Category Archives: The Immortal 600

23rd Virginia Infantry, Fort Delaware, The Immortal 600

1864: Emmet E. DePriest to Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor

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The following letter was written by Capt. Emmet E. DePriest of Co. H, 23rd Virginia Infantry (a.k.a., “The Richmond Sharpshooters”). Emmet began the war as the 3rd Lieutenant of Co. H but “the first three officers listed on the roll were either discharged, resigned, or not reelected. The most junior officer, Emmet E. DePriest, a young, 21 year old, third lieutenant was elected captain in 1862. His service records indicate that he was an able leader but sickly. He was cited for gallantry in 1861 at the action at Carricks Ford (Joslyn 1995:86) but in 1862 he wrote a letter to Confederate Secretary of the Treasury, Christopher Memminger, seeking a job as a clerk due to poor health stating he could not survive another winter campaign (DePriest 1862). He served briefly as a recruiter in 1862, was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, and suffered from neuralgia in Richmond hospitals in March, 1864.”

“DePriest’s future took a dramatic turn when he was captured at Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864. He was held as a prisoner-of-war at Point Lookout then transferred to Fort Delaware in June 1864 (Joslyn 1995). During his confinement, DePriest was sent to Charleston, South Carolina to be used as a human shield along with other Confederate officers known today as the “Immortal 600″ (Stokes 2013). This action was ordered by Edwin Stanton, Union Secretary of War, in retaliation for Confederate forces placing 600 Union prisoners in the line of Union artillery firing on Charleston. He was then transferred to Fort Pulaski where fellow prisoners died of dysentery. While he was being transferred back to Fort Delaware in March of 1865, he escaped (Joslyn 1995:86).” [Source: The Richmond Sharpshooters, Co. H, 23rd Virginia Infantry]

DePriest wrote the letter to Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor (1820-1885), the wife of John Rollin Bestor, Sr. (1813-1867). This Baltimore couple had twin sons who served in the Maryland Guard that became Co. B, 21st Virginia Infantry. Eliza seems to have corresponded with numerous Confederate officers seeking information about her sons. The Bestor brothers’ letters have been transcribed and may be found at 1861-65: The Bestor Brothers of Baltimore.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Fort Delaware, Delaware
July 26th 1864

Mrs. Bestor,

Yours of the 24th came to hand last evening and it affords me much pleasure to give the desired information. Colonel Fitzgerald 1 has been sent to Charleston, South Carolina, with a number of other officers from this place. Capt. Saunders and Adjutant [C. A.] Raine are here. Anything you may desire to send them can be sent by express. Lieut. J. W. Jones who is my 1st Lieutenant is not here. He was killed, I am afraid, on the 10th of May for there has nothing ben heard of him since. Mr. W. C. Tompkins is a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland. Mrs. McFarland can give you more information in regard to him than I can. Thanks for the news you gave me from my family. It is all that I have heard since being a prisoner.

How is [your boys] Rollin and John? I suppose you have heard from them lately. Hoping this has given the desired information. I am yours to command, — E. E. DePriest, Capt. 23rd Virginia Infantry

Mrs. J. Eliza Bestor, 166 North High Street, Baltimore

1 Colonel John P. Fitzgerald served in the 23rd Virginia Infantry. The regiment fought primarily under General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley and later as part of the Army of Northern Virginia. He survived a serious wound at Antietam but was captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and taken to Fort Delaware. He was among the 50 field officers (of a larger number of 600 Confederate officers) selected to be sent to Morris Island to be used as human shields. Fitzgerald survived the ordeal and the war.

5th Florida Infantry, Exchanged POWs, Point Lookout Prison Camp, The Immortal 600

1864: William J. Bailey, Jr. to Jane Eliza Bestor

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The following Prisoner of War letters were written by Capt. William J. Bailey, Jr. of Leon county, Florida. Early in the war he commanded the Aucilla Guards at St. Marks but when the 5th Florida was organized early in 1862, he joined that regiment as Captain of Co. G. Bailey led his company through some of the most brutal battles of the war—2nd Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and was with his regiment in Lang’s Brigade at Gettysburg where he was wounded and taken prisoner in Longstreet’s sunset attack on the Union Left July 2, 1863. He spent the latter half of 1863 and most of 1864 imprisoned at Fort Delaware. History records his having been selected on 20 August 1864 as one of the “Immortal 600” Confederate officers that were used as human shields on Morris Island during the siege of Charleston. Bailey was reported to have been bounced between several prisons including Fort McHenry (Baltimore), Johnson’s Island, Point Lookout, and Fort Delaware.

