The Fort Delaware Society database contains information confirming the Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry was a POW held at Fort Delaware. I was able to examine his Compiled Military Service Records via www.fold3.com and we will be updating our research files with the following information.
Snowden B. ANDERSON
· There are no Confederate muster or other administrative records in the CMSR file for S. B. ANDERSON, Private 18th Virginia Cavalry. All records presented are Federal POW records. Generally the Federals only knew a prisoner’s military affiliation from what the man told them when he was captured. Many months later, it might have been confirmed through the exchange of lists of prisoners between the two War Departments.
Archivist notes on the cover card for S. B. ANDERSON, Private, Company F, 18th Virginia Cavalry state that “Most of the members of this Regiment had previously served in the 1st Regiment, Virginia Partisan Rangers (subsequently the 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry).”
Checking the CMSRs for the 62nd VA Infantry, I found two muster roll records for Private S. P. ANDERSON in Company F. Footnotes typed at the bottom of these two 1863 muster records for Company F, 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry read in part as follows: “The 62nd Regiment, Virginia Mounted Infantry completed its organization on September 9, 1862. It was composed of cavalry and infantry {companies} until December 1862 when the cavalry companies were united with other cavalry companies to form the 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry”.
My tentative conclusion is that “S. P.” was a transcription error made either by the original muster roll keepers or by subsequent War Department archivists when creating the Compiled Military Service Records around the turn of the century.
S. P. (S. B.?) ANDERSON, Company F, 62nd Virginia Infantry was first enrolled in Virginia service on 26 MAY 1861 at Grafton, York County, Virginia by Major F. M. Boykin. He was present for duty on 28 FEB 1863 and on 30 APR 1863.
I could not find any other potentially matching enrollment records and presume that these belong to Snowden B. ANDERSON from Frederick County (Winchester), Virginia. Familysearch.com shows that Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was recruited primarily from Frederick and Hampshire counties in Virginia. York County is on the peninsula east of Richmond and seems far away from Frederick County. Perhaps a company of early war Frederick County volunteers were sent to York County and were enrolled there.
· Federal POW records show that Private S. B. ANDERSON, Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was arrested on 14 FEB 1864 in Frederick County, Virginia by Captain James Humes, 15th West Virginia Infantry. He was sent to the Athenaeum Military Prison at Wheeling, West Virginia and confined there on 20 FEB 1864. He was described as a farmer residing in Frederick County, Virginia, age 22 years, with fair complexion, dark hair, grey eyes and standing 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was sent off to Camp Chase on 22 FEB 1864.
· Snowden was confined at Camp Chase from 23 FEB 1864 until 14 MAR 1864 when he was sent east to Fort Delaware where he was received and confined on 17 MAR 1864.
· NARA Roll 45, a microfilmed set of records pertaining to Fort Delaware, tells us that Snowden was housed with Division 18 in the enlisted section of the wooden POW barracks outside the fort on the northwest side of Pea Patch Island. Officers and enlisted men were kept in separate sections of this barracks complex for security reasons. Confederate prisoners, usually from the same states and units in the field, were divided into administrative groups of about 100 men called “divisions”. Divisions of enlisted POWs were placed under the direct supervision of a Confederate sergeant, himself a POW. Divisions of POW officers were allowed to elect a Chief, an Adjutant and a Post Master from among themselves to represent the group in routine interactions with the prison staff. These divisions ate together and bunked together. Beyond this separation between officers and enlisted men, we do not know where any particular numbered division was located within the complex.
· NARA Roll 47, another set of microfilmed records pertaining to Fort Delaware, has provided us with information on hospital admissions at Fort Delaware. Snowden was admitted to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital on 21 MAR 1864 and discharged back to the prison barracks on 1 APR 1864. No cause for admission or treatment was given.
· The surrenders of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House (9 APR 1865), General Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina (26 APR 1865), and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor at Citronelle, Alabama (4 MAY 1865) formally placed all Confederate army units and territory east of the Mississippi River in Federal hands. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department was surrendered on 26 MAY 1865 at New Orleans, although Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith did not sign the document until 2 JUN 1865 aboard a Federal warship in Galveston Bay. This last surrender ended the Civil War. There were no longer any legally sanctioned Confederate military units in the field.
