Fort Delaware Prison Camp

Sgt.Edmund Thomas


Edmund Thomas was 4th Sgt. with the Satillia Rangers who became Company A of the 50th Georgia Infantry. They were mustered into service on March 4 1862. Edmund was captured in 1862 and died in Fort Delaware prison September 25 1862.

Approximately 2700 Confederate soldiers died while being held captive at Fort Delaware.  About 2400 Confederates are interred at Finn's Point National Cemetery located across the Delaware River near Fort Mott State Park.  

The marker reads:  

ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES TO MARK THE BURIAL PLACE OF 2436 CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS WHO DIED AT FORT DELAWARE WHILE PRISONERS OF WAR AND WHOSE GRAVES CANNOT NOW BE INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIED.


Notes from Waycross Journal Herald

Written by Eugenia F. Thomas

Edmund Thomas' Sacrifice

Georgia Day is near and I recall the story of a Confederate soldier, Edmund Thomas, whose love for our state still lives in the hearts of all races in the mystical, magical land. He was a native of McIntosh County who eventually settled in Pierce County (now Brantley County) where he became a prosperous farmer, but chose not to own slaves.

Edmund was Pierce County's first tax collector from 1858-59, and crossed the Satilla River on a ferry to reach Blackshear, the county seat. In 1861 he was a first lieutenant The Farmer's Guard and in 1862 at the age of 37 he joined Company A of the 50th Georgia Regiment. His wife, Martha Dowling Thomas, gave birth to their eighth and last child. They had five daughters and three sons. The Confederates had advanced up a few states when Sgt. Thomas was capturedby Union soldiers. He died during captivity on September 25,1862.

Whenever I, his great-greatgrandaughter, hear "Dixie," I think of men like Edmund Thomas who hated no one, but evidently defended the South because Georgia was in danger of invasion. The Words of our Lord Jesus are remembered "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend."

This comes from the book : The Story of Brantley County, Georgia.

Volume One.

Published 1999.

#673 Edmund Thomas

Edmund Thomas, son of Judge Banner Thomas and Mary Mixon Thomas, was born in McIntosh County, Georgia in 1825 and moved with his family when he was a toddler to land that is now Blackshear, Georgia. The family later lived in Schlatterville, and he married Martha Dowling.

The couple settled on a farm between Hickox and Hoboken where their eight children were born.Among his offspring was Banner Thomas who was born on February 9, 1857.

Edmund was the first tax collector of Pierce County, and he later joined the Confederacy during The War Between the States. The Satilla Ranger was captured in 1862 and died a few weeks later in a Maryland hospital. His forefather was James Thomas, Veteran of The American Revolution, and he was a pioneer of Ware(now Pierce) County.

If you inspect the historical marker in front of the courthouse (in Blackshear) you will find two Thomas names Edmund Thomas , son of Banner, was the first Tax collector, and James Thomas, younger brother of Banner, was the first Coroner.

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