The Arsenal Penitentiary was a penal institution in Washington, D. C. used as a military prison during the
American Civil War, currently located inside
Fort Lesley J. McNair
Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Cha ...
. Four Lincoln assassination conspirators, David Herold, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt were executed on the grounds of the Arsenal Penitentiary on July 7, 1865.
History
The Arsenal Penitentiary opened in 1831 on the
Greenleaf Point
Buzzard Point is an urbanized area located on the peninsula formed by the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers in the southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.
History
The earliest documented name for the tip of the peninsula that no ...
at the confluence of the
Potomac River and the
Anacostia River within the District of Columbia. It was designed by
Charles Bulfinch and constructed adjacent to the north side of the
Washington Arsenal
Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Chann ...
separated by a wall.
[Barry Cauchon]
The Washington D.C. Arsenal Penitentiary
''A Little Touch of History'', 2009
During the Civil War, the penitentiary was closed in September 1862 to store munitions on the request of the Ordnance Department. Its civilian inmates were sent to the Albany Penitentiary and court-martialed soldiers — to the
Old Capital Prison.
[Speer, Lonnie R]
''Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War''
Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1997, p. 310 It was reactivated as a military prison in April 1865, and it was where eight Lincoln assassination conspirators were held, put to trial, and four of them were executed.
[Matt Blitz]
Here’s Where the Lincoln Co-Conspirators Were Hanged in DC 150 Years Ago: Tennis courts now mark the spot where 4 of John Wilkes Booth's comrades died 150 years ago.
''Washingtonian'', July 3, 2015.
They were buried along with
John Booth in the prison's storeroom.
In 1869 the bodies were released to the families.
The former Arsenal Penitentiary is a part of a restricted military installation and is closed to the public.
See also
*
USS Saugus (1863)
USS ''Saugus'' was a single-turreted built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in April 1864. The ship spent most of ...
References
Further reading
* Edward Steers Jr., and Harold Holzer, Editors
''The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators: The Confinement and Execution, As Recorded In The Letterbook of John Frederick Hartranft'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009
* Sullivan, David K
Prison Walls: The Operation of the District Penitentiary, 1831-1862, ''Records of the Columbia Historical Society'' Washington, D.C., vol. 71/72, 1971, pp. 243–66.
External links
Materials of Old Penitentiary in Washington. Letter from the Secretary of War, Relative to the Taking Down and Removing the Material of the Old Penitentiary Situated on the Washington Arsenal Ground. January 31, 1873. -- Referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds and Ordered to be Printed ''Issue 1567 of United States congressional serial set''
American Civil War prison camps
Defunct prisons in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War
{{US-mil-hist-stub