Escape from Fort Delaware

In the early days of the American Civil War, the Union-run prisoner of war camp, Fort Delaware, still had a relatively low inmate population (still over half of what it would become only a year later) and few problems. It was run by Captain Augustus Gibson, whose general philosophy was to show the same respect and treatment to the captured Confederate troops that he would hope to be shown if he was in their shoes. While the attitude won him respect from the very prisoners he was in charge of guarding, it also raised suspicions about his loyalty to the Union by some of his troops and nearby residents. He remained confident of his approach however and that confidence proved to be his undoing.

After a general had visited the camp and had expressed a specific concern regarding the lack of gunboat patrols around the island that could keep a lookout for escape attempts, Captain Gibson assured his general that he had things completely under control. Only a few weeks later, this would prove to be a big mistake. 143 years ago to this day, 19 inmates at Fort Delaware constructed a makeshift raft and managed to navigate it across the Delaware River to the shore of Delaware, where local residents aided in their escape. For the high command it was obvious that Gibson's overconfidence (and suspect allegiance) was a detriment to his command and he was removed.

Things changed drastically after Gibson had left the camp. The population continued to swell and the treatment of the inmates went from bad to worse. In total, the Union estimates put the total of successful escape attempts at 273, although Confederate estimates nearly double, if not quadruple, the number. Escapes from the island were fraught with danger. Those that tried faced everything from drowning in the swift currents to patrol boats to sentries to sharks. It is unclear about how many perished by attempting to escape, which might account for some of the paranormal activity reported on the grounds of the former prison to this day. During the second week of June, these escape attempts are recreated with the annual Escape from Fort Delaware Triathlon, which attracts around 400 athletes per year.

Read more tales of Fort Delaware.

-Casey H.

The Haunted Old West Ghost Town

On this date in 1863, the town of Virginia City, Montana was officially registered, although the townspeople originally opted for the name, Varina - a name that did not sit well with Union officials during the American Civil War. Varina happened to be the first name of Confederate President Jefferson Davis's wife, Varina Howell Davis, and its selection was no accident. At the time, the overwhelming population of "Varina" happened to be Confederate sympathizers, despite being in the heart of the Idaho Territory, which was in the Union. Rather than accept the townspeople's choice of a name, Union officials recorded the registration as Virginia City. The name snub by the officials was one thing, but there are some that wonder if those same officials were not responsible for a terror that was yet to come.

At the time, Virginia City was a booming gold-rush town with no law protection. Crime was rampant in the town until the arrival of a force of men known as the Vigilance Commission. These vigilantes took matters into their own hands, serving as judge, jury, and executioner and their methods were brutal. According to some, some of their "criminals" did nothing wrong outside being sympathetic to the Confederate movement. It is also said that much of the gold that was found in the town played a major role in funding the Union Army during the Civil War.

Virginia City, Montana still hosts a population around 100 today, although the structures and ambience are really frozen in the time of its glory days. Aside from being a popular tourist stop as a living "ghost town," it has also gained a reputation of another sorts. Today, the community is considered the most haunted town in the state of Montana - probably due, in no small measure, to its violent past. A popular tourist stop in town is with the Virginia City Ghost Walks, who pass along the paranormal legends that hide in the shadows.

Take a walk through Virginia City, Montana.

-Casey H.

The Haunted Battleground of Shiloh

On this day in 1862, Confederate forces launched a surprise assault on Union troops near the Shiloh Meeting House in Tennessee. The resulting battle lasted two days and killed thousands of men and left many more wounded. Even the Confederate general who planned the attack was a fatality of the fight. While it was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War up until that point, it would be surpassed by even bloodier battles that followed. Many years later the battlefield became a national park.

Like a number of locations associated with death and suffering resulting from the war, there are tales of haunting at the battlefield of Shiloh. Phantoms sounds are said to puncture the stillness of late night hours at times. An apparition of a woman in white is said to wander about Shiloh National Military Park, searching for those in need of help. There is also a pond that legend has it, has been known to turn red with the blood of soldiers who bled into the water so many years ago.

Venture to Shiloh National Military Park and learn more about the battle and the tales of haunting.

