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Fort Delaware Confederate POW Albumen and Letter

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A good pair of Civil War era 1865 Fort Delaware Confederate POW related items. First is a hand tinted albumen, measuring 3 1/2" x 5" on larger mount, showing the fort from the Southwest corner with cannons bristling the tops of the walls while a large red, white and blue American flag flies above. Light soiling to mount…PLUS: a newsy Union guard's letter, 3pp. 8vo., written in ink by Pvt. John Keller from Fort Delaware, January 3, 1865, reading, in part: "…I just came off of guard this morning and standing out in the cold and loosing sleep makes me sleepy…". Several fold splits. Fort Delaware was used as a Confederate prison from the beginning of the war, but after the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg the prison swelled with nearly 12,500 new arrivals. All were huddled together on 75 swampy acres while during the war more than 30,000 prisoners passed through the fortress' gates. More than 2,400 died while incarcerated on the island and the vast majority of these were buried at Finn's Point, New Jersey, just across the river from the fort. No doubt the albumen was owned by the letter's author as they came together from the family and are offered for sale here for the first time. Both overall very good.

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