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This book gave me exactly what I was looking for....day to day experiences of the soldiers captured at Gettysburg who were imprisoned at Fort Delaware. Excellent resourrce.

My great great great grandfather was a prisoner here, and I have visited the fort with my mother and son. He is buried across the river at Finns Point National Cemetary with 2000+ other prisoners and guards who died of smallpox. I wanted to read about the life there, so this has been an educaton.

Unlikely Allies is a very thorough history of the famed POW camp on a tiny island in the Delaware River. It begins with the survey of the simple little mud flat known initially as “Pip Ash” Island by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the famed first chief engineer of the United States Army. Pea Patch Island which had previously been used as a bird hunting preserve had value for its strategic location to protect the Delaware River from enemy invasion.

Skillfully crafted by Fetzer and writer and journalist, Mowday, this history tells the story of this important federal fort in a readable and accessible format. From the time that L'Enfant surveys and reports on the island through the scramble to outfit it as a full artillery battery and the erection of barracks for use as a busy prisoner of war camp. Fort Delaware quickly becomes a full operational community and one of the most famous northern POW camps of the war.

Being the commandant of a POW camp is a thankless and often no-win proposition. The authors do an excellent job of covering the commanders and the various military outfits and their key officers who manned the fort. In every case most of the men would have preferred other duty. This tiny island would be home to many famous guests throughout the war. Not only were there high ranking Confederate officers, but one of the primary uses of the prison was for “prisoners of state.” That is the political prisoners confined there for a number of infractions in the north deemed to be treason. Some of these were as blatant as spying or colluding to commit actual acts of insurrection, but most were for less overt actions. These were among the thousands imprisoned for the duration of the war without charges or due process for actions like writing newspaper editorials critical of the Lincoln administration or members of state legislatures casting votes the federal government deemed damaging to their position.

If you have ever wondered about the role played by Fort Deleware or just wanted to go behind the scenes of a northern POW camp, Fetzer and Mowday do an excellent job of taking you there.

Keith Jones
Author of [...]

With stories of men dying of disease, succumbing to the elements and living life from mouthful to mouthful one would think that Fort Delaware was indeed the "Andersonville of the North". In its heyday over 16,00 men were held prisoner on this lonely island known as "Pea Patch" with more than 30,000 Confederates passing through its gates in just over three years. Yet, the true story of life behind the stockade walls was lost to history, until Mr. Fetzer and Mr. Mowday came together and published "Unlikely Allies". By using newly found primary source material the reader gains insight into the lives of those who had to eke out an existent on the island.
Prior to the 1760's no written account indicated that there was any stretch of land in the middle of the Delaware River. However, around the same stretch of time, local legend has it that a sailing vessel loaded with peas ran aground on an uncharted shoal and spilled its contents into the Delaware. These peas found the small mud flat to their liking and took root upon the shoal and pea patches began to sprout. As they continued to grow so did the island, giving rise to the local name Pea Patch.
During an expedition to the area, Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, chief engineer of the U.S. Army looked out over the Delaware River and settled his gaze upon the small bit of exposed mud and sand, he came to call "Pip Ash" Island. After his brief exploit to the island he wrote on 16 May 1794 to the secretary of war: " . . .went to the Pip Ash a bank forming an island opposite Eagle and Reedy Points. This pass should be well armed . . . I recommend a fort on Pip Ash, and batteries at New Castle . . .." He further noted, " . . . it cannot be questioned but that pass may be well armed, and that proper works erected there would protect the whole bank." So, with the wheels of defense set in motion, this desolate strip would be transformed in a community that survived all that Mother Nature threw at them, but the name Pip Ash was forgotten and the name Pea Patch stuck.
In knowing little about Fort Delaware, and going off what I've briefly read I had come to the conclusion that it was a harsh and bitter prison, but in reality life was just about the same for the guards as it was for the prisoners. Aside from the status of being labeled a prisoner, most everyone on this little island was held captive. Life was not pleasant but it was tolerable. The death rate among POWs was equal to the death rate from disease among civilians. Yet, life was not as bitter as stated by previous residents. True, some guards were ill mannered but overall the background of material presented in this work shows that the guards handed out humane treatment in most cases. In looking at the words of one prisoner, a Reverend Handly, he tells of comrades hanging by their thumbs, acute starvation, and enforced labor, yet his wife was allowed to come to Pea Patch and take up room and board at Mrs. Patterson's Inn and eventually visit with him. Not too bestial if you ask me.
This is a well-written and researched work on Fort Delaware. The authors put together sound research mirrored with quality writing to give the reader an enjoyable journey into the past. Cover to cover the reader will discover that human interest has been successfully merged with historical research. This work reads well, was hard to put down, and did not drag on into over exacting details and logistics. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about fortifications and prisons during the Civil War.