President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation was published on 29 MAY 1865. General Orders No. 109 dated 6 JUN 1865 were issued by the War Department requiring the immediate release of all prisoners of war from captains down to privates against whom no charges were pending upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance. Transportation to a point nearest their homes that could be reached by water and/or rail was to be provided. Those who desired to do so could also take the Johnson Presidential Amnesty Oath after first taking the standard Oath of Allegiance. This general release order was received at Fort Delaware and the oath taking and releases begun on 9 JUN 1865. Releases were coordinated taking into consideration who had been imprisoned the longest and when transportation would be made available.
· Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry took the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware on 19 JUN 1865 and was released. His place of residence was given as Frederick County, Virginia. He was described as having a sallow complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Henry Robinson Berkeley, a Private in the Virginia artillery, kept a diary of his stay at Fort Delaware. Berkeley wrote on 19 JUN 1865: “I signed the Oath of Allegiance today to the United States government. God grant I may be enabled to keep it, without any temptation to break it.” The following day, June 20th, he wrote: “About dark I was called out with some thousand [1,000] other prisoners and given [a copy of] my Oath of Allegiance, which I had signed, and transportation to Richmond, and put on board the Baltimore boat. – When we left Fort Delaware, the Yanks gave us three days’ rations of hardtack and mess pork. We came through the canal which connects Delaware and Chesapeake bays and reached Baltimore about 7 A.M.”
It is highly likely that Snowden B. ANDERSON traveled to Baltimore with this same group. From Baltimore, he would have been given government transportation via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Harper’s Ferry and walked home to Frederick County from there. The old Winchester & Potomac Railroad connecting Winchester with Harper’s Ferry may not have been restored to operational condition at this time.
This is as much as I can tell you from examining the available military records for Snowden and from my own research notes. The Society would like to know more about Snowden. Looking for basic information such as dates and places of birth, residences, marriage(s), and death. Tell us what he did for a living after the war. And if by any chance you have a photo of him taken at any time in his life, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan (200 ppi or better) of the original image so that we can place his likeness on our Photo Display Boards and in our Photo Album.
We would also like to add your name to our descendant’s database and will need your snail mail address and telephone number of that purpose.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Hugh
R, Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Member, Board of Directors
Editor, Fort Delaware Notes
Webmaster: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Snowden B. ANDERSON
· There are no Confederate muster or other administrative records in the CMSR file for S. B. ANDERSON, Private 18th Virginia Cavalry. All records presented are Federal POW records. Generally the Federals only knew a prisoner’s military affiliation from what the man told them when he was captured. Many months later, it might have been confirmed through the exchange of lists of prisoners between the two War Departments.
Archivist notes on the cover card for S. B. ANDERSON, Private, Company F, 18th Virginia Cavalry state that “Most of the members of this Regiment had previously served in the 1st Regiment, Virginia Partisan Rangers (subsequently the 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry).”
Checking the CMSRs for the 62nd VA Infantry, I found two muster roll records for Private S. P. ANDERSON in Company F. Footnotes typed at the bottom of these two 1863 muster records for Company F, 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry read in part as follows: “The 62nd Regiment, Virginia Mounted Infantry completed its organization on September 9, 1862. It was composed of cavalry and infantry {companies} until December 1862 when the cavalry companies were united with other cavalry companies to form the 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry”.
My tentative conclusion is that “S. P.” was a transcription error made either by the original muster roll keepers or by subsequent War Department archivists when creating the Compiled Military Service Records around the turn of the century.
S. P. (S. B.?) ANDERSON, Company F, 62nd Virginia Infantry was first enrolled in Virginia service on 26 MAY 1861 at Grafton, York County, Virginia by Major F. M. Boykin. He was present for duty on 28 FEB 1863 and on 30 APR 1863.
I could not find any other potentially matching enrollment records and presume that these belong to Snowden B. ANDERSON from Frederick County (Winchester), Virginia. Familysearch.com shows that Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was recruited primarily from Frederick and Hampshire counties in Virginia. York County is on the peninsula east of Richmond and seems far away from Frederick County. Perhaps a company of early war Frederick County volunteers were sent to York County and were enrolled there.
· Federal POW records show that Private S. B. ANDERSON, Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was arrested on 14 FEB 1864 in Frederick County, Virginia by Captain James Humes, 15th West Virginia Infantry. He was sent to the Athenaeum Military Prison at Wheeling, West Virginia and confined there on 20 FEB 1864. He was described as a farmer residing in Frederick County, Virginia, age 22 years, with fair complexion, dark hair, grey eyes and standing 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was sent off to Camp Chase on 22 FEB 1864.
