Pea Patch Island: From Lenape Land to Fort Delaware State Park

A 100-Acre Island With 400 Years of Layered History

Pea Patch Island sits in the Delaware River, just south of Delaware City, DE—visible from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Its story spans Lenape stewardship, Swedish colonization, Revolutionary War prison, massive 19th-century fortification, Civil War POW camp, and modern state park.

Indigenous & Colonial Origins

• Lenape: Used for fishing/hunting — named Pahsayunk ("place of the feathers")
• 1638: Swedish colonists (New Sweden) explored, named Sandhuken ("sandy point")
• 1655: Dutch took New Sweden; English took New Netherland (1664)

Revolutionary War: First Prison Use

• 1776-1777: Continental Army held British prisoners on island
• 1777: British attempted recapture — failed
• Post-war: Abandoned until 1813

Fort Delaware: The "American Gibraltar"

• 1813-1859: Construction (delays, funding, design changes) — $2M+ (largest US fort at completion)
• Design: Pentagonal, 5 bastions, 3-ft granite walls, 100+ guns, 1,000+ garrison capacity
• Engineer: Joseph Gilbert Totten (Chief of Engineers) — masterpiece of Third System fortification

Civil War: Notorious Prison Camp

• 1862-1865: Held ~33,000 Confederate prisoners (peak 12,500 July 1863 post-Gettysburg)
• Conditions: Overcrowding, dysentery, scurvy, smallpox, malnutrition — ~2,700 died (8% mortality — lower than Andersonville's 29%)
• Notable prisoners: Gen. James Archer, Brig. Gen. Johnston Pettigrew, political prisoners
• Escapes: ~50 successful (swam, boat, disguise) — "Pea Patch" name said to derive from prisoners planting peas

Spanish-American War & WWI

• 1898: Spanish POWs held briefly
• WWI: Training camp, hospital
• Post-WWI: Abandoned, deteriorated

Restoration & State Park

• 1951: National Historic Landmark
• 1972: National Register of Historic Places
• 2005-2008: Major restoration (DE state, $8M+) — stabilized walls, restored buildings, exhibits
• 2008: Opened as Fort Delaware State Park

Visiting Today

• Access: Ferry from Delaware City (seasonal, 30 min) — Delafort or Fort Delaware Ferry
• Activities: Fort tours (costumed interpreters), artillery demos, birding (heron rookery — largest north of Florida), hiking, fishing, camping (primitive)
• Events: Civil War weekends, ghost tours, school programs

Pea Patch Island compresses American military, penal, and engineering history into a walkable island. The fort's granite walls—built by Irish immigrants, occupied by Confederate prisoners, restored by Delaware citizens—stand as a rare intact Third System fortification. It's not just a ruin; it's a conversation across centuries about confinement, conflict, and what a nation chooses to preserve.