Fort Delaware Living History - ARGH! Will it happen at all?

Hello All:

At the January 24 Battalion Meeting, we discussed attending an overnight living history at Fort Delaware over the weekend of June 13 and 14, 2009. I will post more details as they are worked out with the park, but here is what I have so far.

The Park is opened for overnight interpretation on the second weekend of each summer month for groups of 15 or more, with the clause that participants stay for the Sunday interpretation as well. We have chosen the second weekend in June, as the bugs and mosquitos are less severe earlier in the season.

We are welcome to stay in the reconstructed prisoner barracks on Saturday night. Camp fires are permitted for cooking, etc. In the alternative, we are also permitted to use the restored Union mess kitchen inside the Fort, but only after park hours.

There is a Group Application form and a Group Agreement that need to be completed prior to the event. I will be happy to be the contact between the Fort and the Battalion. Thus, we can submit on set of group forms for the Battalion. I have, however, attached hereto a copy of the Group Application and Agreement forms for your perusal.

I will contact the Fort today and apprise them of our interest to attend in June. I will work with them on the possibility of developing and early war scenario, as was discussed at the meeting and will continue to update this thread with details.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Fort Delaware, it is situated on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, 1.8 miles from Delaware City, DE and 1 mile from the Jersey Shore. Over the course of approximately three years during the Civil War, this 75 acre island housed over 30,000 Confederate Prisoners. Further, the island was like a city in and of itself, being home to more that 16,000 other inhabitants.

The military/defensive significance of the island was first realized in 1794 while Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, chief engineer of the US Army, was surveying the ports along the Delaware River. It would not be until May 27, 1813 that the State of Delaware seized Pea Patch for construction of a fortification. Work on the fortifications were stalled due to funding disputes, etc. and work was not begun until December 25, 1814.

Ok, more to come...

Please feel free to direct to me any comments, questions or concerns.

--Jim