The Irving Block prison was a wartime prison in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Notorious for its cruel and unsanitary living conditions, it was also known as the "

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

" of Memphis.

Creation

The building that later became used as the Irving Block Prison was constructed in 1860 on Second Street in Memphis, as an office building. To protect the building from burglary, iron slats covered the windows. During the Civil War, it was converted into a Confederate Hospital by the Southern Mothers organization. After the capture of Memphis by the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

in 1862, it was turned into a prison to house soldiers and civilian Confederate sympathizers, including women and Memphis mayor John Park.

Extortion

In 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant appointed Stephen A. Hurlbut in charge of Memphis and the Irving Block prison. Hurlbut had been instructed to crack down on Confederate sympathizers and the smuggling of cotton, but instead set up an

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

ring to profit from the turmoil in the city. Hurlbut also began extorting money from Memphis merchants, imprisoning them in Irving Block on false charges of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

and demanding exorbitant bond fees, then never calling the accused to return to court, keeping the bond or sometimes finding them guilty ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' as an excuse to confiscate the rest of their property. Hurlbut appointed Captain George A. Williams prison commandant in 1863, and together they expanded the extortion ring to include the commanding officers at the Irving Block prison. Williams was emboldened by their success, demanding ransoms from wealthy residents who sought to release captive soldiers from confinement at the prison. John Hallum, a Memphis lawyer, wrote publicly about Hulbut and Williams' crimes and uncovered a scandal involving Hurlbut, making him a liability to Hurlbut's operation. Hallum was arrested and confined at

Fort Pickering Fort Pickering is a 17th-century historic fort site on Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts. Fort Pickering operated as a strategic coastal defense and military barracks for Salem Harbor during a variety of periods, serving as a fortification f ...

, where he nearly died from the deteriorating conditions. The notoriety surrounding Hallum's arrest brought about a

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

inspection of Irving Block in 1864.

Conditions

As the war intensified, the situation grew worse, and some prisoners remained in chains for months at a time, receiving little food or medical attention. Complaints about the conditions in the prison prompted an investigation by Judge Advocate General

Joseph Holt Joseph Holt (January 6, 1807 – August 1, 1894) was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. As a leading member of the Buchanan administration, he succeeded in convincing Buchanan to oppose the secession of the South. He returned to Ke ...

, who wrote

President Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

in April 1864 that Lt. Col. John F. Marsh found the prison conditions to be unacceptable. The report detailed Marsh's first hand account of the prison, stating:

The prison which is used for the detention of citizens, prisoners of war on their way to the North, and the United States soldiers awaiting trial and which is located in a large block of stores is represented as the filthiest place the inspector ever saw occupied by human beings. The whole management and government of the prison could not be worse! Discipline and order are unknown. Food sufficient but badly served. In a dark wet cellar I found twenty-eight prisoners chained to a wet floor, where they had been constantly confined, many of them for several months, one since November 16, 1863, and are not for a moment released even to relieve the calls of nature. With a single exception these men have had no trial.

In April 1864, an officer reported to

War Secretary The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

Edwin Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

of the shockingly inhuman conditions that the prisoners were kept in, leading to Stanton dismissing Captain Williams from his post. However, General Grant intervened on Williams' behalf, and Williams was reinstated as prison commandant. After Williams returned to the prison, and after the removal of Hurlbut from command, Williams dissolved the extortion ring and resolved to clean up the prison. In July 1864, the prison was officially designated a U.S.

Military Prison A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members ...

Raid on Memphis

During the war, Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest became determined to free the prisoners from Irving Block, and led a raid on Memphis in August 1864 to accomplish this goal and free captured Confederate Generals. He didn't find the generals, although one did manage to escape during the night with 500 other prisoners, and he was successful in influencing Union forces to return to Memphis from northern

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Closure

The prison was so notorious that it was eventually closed by order of President Lincoln himself in 1865. At that time the prison held about 1200 soldiers and 100 citizens. The building was condemned and demolished during the Great Depression in 1937.

References

{{coord missing, Tennessee 1860s architecture in the United States American Civil War prison camps Buildings and structures demolished in 1937 Buildings and structures in Memphis, Tennessee Defunct prisons in Tennessee Demolished buildings and structures in Tennessee Government buildings completed in 1860 Military prisons in the United States Office buildings completed in 1860 1862 establishments in Tennessee 1865 disestablishments in Tennessee