-Tom G

The Return of the Immortal Six Hundred

On this date in 1865, a large group of Confederate soldiers were returned to Fort Delaware or Pea Patch Island on the Delaware River. Most had been incarcerated in the prison the previous year and had been taken south as a strategic military ploy. In June 1864, a Union commander leading a barrage of cannon fire on Charleston, South Carolina had received word from his Confederate counterpart that fifty Union generals and field officers were inside city limits and in range of the firing. Whether the note was a considerate warning or a threat is not entirely known. What is known is that the Union reaction suggests that they believed it to be the latter.

Fifty inmates from Fort Delaware were assembled and loaded on boats to be used as human shields in retaliation of the Confederates apparently doing the same. By the time they arrived however, a deal had been struck and the prisoners were instead exchanged. Buoyed by the rise in their ranks, the Confederate Army immediately brought another 600 Union soldiers to the city in hopes of another exchange. Word trickled back to Fort Delaware that another exchange was imminent and the men were elated when 600 of their own numbers were loaded on boats and sent south.

This time, however, there was no exchange as Union officials immediately shot down the idea. Instead, the men would be used as human shields at Fort Sumter against Confederate fire under the guard of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; an all-black unit that had just received acclaim and lost many of their own during an assault on Fort Wagner - The events of which were depicted in the movie, Glory, years later. In addition, the Confederate prisoners were issued limited rations in an apparent retaliation of reports of how Union prisoners were being treated in Andersonville (see Andersonville National Historic Site).

As they were returned to Fort Delaware a year later, the inmates that swarmed to greet them were shocked and disgusted at the emaciated condition the men were in. Of the initial six hundred, over twenty did not return - succumbing to the horrid conditions they had been forced into. Yet another 25 would not recover and died at Fort Delaware. However, their refusal to take the Union's "Oath of Allegiance" and tenacity for survival in the most horrid of all conditions elevated them in stature and earned them the nickname of "The Immortal Six Hundred" throughout the south. Of the numbers they lost, none died by friendly fire.

Read more of the many stories of Fort Delaware.

-Casey H.

Jefferson Davis and the Anchuca Mansion

In January of 1869 (the actual day is unknown), former President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, spoke to the citizens of Vicksburg, Mississippi from the balcony of one of the town's mansions. The particular home was Anchuca Mansion, which at the time was owned by Davis's brother, Joseph Davis. Many sources cite the speech as his conciliatory remarks marking an end to the American Civil War, but the conflict had been over for four years by that point. Rather, it would be one of his last public speeches after having becoming essentially banned from political life for his leadership of the Confederacy.

His brother, Joseph, would pass away one year later and Anchuca Mansion would again trade hands. The property was one of the few in Vicksburg to escape damage from the famous Siege of Vicksburg that resulted in a Union victory, though it would see the damage caused by the lives that were adversely affected that took shelter inside its walls. Like other homes in the city, it is also ripe with ghost sightings and reported paranormal activity. The tales of the mansion, which today serves as a bed and breakfast, include the apparitions of a Civil War-era soldier and daughter of a former owner.

Read the history of Anchuca Mansion at Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.

Battle of Franklin (Part 2/2): Carnton Plantation

We return to the anniversary of the Battle of Franklin with a visit to the Carnton Plantation. Located in Franklin, Tennessee and just over a mile from the Carter House, this house was the home of a former mayor of nearby-Nashville, Randal McGavock, and his wife, Carrie. It was the site of great despair and grief even prior to the Civil War after three of the McGavock's children suffered a prolonged illness at an early age that eventually claimed their lives. When the Battle of Franklin came to town on November 30, 1864, the house and family would play a major role - Not in the battle itself, but during the aftermath.

It has been said that after losing her three children, Carrie McGavock spiraled into a deep depression and withdrew from the world. She would again find a purpose during the Civil War battle when wounded soldiers were quite literally brought to her doorstep. Reportedly in the heart of battle, there were so many injured soldiers brought to the Carnton Plantation that the wounded lined the house from top to bottom, as well as other buildings on the property, and more lined the property outside. Reportedly, the corpses of five Confederate Generals lined the porch as they awaited burial.

By all accounts, the family did everything they could do to assist the wounded from both the Union and Confederate side. After the doctors ran low of bandages, Carrie McGavock freely offered the family's towels and napkins. When they ran low, she supplied sheets, tablecloths, clothes, and even her own undergarments to patch up the wounds. Through her efforts and her subsequent mourning over the loss of lives, she earned the nickname of "The Widow of the South" and influenced a historical fiction novel by the same name from author Robert Hicks 141 years later.

