The Immortal 600 at Gettysburg

Bob Velke

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Jan 25, 2014
From one of my blogs: An important story that should not be forgotten.
 
Since there were 1,300 officers that were used as human shields, it would be interesting to hear their stories.
Unlike the Confederates, the Union prisoners in Charleston arrived in various waves from different prisons - and there's considerable debate about how many there were. After my research, I find no evidence that a list of those Union prisoners was ever made. My post identifies one of them, 1Lt. Jacob S. Deihl/Devine of Co. H, 71st Pennsylvania Infantry, and a little bit about his story.
 
Unlike the Confederates, the Union prisoners in Charleston arrived in various waves from different prisons - and there's considerable debate about how many there were. After my research, I find no evidence that a list of those Union prisoners was ever made. My post identifies one of them, 1Lt. Jacob S. Deihl/Devine of Co. H, 71st Pennsylvania Infantry, and a little bit about his story.
My cousin I don’t know how many times removed was one of the 600, so I have read a good deal about the events. A trip to Fort Pulaski was thought provoking. As you know, the entire sorry episode was the responsibility of the CSA commander in Savannah. I would really like to know what my cousin thought about all that Immortal doo-daa.
 
My cousin I don’t know how many times removed was one of the 600, so I have read a good deal about the events. A trip to Fort Pulaski was thought provoking. As you know, the entire sorry episode was the responsibility of the CSA commander in Savannah. I would really like to know what my cousin thought about all that Immortal doo-daa.
There are lots of good arguments to place blame in both directions. Suffice it to say, however, that the Confederate officers were used as human shields and put on a starvation diet long before they got in the vicinity of Savannah.
 
There are lots of good arguments to place blame in both directions. Suffice it to say, however, that the Confederate officers were used as human shields and put on a starvation diet long before they got in the vicinity of Savannah.
So, you are maintaining that the Union officers that had been confined at Andersonville were better off than CSA POW’s? The entire human shield fiasco was the work of one man, the CSA commander at Charleston. Both the 50 man & 600 man incidents were at his instigation. Lee had fired him for being a lunkhead & nothing he did at Savannah questioned his judgment.
 
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First of all, despite all that you've read on the subject, I think that you mean Charleston, SC, not Savannah, GA. There was never any claim that anyone was being used as a human shield in Savannah. By the time that the Confederate officers were moved to Fort Pulaski (near Savannah) and maintained on a starvation diet, CSA Major General Samuel Jones who had started the events in Charleston had no jurisdiction over that area.

You seem desperate for an argument - even putting words in my mouth about Andersonville - and I'm not going to play that game. I'll only say that the Union commander's argument (effectively, "he did it first") is no excuse for barbaric treatment of prisoners in any civilized society.

You are welcome to disagree but I'm not going to argue with you about it.
 
First of all, despite all that you've read on the subject, I think that you mean Charleston, SC, not Savannah, GA. There was never any claim that anyone was being used as a human shield in Savannah. By the time that the Confederate officers were moved to Fort Pulaski (near Savannah) and maintained on a starvation diet, CSA Major General Samuel Jones who had started the events in Charleston had no jurisdiction over that area.

You seem desperate for an argument - even putting words in my mouth about Andersonville - and I'm not going to play that game. I'll only say that the Union commander's argument (effectively, "he did it first") is no excuse for barbaric treatment of prisoners in any civilized society.

You are welcome to disagree but I'm not going to argue with you about it.
You are absolutely right. I was looking at photos of my trip to Ft a Pulaski when I wrote that, thanks.
First of all, despite all that you've read on the subject, I think that you mean Charleston, SC, not Savannah, GA. There was never any claim that anyone was being used as a human shield in Savannah. By the time that the Confederate officers were moved to Fort Pulaski (near Savannah) and maintained on a starvation diet, CSA Major General Samuel Jones who had started the events in Charleston had no jurisdiction over that area.

You seem desperate for an argument - even putting words in my mouth about Andersonville - and I'm not going to play that game. I'll only say that the Union commander's argument (effectively, "he did it first") is no excuse for barbaric treatment of prisoners in any civilized society.

You are welcome to disagree but I'm not going to argue with you about it.
I have no interest inputting words in anybody’s mouth. In all candor, the details of the sorry human shield thing are settled history & not subject to controversy.
 
Private Samuel H. Hawes of the Second Richmond Howitzers, a veteran of Gettysburg, was captured on May 12, 1864 near Spotsylvania and remained at Fort Delaware until he was sent on August 20, 1864 to Morris Island on the steamer "Crescent [City]." On September 20, 1864 he wrote: "Still at Morris Island. The rations given us are abominable, rancid meat, with hard crackers, in which we can see the worms and bugs crawling through ... but few of us have blankets, our beds being the ground, with scarcely enough straw to hide the sand." (Hawes' diary, Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia - now the American Civil War Museum)
 
Good book on the Immortal 600 is Immortal Captives by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn. It is mostly first hand accounts, from letters and diaries, of the captivities and the prison guards and officers. I just finished it the other day, it is an interesting read.
 
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