[CIVIL WAR]. An autograph album, ca 1863-1865, featuring the signatures of Confederate POWs held at Fort Delaware, including soldiers from "The Immortal Six Hundred."

6 1/4 x 8 in. "Leaves of Affection" autograph album with embossed leather-covered boards and gilt title, retailed by Leavitt & Allen, New York, ca 1858, and identified to "Rubie T. Tyndale." (Heavy wear especially at spine, later repairs including the use of brown adhesive to stabilize spine on book exterior and clear adhesive on interior page, scattered spotting, light soil and toning, several loose pages.) Album contains 44 POW signatures including 7 soldiers identified as members of "The Immortal Six Hundred," a group of Confederate officers removed from the Union POW camp at Fort Delaware and transferred to Morris Island within the direct line of fire of Confederate guns in Charleston Harbor as retaliation for the 600 Union officers imprisoned in Charleston within the direct line of Union artillery fire.

Signatures identified to "The Immortal 600," some with additional inscription, include the following: Maj. Micajah R. Wilson, 1st Arkansas Battalion; Maj. Martin G. Zeigler, Holcombe Legion, South Carolina Infantry Battalion; Lt. Col. Charles B. Christian, 49th Virginia Infantry; Lt. Col. T.L. Hargrove, 44th North Carolina Infantry; Maj. James R. McDonald, 57th North Carolina Infantry; Col. Vannoy H. Manning, 3rd Arkansas Infantry; and Col. Abram Fulkerson, 63rd Tennessee Infantry. While imprisoned with the 600 at Fort Pulaski prior to the return to Fort Delaware, Col. Fulkerson was elected by his fellow prisoners as president of their newly formed organization "The Relief Association of Fort Pulaski for Aid and Relief of the Sick and Less Fortunate Prisoners."

In addition to soldiers from "The Immortal 600" other POW signatures of note include Brigadier General Richard L. Page ("R.L. Page / Brig Genl. / Clarke County / Va."), a first cousin to Robert E. Lee who served in both the CSN and CSA, and Colonel Richard Curd Morgan ("R.C. Morgan / Col 14th Regt Ky Cav / Lexington Ky"), General John Hunt Morgan's brother, who was captured during his brother's July 1863 raid into Ohio. Colonel Morgan was initially held at the Ohio Penitentiary before being moved to Fort Delaware where he remained in captivity until August 1864 when he was exchanged.

"Rubie T. Tyndale" may be Rubie Tyndale Leidy (1847-1917), a young woman from Philadelphia. Scant information was located about Tyndale, however, she may have acquired these signatures herself while participating in relief work with prisoners at Fort Delaware, and/or via her soon to be husband George W. Leidy (1843-1899). Leidy enlisted in March 1865 with the Pennsylvania 214th Infantry. This regiment was organized in Philadelphia and primarily assigned to guard and provost duty. Though not specifically identified as a garrison unit at Fort Delaware, detachments from the 214th may have served at the prison.

Fort Delaware became a prison in April 1862 after the arrival of 258 Confederate prisoners captured at the Battle of Kernstown. The prison housed not only soldiers but also political prisoners and Union deserters. Nearly 33,000 men stayed at the Fort during the war with the population peaking shortly after Gettysburg at nearly 12,000 occupants. Like many Civil War prisons, meager rations, disease, and overcrowding led to the deaths of thousands of men. Over the term of their imprisonment, "The Immortal 600" were subjected to particularly harsh treatment including the implementation of "starvation rations" in retaliation for the treatment of Federal prisoners at Confederate prisons such as Andersonville and elsewhere.