While visiting Delaware City, you can take a trip back in time to the Civil War era by visiting Fort Delaware. During the Civil War thousands of confederate prisoners came to Delaware City to be transported across the water to the fort. Today you can board the Three Forts Ferry from the docks in Delaware City's Battery Park for a pleasant trip over to the fort.
There, living history presentations will recreate the feeling of life at the fort in 1863. You'll be able to see union soldiers practicing their drills, a laundress scrubbing the clothes, and a blacksmith working at his forge. As you walk through the parade grounds, the General's office, the officers' quarters, and the prisoner barracks, you will be able to imagine how it was for those soldiers who were there almost 140 years ago.
Fort Delaware is located on Pea Patch Island just off the coast of Delaware City. It is a Delaware State Park abounding in historical significance and natural beauty. While the southern end of the island is home to the fort, the northern end is a bird sanctuary. It was recently recognized by the Audubon Society as a bird sanctuary of "continental significance." The nature trail is approximately ¾ of a mile long and has an observation tower for viewing the heronry. Nine species of wading birds can be found on the island including the Great Blue Heron, the Great Egret, the Glossy Ibis, and the Tri-color Heron.
After visiting Fort Delaware and Pea Patch Island, you can re-board the Three Forts Ferry and continue across the Delaware River to Fort Mott on the New Jersey coast. This fortification was constructed in 1896 before the Spanish-American War. From Fort Mott the Three Forts Ferry picks up passengers for the return trip to Delaware City via Fort Delaware.
The third fort for which the ferry is named is Fort DuPont located on the Delaware side of the river. It is separated from Delaware City by the branch canal. It can be accessed by walking along the canal and crossing Fifth Street Bridge (distance: one mile) or by car. Delaware State Parks maintains nature trails through Fort DuPont, and many of the buildings used through World War II when the fort was a prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers from Rommel's Afrika Korps are still standing. Boaters can launch their boats at Fort DuPont's recently expanded and improved boat launch area.
Fort DuPont is located on the shores of the Delaware River at the original Chesapeake & Delaware Canal near Delaware City. During the War of 1812 cannons were mounted on its shore to defend the Delaware River against the British.
The first permanent fortification of this site was constructed during the Civil War with the installation of the Ten Gun Battery. In those days the site was called "The Fort Opposite" due its location across the river from Fort Delaware. Along with Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River and Fort  Mott on the New Jersey coast, Fort DuPont was part of a three-point defense system - now known as the "Three Forts."
The fortification was strengthened in the 1870s when the battery was expanded to house twenty 15-inch Rodman guns and a concrete powder magazine was constructed. Major improvements were made again during the Spanish-American War in 1898. New batteries were constructed of concrete formed over steel frames to house "disappearing" guns, rapid-fire cannons, and mortars. Many of the bunkers and gun emplacements still exist today. In 1899, the site was named Fort DuPont in honor of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, a Civil War hero from Delaware.
In the twentieth-century the fort was used to train soldiers for both World War I and World War II. Between the wars, the fort served as headquarters for the First Engineers Regiment. Many local residents remember units competing to build pontoon bridges across the Branch Canal during training exercises. During World War II, over 3,000 military personnel were stationed at Fort DuPont. It also held over 1,000 German and Italian prisoners-of-war from Rommel's Afrika Korps. After World War II, Fort DuPont was turned over to the State of Delaware. A portion of the site was dedicated as a state park in 1992.
 Located on Pea Patch Island off Delaware City, pentagon-shaped Fort Delaware stands guard over the Delaware River. Today it is a popular state park and is reached by taking a pleasant ferry ride from Delaware City. It was an even busier place during the Civil War when it served as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Confederate soldiers.
Pea Patch Island's important strategic position for the defense of Wilmington and Philadelphia against naval attack was recognized in 1819 when the first fort was built on the island. Constructed of wood, this fort was destroyed by a fire in 1832. By 1848, the federal government appropriated funds to build a state-of-the-art coastal fortification. It is this fort that still exists today. The island fortress, combined with gun batteries at what is now Fort DuPont on the Delaware shore and at what is now Fort Mott, New Jersey, formed an imposing defensive system.
Construction of the fort was an expensive undertaking; at a cost of two million dollars, the structure is built atop more than 7,000 pilings driven into the marshy land. Fort Delaware was substantially completed eleven years late r in 1859, just before the beginning of the Civil War.
The fort is a massive structure made of granite and brick. The walls are up to 30 feet thick and stand 32 feet high. It was outfitted with the 19th Century's most modern defenses including three tiers of guns. The fort is entered through the sally port after crossing the drawbridge over the 30-foot wide moat that surrounds the fort.
Fort Delaware's role as a coastal defense fortification changed to that of prisoner-of-war camp with the arrival of the first Confederate prisoners after the battle of Kernstown in 1862. As more and more prisoners arrived, additional barracks were erected. They were wooden structures built just north of the fort. By June 1863, there were 6,000 prisoners on the island. Fort Delaware's largest population came in 1863 after the battle of Gettysburg. At this time 12,500 prisoners were housed on the island. Combined with the civilian and Union population, the island's population reached close to 16,000 people making it, some say, the largest city in Delaware for a brief period.
To support all these people, structures sprung up on the island surrounding the fort. There were officer's quarters, prisoner barracks, a church, and numerous commercial structures. A Confederate prisoner named Max Neugas provides a glimpse of the living conditions through the sketches he drew in 1864 while interned at the fort.
 About 2,700 prisoners died while being held at the fort, almost half of those during a severe outbreak of small pox during the summer and fall of 1863. Many of them are buried in a national cemetery at Finn's Point, New Jersey, just across the river at adjoining Fort Mott State Park.
Largely abandoned after the Civil War, the fort was modernized in 1896 by the addition of "disappearing" guns at the south end of the fort. A garrison was posted at the beginning of the Spanish-American War, which remained in place until 1905. The fort was again lightly manned during World War I and at the outset of World War II. But in 1943 the disappearing guns were cut-up for scrap to support the war effort. The fort was closed in 1944 and declared surplus property. It was turned over to the State of Delaware in 1947 and became a state park in 1951. During its entire history, Fort Delaware never fired a shot in anger.
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