America’s Civil War is an epic story with grand themes, massive battles, and enduring consequences.  Yet beneath that narrative are thousands upon thousands of local and individual stories. Those stories often allow people to discover their own historical and personal connections to the war.  They are about individuals, places, and organizations.  Some are long, others are tragically short.  In some the war is the story, while in others the war is only part of a longer story.   Civil War Stories, the new exhibit in the Research Library’s Willingtown Square Gallery, will tell some of Delaware’s Civil War stories and highlight the Society’s strong collections on the war.

The exhibit will focus on the stories of the First Regiment Delaware Volunteer Infantry, Fort Delaware, Richard Henry Webb and Thomas Reynolds of the Fourth Regiment Delaware Volunteer Infantry, and John P. Gillis of the U.S. Navy. Here we present a preview of some of the items in the exhibit. 

Some Civil War Stories are about places.  When Fort Delaware was completed in 1860 after many years of challenging and backbreaking labor, it was the largest in the modern world, a triumph of military engineering ready for whatever America's enemies might aim at it.  Instead of repelling enemy attacks, however, it served as a prison for captured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.  One of them, Max Neugas, a talented artist with time on his hands, created this wonderfully detailed pencil drawing of Fort Delaware and Pea Patch Island.  Fort Delaware remained part of the military establishment until 1944, when it was closed and then turned over to the State of Delaware in 1945.

Some Civil War stories are tragically short. Richard Henry Webb, a young Wilmington Quaker, joined the Fourth Regiment Delaware Volunteer Infantry in 1862.  Despite their commitment to pacifism, some Quakers fought in the Civil War to help end slavery.  The Fourth Delaware first saw action at Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 2, 1864.  Twenty-four year old Lt. Webb was killed in action that very day.  This map (left) shows where his body was buried on the battlefield.  His family later had his remains transferred to Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery.

 

Some Civil War stories are about organizations. The First Regiment Delaware Volunteer Infantry enlisted initially for three months at the beginning of the war and ended up serving for the duration.  It saw action in many of the war's major battles. During a lull in the action in April 1862 the 1st Delaware Literary Association published the Regimental Enquirer, a handwritten newspaper.  This is the first issue, and the only one in the Society's collections.

Sometimes the Civil War is one chapter of a longer story.  John P. Gillis (1803-1873) of Wilmington served in the U.S. Navy from 1825 to 1864, rising to the rank of commodore.  During the war, he relieved the garrison at Fort Sumter after its bombardment, saw action at Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal Sound, and captured blockade runners off Mobile Bay.  The Society has a large collection of papers from his entire naval career.

If any of these stories arouse your curiosity, stop by during regular library hours (Monday 1-9 p.m., Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and the third Saturday of the month, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.) to see the entire exhibit.  “Civil War  Stories” will be on display from November 27 until March 27, 2007.

Historical Society of Delaware Research Library
505 Market Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801
(302) 655-7161