In November, 1864, some 200 of the 600 were removed to a prison on Hilton Head Island where they experienced conditions similar to those they did on Morris Island. Prisoners were driven to “catching and eating dogs, cats and rats,” according to Lt. Peter B. Akers. Here, Bailey’s health became so broken by wounds and confinement that he wrote a poignant letter to the Union authorities dated December 25, 1864. Realizing that he would die in prison if not exchanged soon, he sought a parole of 60 days to return home and effect an exchange. For this special consideration, William gave his word of honor to distribute whatever the Union authorities wished (within reason) to the Federal prisoners in the South. The request was denied and Capt. Bailey died of inflammation of the lungs on March 5, 1865. He left a wife—Maria Bolling (Baker) Bailey (1836-1885), and four children born between 1855 and 1861. [Source: The Immortal 600 at Gettysburg.]

Bailey wrote the letters to Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor (1820-1885), the wife of John Rollin Bestor, Sr. (1813-1867). This Baltimore couple had twin sons who served in the Maryland Guard that became Co. B, 21st Virginia Infantry. She seems to have corresponded with numerous Confederate officers seeking information about her sons. The Bestor brothers letters have been transcribed and may be found at 1861-65: The Bestor Brothers of Baltimore.

Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland, were quartered in tents rather than barracks, and guarded by Black troops in 1864. These tents were in poor condition and often lacked stoves to keep them adequately heated during the winter. When combined with the lack of blankets and clothing, prisoners experienced widespread suffering from the cold. [Source: Inside a Civil War Prison Camp: Sketches from Point Lookout.]

Letter 1

Pt. Lookout, Maryland
March 18th, 1864

Mrs. Bestor,

Robert Watkins Adams, Florida Memory

Madame. Yours of the 16th inst. to Lt. [R. W.] Adams 1 has been received & finding it from you, I took the liberty of reading it & determined to write you. Lt. A. left here on the 3rd inst. for City Pt. & I have rec’d a note from him at that place in which he said that he expected to leave for Richmond every moment. I presume in this he is enjoying all the sweets of a dear home surrounded by all the loved ones most dear to him. He was particularly fortunate in being one of the chosen few. I have heard him speak so often & so kindly of you that I feel that I am acquainted with you & therefore taken the liberty of answering your letter. I am much obliged to you for the kind sympathy expressed for me. Should I reach Richmond soon, will do myself the pleasure of writing to your sons. The exchange is still going on in an informal way. 50 officers & 600 men left yesterday. The members of Lt. A.’s old mess join me in kind regards.

Respectfully, — Wm. Bailey, Capt. 5th Fla. Regmt.

1 The Lt. Adams spoken of in this letter was Lieut. Robert Watkins Adams (1839-1886) of the 5th Florida Regiment. We know this because of another letter she wrote. There were a number of officers transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, and officially exchanged on 6 March 1864. He had been appointed 3rd Lieutenant in October (to date from August) and was promoted to First Lieutenant on 3 March 1863. He was captured again, at Gettysburg, PA on 1 July and was a prisoner on Johnson’s Island, near Sandusky, OH until he was exchanged on 3 March 1864. He may have been promoted to Captain while a prisoner, after Captain Frink was killed at Gettysburg. He went on sick furlough on 11 June, was in a hospital in Lake City, FL, and resigned his commission on 29 December 1864. See second letter below.

Letter 2

Point Lookout, Maryland
April 10th, 1864

My dear friend,

Yours of the 1st inst. with box did not reach me until yesterday & I hasten to acknowledge the receipt and thank you for your kind consideration in ministering to my wants. The books not only will drive off dull care & break the dull monotony of prison life, but will furnish much useful information. With these & the fair prospect of an “exchange” soon, I think we will be able to pass the time rather pleasantly compared with the manner of life for the past nine long weary months. Many thanks to you also for delightful eatables, which came like a shower of manna to the “children of Israel.” We are getting on more comfortably now. The weather more pleasant & the prospect of rejoining our friends at home more cheering now than ever. On my return South, will write to Mr. Tuller. Anything else that I can do for you will be most cheerfully done. With considerations of the highest respect, I am your friend, — Wm. Bailey