· Snowden was confined at Camp Chase from 23 FEB 1864 until 14 MAR 1864 when he was sent east to Fort Delaware where he was received and confined on 17 MAR 1864.
· NARA Roll 45, a microfilmed set of records pertaining to Fort Delaware, tells us that Snowden was housed with Division 18 in the enlisted section of the wooden POW barracks outside the fort on the northwest side of Pea Patch Island. Officers and enlisted men were kept in separate sections of this barracks complex for security reasons. Confederate prisoners, usually from the same states and units in the field, were divided into administrative groups of about 100 men called “divisions”. Divisions of enlisted POWs were placed under the direct supervision of a Confederate sergeant, himself a POW. Divisions of POW officers were allowed to elect a Chief, an Adjutant and a Post Master from among themselves to represent the group in routine interactions with the prison staff. These divisions ate together and bunked together. Beyond this separation between officers and enlisted men, we do not know where any particular numbered division was located within the complex.
· NARA Roll 47, another set of microfilmed records pertaining to Fort Delaware, has provided us with information on hospital admissions at Fort Delaware. Snowden was admitted to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital on 21 MAR 1864 and discharged back to the prison barracks on 1 APR 1864. No cause for admission or treatment was given.
· The surrenders of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House (9 APR 1865), General Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina (26 APR 1865), and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor at Citronelle, Alabama (4 MAY 1865) formally placed all Confederate army units and territory east of the Mississippi River in Federal hands. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department was surrendered on 26 MAY 1865 at New Orleans, although Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith did not sign the document until 2 JUN 1865 aboard a Federal warship in Galveston Bay. This last surrender ended the Civil War. There were no longer any legally sanctioned Confederate military units in the field.
President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation was published on 29 MAY 1865. General Orders No. 109 dated 6 JUN 1865 were issued by the War Department requiring the immediate release of all prisoners of war from captains down to privates against whom no charges were pending upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance. Transportation to a point nearest their homes that could be reached by water and/or rail was to be provided. Those who desired to do so could also take the Johnson Presidential Amnesty Oath after first taking the standard Oath of Allegiance. This general release order was received at Fort Delaware and the oath taking and releases begun on 9 JUN 1865. Releases were coordinated taking into consideration who had been imprisoned the longest and when transportation would be made available.
· Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry took the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware on 19 JUN 1865 and was released. His place of residence was given as Frederick County, Virginia. He was described as having a sallow complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Henry Robinson Berkeley, a Private in the Virginia artillery, kept a diary of his stay at Fort Delaware. Berkeley wrote on 19 JUN 1865: “I signed the Oath of Allegiance today to the United States government. God grant I may be enabled to keep it, without any temptation to break it.” The following day, June 20th, he wrote: “About dark I was called out with some thousand [1,000] other prisoners and given [a copy of] my Oath of Allegiance, which I had signed, and transportation to Richmond, and put on board the Baltimore boat. – When we left Fort Delaware, the Yanks gave us three days’ rations of hardtack and mess pork. We came through the canal which connects Delaware and Chesapeake bays and reached Baltimore about 7 A.M.”
It is highly likely that Snowden B. ANDERSON traveled to Baltimore with this same group. From Baltimore, he would have been given government transportation via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Harper’s Ferry and walked home to Frederick County from there. The old Winchester & Potomac Railroad connecting Winchester with Harper’s Ferry may not have been restored to operational condition at this time.
This is as much as I can tell you from examining the available military records for Snowden and from my own research notes. The Society would like to know more about Snowden. Looking for basic information such as dates and places of birth, residences, marriage(s), and death. Tell us what he did for a living after the war. And if by any chance you have a photo of him taken at any time in his life, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan (200 ppi or better) of the original image so that we can place his likeness on our Photo Display Boards and in our Photo Album.
We would also like to add your name to our descendant’s database and will need your snail mail address and telephone number of that purpose.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Hugh
R, Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Member, Board of Directors
Editor, Fort Delaware Notes
Webmaster: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: [email protected]
The Fort Delaware Society database contains information confirming the Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry was a POW held at Fort Delaware. I was able to examine his Compiled Military Service Records via www.fold3.com and we will be updating our research files with the following information.
