You are a God send!...and perhaps the one who can give me the one piece to fill the whole! I have been working 24/7 intermitently on this subject. You are correct on the account mentioned above. However, I believe my ancestor was one of those who WAS brought to Camp Ford...though none of the names of the few who were transfered match.
THE FAMILY STORY: My g-g-grandfather Joseph Dowsey enlisted in the Army in 1861, then some how transfered to the Navy, ending up on the Harriet Lane and the Battle of Galveston. He was held in a "stockade camp" near Galveston. It was there that he met his wife, a German immigrant who lived on a farm in the area with her parents; who along with other young ladies, brought food, flirted and tormented the captives. They fell in love and she helped him to escape.
THE OBITUARY: Joseph enlisted in the Army in 1861(H,1st NY Light Artillary)and later entered the Navy, was involved in the capture of Jackson, St. Phillip and New Orleans,later at the seige of Vicksburg. He served one year on the Harriet Lane captured at Galveston on January 1,1863, where all but he and 28 other members of the crew where killed. While on "parole" he met and married Anna S. Hess, a southern planter's daughter. After the close of the war he disposed of his business in Texas and returned to his hometown in Gouvenor, NY. THE PROOF: Joseph Dowsey and Anna Sophia Hess were married in Harris,TX on May 17, 1863...their first son George Henry Dowsey was born in Galveston, TX on December 12, 1864. THE DILEMA: I can not find any Naval records for Joseph Dowsey, what so ever! He is listed in Civil War Records Army as(1) quit after 10 months (2)Deserted in Washington,DC around August 1862. It was whispered through the generations that he may have changed his name to enlist in the Navy and the name Joseph Lafayette was mentioned. This name did not come up in records either so through my research I feel that after the "Seven Day Battle" which his unit did participate in that he somehow "ran" into the Navy ,perhaps the "USS Lafayette" and somehow ended up on the Harriet Lane......I still can not find his name, yet if he changed it to enter the Navy then how did he marry, have a child and run a business in Texas under his real name? Can you help, maybe your list of those taken to Camp Ford are different than the (2) different accounting that I have found. Thank you soooooooo much for putting your information on line so that I could connect to it!