Between North & South: Alexandria’s Civil War Prisons

ECW welcomes back guest author Madeline Feierstein.

The city of Alexandria, Virginia – just outside of the nation’s capital – was permanently altered by its role in the Civil War. The flight of secessionists, installation of a military government, and constant threat of Confederate invasion transformed it unrecognizably from its antebellum years. It was commandeered for military purposes, including medical and correctional uses.

What is often missing or plainly absent from the historiography of Civil War Alexandria are the five facilities that served as military prisons – overlooked in the study of Civil War corrections. As a city run under martial law, it was the first Confederate locale to be captured in the war, but this suburb is frequently merged with Washington geographically. When consulting national maps of Civil War era prisons, Alexandria’s five are generally excluded, with only the District’s Old Capitol Prison representing the region.

There was only one permanent correctional site within the City of Alexandria prior to the war. The County Jail, known as the “St. Asaph Street Jail” by the Union Army, was immediately confiscated upon Federal capture of the town. Four properties were established in quick succession after the County Jail. The most photographed and recorded prison stood at the Franklin & Armfield Office. While there were several enslaved auction houses, only this one kept its original use and was renamed the “Slave Pen Jail.” Employed to secure enslaved persons, its pens which lined the walled yards became a tourist attraction for many Northern soldiers who had not encountered slavery in their abolitionist hometowns. Three additional private buildings that were confiscated from their Alexandrian owners are more overlooked in the history: Odd Fellows Hall Prison, Prince Street Prison, and Washington Street Prison.

The story of “Prince Street Prison,” the former furniture factory operated by the prominent Green family, was featured in the hit PBS series “Mercy Street.” It is now a condominium complex that has been heavily renovated.

Odd Fellows Hall, built twenty years before the war, was notably the armory and headquarters for the local militia. Briefly transformed into a center of learning and enfranchisement for freed people after the war, it has been spared from too much modernization in the present day.

The infamous Washington Street Prison, identified as the “North’s Andersonville,” housed the largest capacity of prisoners and experienced the worst described conditions.^[1] The military government operated this heatless and scurvy-ridden facility in the former Mount Vernon Cotton Factory. With no relation to George Washington’s nearby estate, the massive mechanical equipment stood motionless in the basement with nine wards of inmates crowded in the upper floors.

Alexandria was a city on lockdown. The crime rate rose as the war dragged on. Deserters and subversives roamed the streets, threatening the top-secret nature of operations within this base.

The military government authorized interrogations and other severe punishments, appointing Capt. Rufus D. Pettit to the post of superintendent of military prisons in summer 1864. The post arrived shortly after Pettit’s ultimate transfer to the 12th Veteran Reserve Corps. This veteran of the Mexican-American War had re-enlisted in the service despite a medical discharge from the 1st New York Light Artillery in the wake of Chancellorsville. Pettit left behind a treasure trove of data in the form of trimonthly reports for each prison, documenting the number of sick, imprisoned, transferred, and escaped for all five sites.

Each of these facilities imprisoned soldiers from both sides, as well as administrative officers and civilians. The city became the “buffer” between the Union and the Confederacy. Not intended for long-term stays, it was the first stop for Confederate prisoners-of-war on a journey to larger prison camps. Union prisoners stayed longer than their Confederate counterparts, but both could be shipped further north at a moment’s notice. Union soldiers were more likely to be imprisoned closer to the border, especially if they were due to return to the front or be reassigned. When the prisoner exchange system halted by 1864, this created a cataclysm of problems within Alexandria. Confederates who should have been transferred north and Federals who were expected to be released to their regiments stayed put, causing a surge of overcrowding and disease.

The Provost Marshal Office determined the fate of each Union soldier brought into headquarters. Brief incarceration was the ideal option, although other sentences listed “ball and chain” or “hard labor” in the prison registers and service records.^[2] A lack of fresh produce, adequate clothing, washing stations, and proper heating in the colder months led to increased suffering, agitation, and higher likelihoods of violence.

Surprisingly, escape attempts and successes were difficult to police. Even though patrols guarded doors and monitored the white-washed walls, it was common for an escaped prisoner to hide under the cover of darkness in a bustling city. Recapture was even more rare since the inmate would blend-in among the thousands of bloodied, starved, or tired personnel within Alexandria. Shockingly, Pettit reported that the October 30, 1864, flight of 18 prisoners from Washington Street Prison set the highest record.^[3]

The appointment of Superintendent Pettit coincided with a heightened number of prisoners sent to nearby hospitals. Washington Street Prison became the epicenter of his campaign against deserters. While serving in his role, Pettit earned an unsavory reputation for objectionable actions. By the end of October 1865 and with Reconstruction initiating, the military government could not ignore Pettit’s record and accusations of torture. In spite of favorable character witnesses by his subordinates, the witness testimony and first-hand accounts by released prisoners condemned Pettit to a dishonorable discharge in January 1866.^[4] He returned to his New York farm and lived a civilian existence until his death in 1891.

The atrocities that emerged from Alexandria’s prisons reveal that the suffering and adversity of the Civil War extended far beyond larger prison camps and the established narrative. The city’s role in incarceration is frequently neglected, largely because these accounts and testimonies have faded into obscurity over the passing decades. It is essential to move past conventional arenas when examining corruption, wrongdoing, and misconduct during the Civil War, and shine a brighter light where darkness bred in this tumultuous time.

Madeline Feierstein is an Alexandria, VA historian specializing in the American Civil War’s hospitals and prisons. A native of Washington, D.C., her work has been showcased across the Capital Region. As the Lead Historian for the Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden and a contributor to Emerging Civil War, Madeline leads efforts to document the sick, injured, and imprisoned soldiers that passed through Civil War Alexandria. Additionally, she interprets the burials in Alexandria’s historically rich cemeteries with Gravestone Stories. Madeline holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from George Mason University and a Master’s in American History from Southern New Hampshire University. Explore her research at www.madelinefeierstein.com.

Endnotes:

[1] T. Michael Miller,  “The Washington and Prince Street Military Prisons — Alexandria’s Andersonville??” Alexandria Chronicle 7, no. 4 (1999), https://sites.google.com/view/alexandria-historical-society/publications/alexandria-chronicle?authuser=0.

[2] National Archives, “Guard Reports” in “Lists, Registers, and Reports, 1864–1865,” Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, n.d., https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1726573.

[3] Captain Rufus D. Pettit Papers, October 1864, MS093, Digital Special Collections, Alexandria Library

https://alexlibrary.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_a7c956a3-8882-4c46-827b-8c61e71212d9/.

[4]Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, VA), Jan. 27 1866, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85025007/1866-01-27/ed-1/.