4th Georgia Infantry, Gettysburg Campaign, The Immortal 600

1863: William Wilcox Hulbert to his Uncle Alfred

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Lt. William W. Hulbert, 4th Georgia Infantry

This mid-June 1863 letter was written by Lt.  William Wilcox Hulbert (1838-1911) of Co. D, 4th Georgia while passing near Williamsport, Maryland, on the Gettysburg Campaign. The letter, which is signed “your affectionate but rebel nephew,” represents a communication between Hulbert, who was originally from Connecticut, and his Northern relatives. Flush from their victory in May at the Battle of Chancellorsville (at which Hulbert was promoted to 1st Lieutenant), Lee’s Confederate forces were on the move northward. Williamsport, which is just south of the Pennsylvania border, offered Hulbert yet another chance to send a letter without having to mail it across enemy lines. This campaign would culminate two weeks later at the Battle of Gettysburg, in which Hulbert’s unit fought. 

The 4th Georgia Infantry had one of the most illustrious records of any Confederate unit, fighting at 24 battles from Seven Pines all the way to Appomattox Court House (see History of the Doles-Cook Brigade by Henry Thomas). Lieutenant Hulbert himself had a particularly distinctive war history. After being captured at Spotsylvania while in command of the sharpshooters of his 4th Georgia Infantry, he became one of “The Immortal Six Hundred.”  These 600 Confederate officers refused to sign a loyalty oath to the North so that they could be paroled and consequently languished in prison. On 20 August 1864, angered by Southern treatment of Union prisoners, the North deliberately chose the 600 to be taken to Morris Island, at the mouth of Charleston harbor, where they served as a human shield to the Union forces of Gen. John Foster who were under attack by Confederate forces. After suffering through 45 days on Morris Island, the weakened survivors were sent to Ft. Pulaski where they continued to be mistreated and starved. Hulbert was paroled on 15 December 1864. The Immortal 600 continue to be honored for their adherence to principle under the most adverse circumstances (see The Immortal 600, Surviving Civil War Charleston and Savannah by Karen Stokes, or The Immortal Six Hundred, A Story of Cruelty to Confederate Prisoners of War by Maj. John Ogden Murray.

Jacket Cover to Karen Stokes’ book, The Immortal 600

William was the son of Abijah and Maria Wilcox Hulbert. The family moved from Berlin, Connecticut, to Atlanta, Georgia, when William was a young man. Before the war, he began his career with the Express Company where he remained throughout his entire life except for the four years he passed in the Confederate Army. When the began, Hulbert was running messenger into West Point on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. The West Point Guards was one of the crack military companies of the state before the war, and when Georgia cast her lot with the seceded states, the West Point Company tendered its services. Within a short time that company found itself in the Fourth Georgia Regiment, which was attached to the Doles-Cook Brigade, one of the first bodies of Georgia Troops to go to the front in Virginia.

[Note: This letter is from the personal archives of Richard Weiner and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

Bivouac near Williamsport, Maryland
June 15, 1863

Dear Uncle Alfred,

You doubtless will be surprised at receiving a letter from your rebellious nephew—especially at this time, but having an opportunity, I could not help writing you a few lines to let you know how we are getting along. Father, mother, and Clara are well and still living in Augusta. Edgar is at work for the Southern Express Co. at Atlanta. Uncle Edward is the express superintendent. His family are well. We have not heard one word from you or any of the rest of our relatives since war broke out. I have sent messages to you by prisoners that are paroled. Mother is very anxious to hear from you and Aunt Mary.

I have been in service now for over two years. Enlisted as private and now I hold a commission as 1st lieutenant, Co. D, 4th Georgia—Dole’s Brigade. I have been in several battles commencing at the battles around Richmond, ending in Chancellorsville. Was wounded through the left arm at Antietam, which disables me in one arm. This my 2nd visit to Maryland.

Now uncle, please let our relatives in Buffalo and Greenwich know what you do about us. Give my love to Aunt Mary, Katie, Frank, and our East Berlin relatives, Grandmother, Cousin Laura, &c.

Your affectionate, but rebel nephew, — W. W. Hulbert.