Snowden B. ANDERSON
· There are no Confederate muster or other administrative records in the CMSR file for S. B. ANDERSON, Private 18th Virginia Cavalry. All records presented are Federal POW records. Generally the Federals only knew a prisoner’s military affiliation from what the man told them when he was captured. Many months later, it might have been confirmed through the exchange of lists of prisoners between the two War Departments.
Archivist notes on the cover card for S. B. ANDERSON, Private, Company F, 18th Virginia Cavalry state that “Most of the members of this Regiment had previously served in the 1st Regiment, Virginia Partisan Rangers (subsequently the 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry).”
Checking the CMSRs for the 62nd VA Infantry, I found two muster roll records for Private S. P. ANDERSON in Company F. Footnotes typed at the bottom of these two 1863 muster records for Company F, 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry read in part as follows: “The 62nd Regiment, Virginia Mounted Infantry completed its organization on September 9, 1862. It was composed of cavalry and infantry {companies} until December 1862 when the cavalry companies were united with other cavalry companies to form the 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry”.
My tentative conclusion is that “S. P.” was a transcription error made either by the original muster roll keepers or by subsequent War Department archivists when creating the Compiled Military Service Records around the turn of the century.
S. P. (S. B.?) ANDERSON, Company F, 62nd Virginia Infantry was first enrolled in Virginia service on 26 MAY 1861 at Grafton, York County, Virginia by Major F. M. Boykin. He was present for duty on 28 FEB 1863 and on 30 APR 1863.
I could not find any other potentially matching enrollment records and presume that these belong to Snowden B. ANDERSON from Frederick County (Winchester), Virginia. Familysearch.com shows that Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was recruited primarily from Frederick and Hampshire counties in Virginia. York County is on the peninsula east of Richmond and seems far away from Frederick County. Perhaps a company of early war Frederick County volunteers were sent to York County and were enrolled there.
· Federal POW records show that Private S. B. ANDERSON, Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was arrested on 14 FEB 1864 in Frederick County, Virginia by Captain James Humes, 15th West Virginia Infantry. He was sent to the Athenaeum Military Prison at Wheeling, West Virginia and confined there on 20 FEB 1864. He was described as a farmer residing in Frederick County, Virginia, age 22 years, with fair complexion, dark hair, grey eyes and standing 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was sent off to Camp Chase on 22 FEB 1864.
· Snowden was confined at Camp Chase from 23 FEB 1864 until 14 MAR 1864 when he was sent east to Fort Delaware where he was received and confined on 17 MAR 1864.
· NARA Roll 45, a microfilmed set of records pertaining to Fort Delaware, tells us that Snowden was housed with Division 18 in the enlisted section of the wooden POW barracks outside the fort on the northwest side of Pea Patch Island. Officers and enlisted men were kept in separate sections of this barracks complex for security reasons. Confederate prisoners, usually from the same states and units in the field, were divided into administrative groups of about 100 men called “divisions”. Divisions of enlisted POWs were placed under the direct supervision of a Confederate sergeant, himself a POW. Divisions of POW officers were allowed to elect a Chief, an Adjutant and a Post Master from among themselves to represent the group in routine interactions with the prison staff. These divisions ate together and bunked together. Beyond this separation between officers and enlisted men, we do not know where any particular numbered division was located within the complex.
· NARA Roll 47, another set of microfilmed records pertaining to Fort Delaware, has provided us with information on hospital admissions at Fort Delaware. Snowden was admitted to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital on 21 MAR 1864 and discharged back to the prison barracks on 1 APR 1864. No cause for admission or treatment was given.
· The surrenders of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House (9 APR 1865), General Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina (26 APR 1865), and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor at Citronelle, Alabama (4 MAY 1865) formally placed all Confederate army units and territory east of the Mississippi River in Federal hands. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department was surrendered on 26 MAY 1865 at New Orleans, although Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith did not sign the document until 2 JUN 1865 aboard a Federal warship in Galveston Bay. This last surrender ended the Civil War. There were no longer any legally sanctioned Confederate military units in the field.
