The Arsenal Penitentiary was a penal institution in Washington, D. C. used as a military prison during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, currently located inside

Fort Lesley J. McNair Fort Lesley J. McNair, also historically known as the Washington Arsenal, is a United States Army post located on the tip of Buzzard Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C ...

. 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 at the confluence of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

and the

Anacostia River The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Ch ...

within the District of Columbia. It was designed by

Charles Bulfinch Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Tra ...

and constructed adjacent to the north side of the

Washington Arsenal Fort Lesley J. McNair, also historically known as the Washington Arsenal, is a United States Army post located on the tip of Buzzard Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C ...

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 Albany Penitentiary was an American prison in Albany, New York that operated from 1848 until 1931. The prison was designed by Amos Pillsbury, also the first superintendent. Until the American Civil War, the main type of for-profit prison labor don ...

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 Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...

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.

References

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

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links