The general was in his shirtsleeves in his deathly hot, humid prison cell. Going from his cot to the chest of drawers, he withdrew a small packet of letters and his writing supplies. He first opened a two-week-old letter from Mrs. C. C. Clay.
"My good General, I have, as you requested, written Mrs. Daniella Jones Sherrod of Courtland, Alabama on your behalf. I told her of your nobility and valor. I'm still disturbed beyond remedy about that incident on the Tuscarora. The insult by that villain Tennessee Yankee was deplorable. You were defenseless. His assertion of your breaking of the rule about leaning on the boat railing was totally a scandal. Your endurance of his vile tongue was truly chivalrous. Your telling him that if you'd known the rule you would not have infringed on it thrilled me. That was as esteemable an act as I've ever witnessed. You have my deep admiration."
"I pray hourly for the release of our people in Fort Delaware and Mr. Davis and Mr. Stephens in Fort Monroe. I fear terribly for my dear husband's health."
Putting the letter down he gently touched his hurting shoulder then his whelped neck. Looking vacantly at the dripping wall he thought of that wounding. Wounded three times in the war, sixteen staff members killed, six horses slain and thousands of fellow warriors giving the ultimate, their lives, saddened his heart and inflicted his soul.
Turning to another letter, he read, "Courtland, Alabama June 10, 1865.
My General, Mrs. Clay's letter came with this morning's post. I'm truly stricken by the unprovoked attack and your injury by that coward. This act against their grand lecturing about the moral rightness of their civilization surely does confirm their hypocrisy. . . .
I share Mrs. Clay's appreciation and admiration of you. . .
Know the memories of your attendance of me, Father and my son are treasured. . .
Please know the hospitality of this family is always available to you, my dear friend.
With the warmest of regards and admiration, Daniella Sherrod"
Two weeks later Joseph Wheeler and A. Solon Stevenson along with two dozen other former Confederates at Fort Delaware were released from US military imprisonment.