President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation was published on 29 MAY 1865. General Orders No. 109 dated 6 JUN 1865 were issued by the War Department requiring the immediate release of all prisoners of war from captains down to privates against whom no charges were pending upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance. Transportation to a point nearest their homes that could be reached by water and/or rail was to be provided. Those who desired to do so could also take the Johnson Presidential Amnesty Oath after first taking the standard Oath of Allegiance. This general release order was received at Fort Delaware and the oath taking and releases begun on 9 JUN 1865. Releases were coordinated taking into consideration who had been imprisoned the longest and when transportation would be made available.
· Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry took the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware on 19 JUN 1865 and was released. His place of residence was given as Frederick County, Virginia. He was described as having a sallow complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Henry Robinson Berkeley, a Private in the Virginia artillery, kept a diary of his stay at Fort Delaware. Berkeley wrote on 19 JUN 1865: “I signed the Oath of Allegiance today to the United States government. God grant I may be enabled to keep it, without any temptation to break it.” The following day, June 20th, he wrote: “About dark I was called out with some thousand [1,000] other prisoners and given [a copy of] my Oath of Allegiance, which I had signed, and transportation to Richmond, and put on board the Baltimore boat. – When we left Fort Delaware, the Yanks gave us three days’ rations of hardtack and mess pork. We came through the canal which connects Delaware and Chesapeake bays and reached Baltimore about 7 A.M.”
It is highly likely that Snowden B. ANDERSON traveled to Baltimore with this same group. From Baltimore, he would have been given government transportation via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Harper’s Ferry and walked home to Frederick County from there. The old Winchester & Potomac Railroad connecting Winchester with Harper’s Ferry may not have been restored to operational condition at this time.
This is as much as I can tell you from examining the available military records for Snowden and from my own research notes. The Society would like to know more about Snowden. Looking for basic information such as dates and places of birth, residences, marriage(s), and death. Tell us what he did for a living after the war. And if by any chance you have a photo of him taken at any time in his life, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan (200 ppi or better) of the original image so that we can place his likeness on our Photo Display Boards and in our Photo Album.
We would also like to add your name to our descendant’s database and will need your snail mail address and telephone number of that purpose.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Hugh
R, Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Member, Board of Directors
Editor, Fort Delaware Notes
Webmaster: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Snowden B. ANDERSON
· There are no Confederate muster or other administrative records in the CMSR file for S. B. ANDERSON, Private 18th Virginia Cavalry. All records presented are Federal POW records. Generally the Federals only knew a prisoner’s military affiliation from what the man told them when he was captured. Many months later, it might have been confirmed through the exchange of lists of prisoners between the two War Departments.
Archivist notes on the cover card for S. B. ANDERSON, Private, Company F, 18th Virginia Cavalry state that “Most of the members of this Regiment had previously served in the 1st Regiment, Virginia Partisan Rangers (subsequently the 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry).”
Checking the CMSRs for the 62nd VA Infantry, I found two muster roll records for Private S. P. ANDERSON in Company F. Footnotes typed at the bottom of these two 1863 muster records for Company F, 62nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry read in part as follows: “The 62nd Regiment, Virginia Mounted Infantry completed its organization on September 9, 1862. It was composed of cavalry and infantry {companies} until December 1862 when the cavalry companies were united with other cavalry companies to form the 18th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry”.
My tentative conclusion is that “S. P.” was a transcription error made either by the original muster roll keepers or by subsequent War Department archivists when creating the Compiled Military Service Records around the turn of the century.
S. P. (S. B.?) ANDERSON, Company F, 62nd Virginia Infantry was first enrolled in Virginia service on 26 MAY 1861 at Grafton, York County, Virginia by Major F. M. Boykin. He was present for duty on 28 FEB 1863 and on 30 APR 1863.
I could not find any other potentially matching enrollment records and presume that these belong to Snowden B. ANDERSON from Frederick County (Winchester), Virginia. Familysearch.com shows that Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was recruited primarily from Frederick and Hampshire counties in Virginia. York County is on the peninsula east of Richmond and seems far away from Frederick County. Perhaps a company of early war Frederick County volunteers were sent to York County and were enrolled there.
· Federal POW records show that Private S. B. ANDERSON, Company F, 18th VA Cavalry was arrested on 14 FEB 1864 in Frederick County, Virginia by Captain James Humes, 15th West Virginia Infantry. He was sent to the Athenaeum Military Prison at Wheeling, West Virginia and confined there on 20 FEB 1864. He was described as a farmer residing in Frederick County, Virginia, age 22 years, with fair complexion, dark hair, grey eyes and standing 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was sent off to Camp Chase on 22 FEB 1864.
