Dear Abbey:

I sent the following narrative to a descendant of Joseph Harvey Woods who resides in Chandler, Arizona just yesterday. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it with you.

Joseph H. Woods, age 21 years, born in Mississippi was enrolled for Confederate service on 8 AUG 1862 at Brookhaven, Mississippi. He was single and a school teacher by occupation, and a resident of Greensboro, Webster County, Mississippi. He did not voluntarily comply with the Conscription Act (16 APR 1862) which required prompt enrollment of all white male residents ages 18 to 35 years.

Sent to Virginia to join the regiment, he was present or accounted for until his capture on 3 MAY 1863 at Fredericksburg when he was captured sick. Sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC, he was hospitalized there. Paroled for exchange on 19 MAY 1863, he was sent down to the James River to be returned to Confederate authorities. His date of delivery does not appear in the records but it would have occurred within a few days of his parole date.

Confederate muster records show that he was back with the regiment but absent sick on 30 JUN 1863 having been left behind at Parr’s Gap which I believe is in Maryland en route to Pennsylvania. Subsequent muster rolls show him missing in action and believed to have been captured during the retreat from Gettysburg.

Federal POW records confirm Joseph’s capture near Boonsboro, Maryland on 5 JUL 1863. He was confined at Fort McHenry on 9 JUL 1863 and delivered to Fort Delaware shortly thereafter. His name next appears on a “Roll of prisoners of war at Fort Delaware desirous of entering the U. S. service” dated 30 AUG 1863. He claimed to have been conscripted and told them he was born in Mississippi. He voluntarily signed a Declaration of Recruit on 18 SEP 1863 at Fort Delaware which amounted to a renunciation of his Confederate enlistment oath. He filled out a Volunteer Enlistment document at Fort Delaware on 18 SEP 1863 which contained the Union army enlistment oath. He was transferred to Baltimore, Maryland on 22 SEP 1863 to be enrolled in the Federal 3rd Maryland Cavalry. At Baltimore, Joseph swore to and signed the Volunteer Enlistment Oath on 24 SEP 1863.

Joseph was mustered into Company G, 3rd Maryland Cavalry on 24 SEP 1863 and was immediately promoted to Corporal. He was later promoted to Sergeant (4 DEC 1863). The regiment was sent to Louisiana in January 1864. Joseph was wounded while on picket duty in Louisiana on 17 FEB 1864. He was hospitalized in New Orleans at an unnamed general hospital on 11 MAR 1864. A consolidation of companies resulted in his name being moved to Company F in late 1864. The 3rd Maryland Cavalry muster rolls show him absent in a New Orleans general hospital from March 1864 until the regiment was mustered out at Vicksburg in September 1865. The muster out roll declares that he “deserted from the general hospital in New Orleans on 19 JUL 1865”. However, his name appears on a Federal muster out roll for a Detachment of Company G, 3rd Maryland Cavalry dated 10 JUL 1865 at Satterlee General Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So he was sent north from New Orleans as some point and treated in Philadelphia. Not sure why the regiment would not have been informed of that, but there you have it!

A third party researcher found that Joseph applied for a Federal pension on 16 JUL 1883 based on his service with Company F, 3rd Maryland Cavalry. His widow filed for pension following his death.

The Society would like to know more about this Mississippi Civil War soldier.

Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
society@fortdelaware.org
www.fortdelaware.org