Fort Jefferson
N 24° 37.658 W 082° 52.347
17R E 310463 N 2725008
In addition to other prisoners, most notable inmates hosed here were Dr Mudd and three others convicted of conspiracy in the assination of President Lincoln.
Waymark Code: WM6YAW
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 08/05/2009
Views: 10
Dry Tortugas National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Active Use: 1860s - 1930s
The fort remained in Federal hands throughout the Civil War. With the end of hostilities in 1865, the fort's population declined to 1,013, consisting of 486 soldiers or civilians and 527 prisoners. The great majority of prisoners at Fort Jefferson were Army privates whose most common transgression was desertion while most civilian prisoners transgressed by robbery. However, in July 1865 four special civilian prisoners arrived. These were Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edmund Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen, who had been convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Construction of Fort Jefferson was still under way when Dr. Mudd and his fellow prisoners arrived, and continued throughout the time they were imprisoned there and for several years thereafter, but was never completely finished. Mudd provided much-praised medical care during a yellow fever epidemic at the fort in 1867, and was eventually pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and released. By 1888, the military usefulness of Fort Jefferson had waned, and the cost of maintaining the fort due to the effects of frequent hurricanes and the corrosive and debilitating tropical climate could no longer be justified. In 1888, the Army turned the fort over to the Marine Hospital Service to be operated as a quarantine station.
Address:
Dry Tortugas National Park,
Garden Key
Dry Tortugas, FL USA
33041
Open to the public: Yes
Hours:
daylight
Fees?:
yes, many
Web link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
In order to add a new log to the waymark of this category, simply take another photo of the prison from a different angle than the other posts. Also add to the history of the jail when possible.