· Snowden was confined at Camp Chase from 23 FEB 1864 until 14 MAR 1864 when he was sent east to Fort Delaware where he was received and confined on 17 MAR 1864.
· NARA Roll 45, a microfilmed set of records pertaining to Fort Delaware, tells us that Snowden was housed with Division 18 in the enlisted section of the wooden POW barracks outside the fort on the northwest side of Pea Patch Island. Officers and enlisted men were kept in separate sections of this barracks complex for security reasons. Confederate prisoners, usually from the same states and units in the field, were divided into administrative groups of about 100 men called “divisions”. Divisions of enlisted POWs were placed under the direct supervision of a Confederate sergeant, himself a POW. Divisions of POW officers were allowed to elect a Chief, an Adjutant and a Post Master from among themselves to represent the group in routine interactions with the prison staff. These divisions ate together and bunked together. Beyond this separation between officers and enlisted men, we do not know where any particular numbered division was located within the complex.
· NARA Roll 47, another set of microfilmed records pertaining to Fort Delaware, has provided us with information on hospital admissions at Fort Delaware. Snowden was admitted to the Fort Delaware Post & Prison Hospital on 21 MAR 1864 and discharged back to the prison barracks on 1 APR 1864. No cause for admission or treatment was given.
· The surrenders of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House (9 APR 1865), General Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina (26 APR 1865), and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor at Citronelle, Alabama (4 MAY 1865) formally placed all Confederate army units and territory east of the Mississippi River in Federal hands. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department was surrendered on 26 MAY 1865 at New Orleans, although Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith did not sign the document until 2 JUN 1865 aboard a Federal warship in Galveston Bay. This last surrender ended the Civil War. There were no longer any legally sanctioned Confederate military units in the field.
President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation was published on 29 MAY 1865. General Orders No. 109 dated 6 JUN 1865 were issued by the War Department requiring the immediate release of all prisoners of war from captains down to privates against whom no charges were pending upon their taking the Oath of Allegiance. Transportation to a point nearest their homes that could be reached by water and/or rail was to be provided. Those who desired to do so could also take the Johnson Presidential Amnesty Oath after first taking the standard Oath of Allegiance. This general release order was received at Fort Delaware and the oath taking and releases begun on 9 JUN 1865. Releases were coordinated taking into consideration who had been imprisoned the longest and when transportation would be made available.
· Private S. B. ANDERSON, 18th Virginia Cavalry took the Oath of Allegiance at Fort Delaware on 19 JUN 1865 and was released. His place of residence was given as Frederick County, Virginia. He was described as having a sallow complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Henry Robinson Berkeley, a Private in the Virginia artillery, kept a diary of his stay at Fort Delaware. Berkeley wrote on 19 JUN 1865: “I signed the Oath of Allegiance today to the United States government. God grant I may be enabled to keep it, without any temptation to break it.” The following day, June 20th, he wrote: “About dark I was called out with some thousand [1,000] other prisoners and given [a copy of] my Oath of Allegiance, which I had signed, and transportation to Richmond, and put on board the Baltimore boat. – When we left Fort Delaware, the Yanks gave us three days’ rations of hardtack and mess pork. We came through the canal which connects Delaware and Chesapeake bays and reached Baltimore about 7 A.M.”
It is highly likely that Snowden B. ANDERSON traveled to Baltimore with this same group. From Baltimore, he would have been given government transportation via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Harper’s Ferry and walked home to Frederick County from there. The old Winchester & Potomac Railroad connecting Winchester with Harper’s Ferry may not have been restored to operational condition at this time.
This is as much as I can tell you from examining the available military records for Snowden and from my own research notes. The Society would like to know more about Snowden. Looking for basic information such as dates and places of birth, residences, marriage(s), and death. Tell us what he did for a living after the war. And if by any chance you have a photo of him taken at any time in his life, the Society would appreciate receiving a good quality digital scan (200 ppi or better) of the original image so that we can place his likeness on our Photo Display Boards and in our Photo Album.
We would also like to add your name to our descendant’s database and will need your snail mail address and telephone number of that purpose.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Hugh
R, Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Member, Board of Directors
Editor, Fort Delaware Notes
Webmaster: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: [email protected]
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