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James Hamilton Wentworth was the husband of Elizabeth Green, sister of my great grandfather Andrew Jackson Green
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| Wentworth Business Card |
He was 45 years old when they got married in 1883 and she was his third wife. I found this old photo of them was in my great grandparents bible.
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| James & Elizabeth Wentworth |
As a younger man he enlisted in the 5th Regiment, Florida Infantry was promoted to Lieutenant and participated in several of the important battles of the Civil War.
James Wentworth was taken prisoner at the battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. He was held as a Prisoner of War at Fort Delaware POW camp in the middle of the Delaware River for the rest of the war.
He was highly educated before the war. After the war he was a school teacher , lawyer, Judge, County Commissioner and Superintendent of Schools in Taylor County Florida.
He became a Baptist Preacher late in life and moved to Escambia County Florida.
He kept a diary of his years as a prisoner. The Fort Delaware camp was unusual in that the Confederate soldiers published a camp newspaper. There aren't any records to prove who wrote the newspaper but he is a likely suspect.
Parts of his prison diary have been published in several magazines and excerpts were in the Perry Florida Newspaper in the 1980s.
Recently a cousin obtained a copy of the entire diary and transcribed it. It is an interesting account of surviving and keeping hope to return home.
He was highly educated before the war. After the war he was a school teacher , lawyer, Judge, County Commissioner and Superintendent of Schools in Taylor County Florida.
He became a Baptist Preacher late in life and moved to Escambia County Florida.
He kept a diary of his years as a prisoner. The Fort Delaware camp was unusual in that the Confederate soldiers published a camp newspaper. There aren't any records to prove who wrote the newspaper but he is a likely suspect.
 |
| Fort Delaware POW Newspaper |
Parts of his prison diary have been published in several magazines and excerpts were in the Perry Florida Newspaper in the 1980s.
Recently a cousin obtained a copy of the entire diary and transcribed it. It is an interesting account of surviving and keeping hope to return home.
2 comments:
lt,benjamin f. devane my line,wife remarried to a david wilson.taylor county fla,children where counted as wilsons in the census. this devane also kin to the devanes of south fla. these are my wilson/rowell lines. daryl w woods.
On Wednesday, July 22, 1863, Wentworth noted in his diary that he arrived at Johnson's Island, off the coast of Sandusky, OH. He wrote of Johnson's Island "This is a much better prison than Fort Delaware. It is a large enclosure of about 16 acres fenced in with plank about 20 feet high, around the top of which is a walk or parapet for the sentinels to wonk on to guard us. There is 13 large two story frame houses inside of this pen for our quarters and we get tolerable good rations her, but not quiet enough of bread. We draw bread, meat (which is beef for five days of the week and pickled port for two days)coffee of chicory, sugar, beans, peas, rice, hominy. The four last we alternately each week and in very small quantities, also candles, soap and vinegar. There is a sutler her where anything I want can be bought, but having no greenback I have to do without."
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