McGavock emerged from her grief in 1866 when her and her husband decided to donate two-acres of the family's property to a proper Confederate cemetery. They even went so far as to actively raise money and take part in exhuming the over-1,500 soldiers that were buried on their property, as well as nearby-properties, and place them in proper graves. Today the cemetery is known as the McGavock Confederate Cemetery and sits adjacent to the house.

The house has since been turned into a museum that explores its historical past and is reportedly the site of paranormal activity. Ghosts of all genders and ages have been sited on the property and the sounds of the wounded are said to still occasionally echo from nowhere. It is even said that the ghost of a Confederate General is often seen by tourists to the property pacing back and forth on the porch outside.

Visit the makeshift Civil War hospital and read more on its ghostly past.

-Casey H.

Battle of Franklin (Part 1/2): Carter House

Over the next two days, we are going to explore one of the lesser know battles of the American Civil War and the lasting legacy it left on two locations in the city of Franklin, Tennessee - just south of Nashville. While technically the second battle to be fought in the city in the duration of the war, it is often referred to in more definitive terms as The Battle of Franklin due to the size and scope of the battle, which was dramatically larger than the first smaller battle. It started at dusk and went into the night of November 30, 1864 and is one of the few rare night battles of the entire war.

The 15-acre property of Fountain Branch Carter and his family played a crucial role in the battle when the Union Army of Ohio showed up on their front doorstep early in the day. The troops were moving north in hopes of joining forces with the Army of Cumberland in Nashville, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield led the troops who had fought with the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, in the Battle of Spring Hill the prior day. Schofield had utilized the road to Franklin that had been inexplicably left unguarded by Hood, who had hoped to prevent the two armies from combining forces.

The only major obstacle in the Union Army's path between Franklin and Nashville was the Harpeth River. The bridges crossing the river had been heavily damaged in the battle the year before and time was needed to make repairs. As result, Schofield commandeered the Carter's house to set up headquarters and quickly assembled a defensive front, while his engineers got to work on repairing the bridges. However, the Confederate forces were not far behind and arrived shortly thereafter.

Despite concerns over the Union's defensives from his generals, Hood felt that they were letting the Union Army slip away. After seeing the men on the bridges, he felt he had little time to stop Schofield's troops from escaping and joining forces with the Army of the Cumberland to the north. At dusk, he ordered a massive frontal assault that has since been dubbed "Pickett's Charge of the West," though in essence it was much larger than the ill-fated assault at Gettysburg. However, the overall result would be similarly devastating to his forces.

At the Carter's home, the family huddled in the basement for five hours as the battle raged around them. Right outside the basement's windows, Union and Confederate troops were engaged in hand-to-hand combat and men were literally dying only feet away from the family. Among the troops outside was their son Theodrick Carter, who had joined the Confederate Army and had been away from his family property for three years. The conflict raging around him marred his first sight of the family property in those years.

As night progressed, the bridges had been sufficiently repaired and the Union Army quickly retreated as the skirmishes lessened. The Army of Tennessee had been devastated and Schofield's generals felt a retreat was unnecessary and put the men on the bridges at a precarious risk. However, Hood had been stunned by the carnage and the amount of casualties his men had suffered and did not act. While technically a Confederate victory in forcing a Union retreat, they suffered three times the amount of casualties including ten times the amount of deaths. The Army of Tennessee would be completely wiped out at the Battle of Nashville later and Hood would resign his generalship.

The Carter family was equally devastated. Theodrick had been wounded in the battle and was finally reunited with his family who attempted to tend to his wounds. He died two days later in the same room he had been born. The various buildings on the property also had their war wounds with over 1,000 bullet holes riddling the wood, which are still evident to this day. According to some, they are not the only reminder of the battle. Guests and staff alike have reported seeing the apparitions of Civil War soldiers on the property, as well as sighted members of the family including Theodrick in the room he died. Other paranormal activity has been reported on the property as well.

Today the house is open to the general public as a museum and memorial to the various lives lost in the Battle of Franklin. Commercial development has overtaken some of the property, but the family home still exists as a stark reminder of a nation that was once at war with itself.

Visit the Carter House and read its stories.

-Casey H.