The Mount Vernon Arsenal is a former
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
munitions depot (arsenal), was used as a prison for captured Native Americans, and was served as a psychiatric hospital. It is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in
Mount Vernon, Alabama
Mount Vernon is a town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. It incorporated in 1959. At the 2020 census the population was 1,354.
Geography
Mount Vernon is located in the northeast corner of Mobil ...
. The site is home to the now closed
Searcy Hospital. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on May 26, 1988 as the Mount Vernon Arsenal-Searcy Hospital Complex.
History
The Mount Vernon Arsenal was established by the United States Army near the
Mobile River, three miles west of
Fort Stoddert
Fort Stoddert, also known as Fort Stoddard, was a stockade fort in the U.S. Mississippi Territory, in what is today Alabama. It was located on a bluff of the Mobile River, near modern Mount Vernon, close to the confluence of the Tombigbee and Al ...
, and approximately 30 miles inland from the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
. Along with the
Kennebec Arsenal in
Augusta, Maine, it is one of the most complete
antebellum
Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to:
United States history
* Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States
** Antebellum Georgia
** Antebellum South Carolina
** Antebellum Virginia
* Antebellum ...
arsenals surviving to the present day. Established in 1828 as an ordnance manufacturing base, the Mount Vernon Arsenal served as one of the U.S. Army's main
ammunition plants from its inception until the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
On January 4, 1861, troops of the Alabama state militia took possession of the arsenal on the orders of Alabama governor
Andrew B. Moore. The takeover from the small US Army force, commanded by Captain
Jesse L. Reno, was peaceful and bloodless. After Alabama joined with other seceded states to form the
Confederacy, the Arsenal was turned over to the
Confederate Army for the duration of the war. In 1862, after the
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
, the Confederacy moved ammunition manufacturing from the Mount Vernon Arsenal to
Selma, Alabama. Selma offered a more secure location farther away from Union forces.
[U.S. War Department, ''The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the ]Official Records
The ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion'', commonly known as the ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies'' or Official Records (OR or ORs), is the most extensive collection of Americ ...
of the Union and Confederate Armies'', 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
The Confederate Army held the Arsenal almost until the end of the Civil War. After the war was over, the Arsenal was returned to the federal government and the site was renamed the Mount Vernon Barracks. From 1887 to 1894 the Barracks was used as a prison for captured
Apache people, including
Geronimo and his followers.
Walter Reed
Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 22, 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than ...
, the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
physician who confirmed that
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
is spread by
mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es, served as post surgeon in the 1880s. In 1895, the site was deeded to the state of Alabama.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Mobile County, AlabamaHistorical Marker Database
References
{{NRHP in Mobile County, Alabama
Alabama in the American Civil War
United States Army arsenals
American Civil War forts
Historic districts in Mobile County, Alabama
National Register of Historic Places in Mobile County, Alabama
1828 establishments in Alabama
Greek Revival architecture in Alabama
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama