"They bled..we
weep,
We live..They
sleep."
Robert
M. Streetman
Freed
from the agony of Ft. Delaware 5/29/1865
My
ancestor, Robert M. Streetman died at Fort Delaware
as
a result of deplorable conditions 2 months before the last
Confederate
prisoners were released from this prison.
He is buried in Confederate mass grave at Finn's Point Cemetery,
NJ
Located
on Pea Patch Island, Fort Delaware was used as a
Federal
Prisoner of War Prison. Opened for prisoners April 1862,
more
than 2,346 Confederate soldiers died there.
The
dead were transported across the river to New Jersey, near
Fort
Mott. Some were buried in trenches,and individual
identification
was lost.
Today
a monument stands at the site of the burials
with
a bronze plaque listing the names of the known interred.
(see R. M.
Streetman's
name at top of photo of plaque taken in 1998)
After
visiting Ft. Delaware.....Ohio Dr.
S. Weir Mitchell, wrote
in a letter July 1863
"The
prisoners were afflicted with smallpox,
measles,
diarrhea, dysentery and scurvy as
well
as the ever-present louse. A thousand ill;
twelve
thousand on an island which should
hold
four; Lack of food and water astronomical
numbers
of deaths a day of dysentry and the living
having
more life "on" them than "in" them.
"And
thus a Christian nation
treats
the captives of its sword?"
The war between the states
was truly a tragedy in the history
of our great nation . A tragedy the South recovered from ,
the
same as they had fought ...honorably. Not for fame or fortune, but
for a cause they believed in deeply.
For this we honor them, we thank them, we love them, and we shall
never ever forget them.
The words from the
following poem could have been penned
by any member of a Southern ancestral family.
CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA
Excerpted
from a poem
by
Father Abram Joseph Ryan
Bright were
the lives they gave for us;
The land they
struggled to save for us
We shall
not forget
Its warriors
yet
Who sleep
in so many a grave for us.
Lo, their
memories
e'er shall remain for us,
And their
names, bright names, without stain for us;
The glory
they won shall not wane for us,
In legend
and lay
Our heroes
in Gray
Shall forever
live over again for us.
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