounds in Salem County, New Jersey. This cemetery became Finns Point National Cemetery in 1875 when the remains of Confederate and Union dead buried on Pea Patch Island were exhumed and reburied in the Salem County war time cemetery. I was able to examine James’ Compiled Military Service Records via www.fold3.com and find some limited biographical information via www.ancestry.com. We will be updating our database entry and creating a research folder in James’ name with the following information:
James MARCUS
- The search for biographical information on the name James MARCUS from Alabama turned up in the 1860 Federal Census household record of James MARCUS(54), born in South Carolina circa 1806, married to Rachael (52), and living in East Side, Cahaba River, Bibb County, AL with no children or other residents in household. Post Office for this household was listed as Centreville, Bibb County. {www.ancestry.com}
The Confederate Conscription Act passed 16 APR 1862 required all white male residents ages 18 to 35 years to be enrolled in Confederate service for 3 years or the duration of the war. Exemptions for slave owners, or their appointed overseers, were provided. The upper age limit was raised to 45 years at the end of September 1862 and some of the earlier slaveowner, or overseer, exemptions eliminated.
The 8th AL Infantry Compiled Military Service Records show that S. A. Edwards, age 27, a resident of Perry County, AL was enrolled at Marion, Perry County, AL by LT C. H. Seawell, Co. K, 8th AL Infantry on 18 FEB 1863 and discharged on 13 MAR 1863 “having furnished James MARCUS, fifty-six (56) years of age as a substitute”. Surprisingly, Edwards was due and paid the $50 volunteer enlisted bounty authorized under the Conscription Act (16 APR 1862) plus a pro-rated portion of a month’s pay – he received $58.43 on 16 MAR 1863 from Major Ambler, the Confederate Paymaster in Richmond. The 1860 Federal Census shows Seaborn A. Edwards (25) resided at Radfordville, Perry County, Alabama, with spouse Mary (20) and two children ages 1 year, and 2 months respectively. Seaborne, a farmer by occupation, reported real estate valued at $2,000 and a personal estate valued at $5,000 which indicates the ownership of slaves.
Question for you: When did Rachael MARCUS die? What would have prompted 56 year-old James MARCUSto hire out as a substitute in the late winter/early spring of 1863? Had Rachael died? Was he all alone? You indicated that he had several sons who served in various Confederate units. How are you related to this couple?
- The Company K, 8th AL Infantry muster roll covering September & October 1863 shows that James MARCUS was enrolled in camp in Virginia by Adjutant Jones as a substitute for S. A. Edwards on 13 MAR 1863. This muster roll goes on to report that James was absent as of 31 OCT 1863 having been wounded at Gettysburg on 2 JUL 1862 and left behind in a field hospital. The January & February 1864 muster roll contains the same information. The March & April 1864 Company Kmuster roll reports that they were now aware that James had died in prison, date, place and cause unknown.
- Federal POW records show that Private James MARCUS, 8th AL Infantryappeared on a list of sick and wounded Confederates in the Federal 12th Army Corps Field Hospital at Gettysburg on 4 JUL 1863. His capture in the field and subsequent transfer from this hospital was documented in two other records. The 12th A/C field hospital record states that he was suffering from a “shell wound of the shoulder” and that he was turned over to the Army Provost Marshal for transfer to a rear area general hospital on 6 JUL 1863. No other Union hospital records were found. He was received at Fort McHenry (Baltimore) and transferred to Fort Delaware – dates not given.
Fort Delaware records show that Jameswas captured at Gettysburg on 3 JUL 1863 and that he was received from Fort McHenry in the six day time window 7/12JUL 1863. His name appears on a list of deaths at Fort Delaware for the month of September 1863 stating that he died on 27 SEP 1863 from inflammation of the lungs (pneumonia). This could be related to unhealed internal tissue damage caused by the impact of a shell fragment in the chest and shoulder.
His remains would have been placed in a simple wooden coffin and carried across the Delaware River from the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital on the north end of Pea Patch Island to the soldiers burial grounds adjacent to the Government Farm in Salem County, New Jersey and placed in one of several long burial trenches with coffins stacked three deep. Names of the dead were supposedly affixed to the outside of each coffin but no records survived, or were even maintained, to indicate where any particular soldier’s coffin was located. Family members who wanted to do so, could not identify where their loved ones remains were located for removal after the war.
Ten years after the war, the remains of 135 Union dead and 187 Confederate dead that had been interred on Pea Patch Island during the war were exhumed and reburied in the Salem County war time cemetery. The cemetery was then officially designated as Finns Point National Cemetery. In 1910, an 85 foot tall memorial to the Confederate dead was erected in Finns Point National Cemetery by the Federal government. The names of 2,436 Confederate dead were presented on bronze memorial plates at the base of the monument. James MARCUS’ name appears near the bottom of the 2ndcolumn of names on Panel #8 (my personal numbering system) located at ground level, north face adjacent to the northwest corner of the monument.
Attached for your use are images from my personal photo collections showing (1) a close-up of James’ name; (2) a stand-off photo of Panel #8 after it was cleaned and remounted in 2018; (3) a photo of the northwest corner with Panel #8 (before cleaning) flagged for Memorial Day 2016 with Panel #8 in the center of the photo which looks eastward – the parallel burial trenches extend from the base of the monument eastward to a set of bronze tablets commemorating their deaths; and (4) a reverse shot from the roadway at the eastern end of the Confederate burial trenches showing the 85 foot tall Confederate memorial at the western end. The individual headstone markers seen in along the right hand side of the photo are from the 1930’s and unrelated to the Civil War dead.
That’s as much as I can tell you about your ancestor James MARCUS. We would like to have a better understanding of his life before the war and perhaps your understanding of what drove him to enlist as a substitute at his “advanced age” in the months prior to the Gettysburg campaign. And if by any chance you have a photo of James taken before he went off to war, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan of the image (200 dpi or better) so that we can display his likeness on our photo boards and in our photo album on display in the Orientation Room inside historic Fort Delaware (Fort Delaware State Park) during the summer tourist season.
I look forward to hearing back from you!!
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You hit a gold mine of information! Finding a photo will be difficult. I found some very old photos of family members by reaching out to DNA matches. I offered to share a photo of my 2nd great grandparents. My distant cousin laughed. He said that his aunt had 100+ photos of the ancestors. I contacted her and she really did and she gladly shared with me. She had the photos of the 3rd great grandmother.
Older the photos are seldom labeled, but this woman's mother had labeled ALL of these photos!
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Wow! I was fascinated by the amount of information your Ft. Delaware Society contact passed on to you. He really went above and beyond in providing you with details. I'm sorry that I would have no idea how to help you go about finding a photo of James. Photos were so rare that early that it would be a long shot to even suspect such a photo would exist. Good luck!
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