During Colonial times the island did not even appear on local maps. The place was supposedly discovered when a boat ran aground and a cargo of peas spilled. Later, the place was named Pea Patch Island after that legend.
Though a government official had recommended that a fort be built on the island, earthworks were not constructed until 1813. In 1819 a brick fortress was completed.
In 1862, after the battle of Kernstown, 250 Confederate men were shipped off to Fort Delaware. The facility was not meant for such a use and the army hastily constructed wooden barracks that were meant to hold 2,000 prisoners. A little over a year later, just a month after the battle of Gettysburg in July, 12,500 prisoners were housed in a space meant for only 10,000.
By this time Pea Patch Island was known as the “Fort Delaware Death Pen”. Over 2,700 men died there during the Civil War. About 300 prisoners tried to escape. Many did not make it, and it is believed that some of these men are haunting the fort today.
One Confederate drummer boy decided that he could escape in a coffin. Some prisoners were in on the plan, and they were scheduled to “bury” him in a cemetery on shore. Unfortunately, the schedule was changed and his sympathizers were pulled for other duty. The child ended up buried alive. His ghost is often reported near the fort.
Confederate General James Archer was housed with the huge group of men taken prisoner at Gettysburg. He planned a mass uprising and escape, but failed. He was locked for a month in the powder magazine, a dark and damp cave-like area. Later, General Archer died from an illness that he developed in solitary confinement. His shade wanders the area where he was imprisoned.
Some have seen ghostly hands stretching up in the water surrounding the fort. Two men attempted to escape by swimming across the river. They floundered, but the prison guards allowed them to sink. The last anyone saw of the two men was their pleading hands reaching out of the water.
Many times spirits of soldiers are seen peeking through the holes in the walls that were built for cannons to point through.
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