Lieutenant A. G. WOLF, sworn and examined :—
I am a Lieutenant in charge of prisoners at Fort Delaware; have been here since 23d September, 1862; have had charge of the prisoners about eight months.
The order is that the men shall be sent out every day for air. The barracks are then entirely cleansed out. At one time we turned the prisoners out, and found enough of crackers to have paved the barracks two crackers deep, and they are an average of five hundred feet. They had stowed and concealed them away in various places. As a general thing, when the barracks were cleaned out, there were always a number of rations, bread and meat, found stowed away. We have always found a quantity of blankets and clothing stowed away under the floor during the winter season. We have allowed men two blankets apiece, and when they were delicate, three blankets and an overcoat.
They are allowed to bathe in the river twice a week. We have to take a guard to get some of them to go out to bathe. We issue a regular prisoner’s ration of soap; we have found as much as ten pounds secreted in their haversacks.
They had five stoves within five hundred feet during winter, and were warm enough in their barracks.
There has never been an order to fire at any man looking out the windows, and no man has ever been fired at for looking out; there have been five men shot; three killed and two wounded here, since this has been a prison. One killed while in the river making his escape, about one hundred yards from the shore, at night; one killed for attempting to climb over the fence towards the river; one man was wounded—he died since—for committing a nuisance on the bank contrary to rule, and was ordered by the sentry to stop. He called the sentry “a Yankee son of a bitch,” and would not stop. The ball wounded two men. The other one said that he deserved all he got. Another was killed accidentally, by the sentry shooting at one who was committing a nuisance, and who would not obey the order. These orders are to prevent nuisances occurring in the barracks, which would be destructive of health and cleanliness. Even with these rules, nuisances are not unfrequently committed.
Special orders No. 157 are the same as those I refer to, and are as follow:
SPECIAL ORDER No. 157.
HEADQUARTERS, FORT DELAWARE,
June 1, 1864.
The officer of the Guard must read and explain these orders to each relief of his Guard regularly before having it posted.
I. No sentinel must communicate with nor allow any person to communicate with any of the prisoners, nor permit any of the prisoners to go outside of the limits of their barracks, without the permission of the Commanding General or the officers in charge of the prisoners.
II. It is the duty of the sentinel to prevent the prisoners from escaping, or cutting, defacing, or in any way damaging any of the Government property, or from committing any “Nuisance” in or about their barracks, or from using any abusive or insolent LANGUAGE towards them, and from any violation of good order.
Should the sentinel detect any prisoner in violating these instructions, he must order him three distinct times to halt! and if the prisoner obeys the order, the sentinel must call for the Corporal of the Guard, and have the prisoner placed in arrest — but should the prisoner fail to halt, when so ordered, the sentinel must enforce his order by bayonet or ball.
III. The sentinels are required to exercise the utmost vigilance, and to exact from prisoners a strict compliance with these instructions, and must always be duly impressed with the nature and extent of their responsibility.
By command of BRIG. GEN’L SCHOEPF.
(Signed) GEO. W. AUL,
Captain and A. A. A. G.
They exist in all prisons.
A. G. WOLF
Lieutenant,
and Commissary of Prisoners.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
June 21st, 1864.
D. P. BROWN, JR.,
United States Commissioner.
Certification for statements taken June 21, 1864 (There was only one certification for this date in the document; however it is being included on the web-page for each applicable statement - MpG ):
I certify that the foregoing testimony, taken at Fort Delaware, June 21st, 1864, was taken and reduced to writing by me, in the presence of the respective witnesses, and by them sworn to and subscribed in my presence, at the time and in the manner set forth.
D. P. BROWN, JR.,
United States
Commissioner.
Evidence evidence relating to United States stations for rebel prisoners. Testimony taken at Fort Delaware, Delaware, June 21, A.D. 1864.