I read Johnny McDowell’s response and re-read your original query. Do you know for a fact that Jefferson K. GOLDEN did not come home from the war? If so, I am thinking that he died at Fort Delaware on 16 JUL 1863 and was buried on the Jersey Shore across the Delaware River in what is now Finns Point National Cemetery.

I examined the Compiled Military Service Records for the 27th Alabama Infantry. Records under the names of “Jasper N. GOLDEN” and “Jef. F. GOLDEN” were consolidated with the records for Private J. K. GOLDEN, Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry. The “Jasper N. GOLDEN” records were two Federal POW records relating to a man captured at Fort Donelson in 1862, held at Camp Douglas, and delivered to Confederate authorities at Vicksburg on 20 SEP 1862. He was said to have been a member of Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry, but I don’t think these records should have been put in J. K. GOLDEN’s CMSR. I will leave that for Alan Pitts to sort out.

The balance of the CMSR for J. K. GOLDEN pretty much shows what Danny reported. He was enrolled 12 JAN 1863 at New Market, Alabama for the war and never paid. He was captured at Champion Hill on 16/17 MAY 1863 and sent north, first to Camp Morton, and then to Fort Delaware arriving on Pea Patch Island on 9 JUN 1863. His name appeared on a list of POWs paroled for exchange at Fort Delaware on 3 JUL 1863 and delivered to Confederate authorities on 6 JUL 1863. However, a notation beside his name stated that he was “left in Hospital [at] Fort Delaware”. There are no subsequent POW delivery records under this name. The Company F muster rolls covering July through December 1863 show him absent without any knowledge of where he was. The last roll for November & December 1863 states that he was a deserter since 23 AUG 1863. There are no subsequent company muster rolls in the file which suggests that he was dropped from the rolls.

The Fort Delaware database contains information taken from two separate microfilm rolls that pertain to Fort Delaware, and the names of Confederate dead listed on the monument at Finns Point. These records are not always reflected in the CMSR.

♦ NARA Tape 40 showed that a Private J. GOLDEN, Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry was captured at Champion Hill on 16 MAY 1863 and arrived at Fort Delaware on 9 JUN 1863. Nothing else.

♦ NARA Tape 144 showed that a Private C. K. GOULDEN, Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry was captured at Champion Hill on 17 MAY 1863 and died at Fort Delaware on 16 JUL 1863. No date of arrival or any other information was noted.

♦ The bronze memorial plates at the base of the Confederate monument in Finns Point National Cemetery show that a Private G. K. GOULDEN, Company F, 29th Alabama Infantry died at Fort Delaware and was buried in Finns Point.

The 1912 War Department “Register” which was the source of the names inscribed on the Finns Point monument confirms this inscription. The “Register” also contains the additional information that he died on 16 JUL 1863.

Working backwards, I checked the CMSR for the 29th Alabama Infantry for a Private G. K. GOULDEN/GOLDEN without finding that name. There was a Private George W. GOULDEN enrolled in Company F, 29th Alabama Infantry. He was from Clayton, Alabama, enrolled in 1862 and died at Camp Jackson, Florida on 27 JUN 1862. So "G. K." remembered at Finns Point isn't George W. GOLDEN.

There was also a Private George W. GOLDEN/GOULDEN enrolled in Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry, but he was not captured until the fall of 1863 and has a rather complete set of POW records that revolved around taking the oath at Camp Morton and do not include Fort Delaware. Again, our "G. K." isn't this George W. either.

Unable to verify the name of “G. K. GOULDEN” or “C. K. GOULDEN” in the CMSR, I come back to the last known record for “J. K. GOLDEN”, Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry showing that he was left behind in the Fort Delaware hospital on 4 JUL 1863 when the nearly 1,700 paroled POWs departed Fort Delaware for City Point.

The Camp Morton record Danny cited shows his name as “Jefferson N. GOLMAN” captured on 17 MAY 1863 at “Chatman Hill”. Some 4,400 POWs captured at Champion Hill (16 MAY 1863) and Big Black Bridge (17 MAY 1863) arrived at Camp Morton on 2 & 3 JUN 1863. The officers were sent to Johnson’s Island. The enlisted men were split into two groups and sent to Fort Delaware with the first group arriving 9 JUN 1863. One Fort Delaware record in the CMSR names our soldier as “J. GOLDEN” while the July 3rd parole roster names him as “Jef. K. GALDEN” of Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry.

Unless I’ve over looked something, my tentative conclusion is that Private Jefferson K. GOLDEN, Company F, 27th Alabama Infantry died at Fort Delaware on 16 JUL 1863 and is mistakenly remembered at Finns Point as Private G. K. GOLDEN, Company F, 29th Alabama Infantry.

Your thoughts?

Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Website: www.fortdelaware.org
E-mail: society@fortdelaware.org