When the Circus Came to Occupied Alexandria

In November 1862, P.T. Barnum brought his circus to perform on busy Cameron Street in Union-occupied Alexandria, Virginia.[1] The city was likely unprepared for the arrival of an “usual congregation of six distinct exhibitions, each of the greatest of its character ever known on either the American or European continents.”

Everyone was invited to Barnum’s three-day Mammoth Circus to view the world’s smallest man, an albino family from Madagascar, contortionist dancers, and the ladies’ man General Tom Thumb for the price of 25 cents admission.[2] Fortified by 30 hospitals, 25 forts, and five prisons, citizens and military personnel endured a harsh reality within their lockdown environment. This show was quite a whiplash from the restrictive and heavy regulations enacted by the military government. A true night-and-day feeling for the city’s population, the dictatorial decrees were forgotten – at least while the circus was in town.

Barnum’s circus could not have come at a better time. There was not much allowance for leisure and play during Alexandria’s occupation by Union forces. The traditional centers for entertainment were shut down by Military Governor John Potts Slough, an aggressive man with the personality needed to command this city. No longer could a person patronize a brothel, saloon, or even a majority of the established churches. Many citizens who remained in the city due to business interests or agreeing Unionist sentiment were beginning to doubt the efficacy, necessity, and brutality of the occupying government. This traveling circus demonstrated to these local attendees that even though we are in the midst of a civil war, the show must go on!

This visit during the Civil War would be the circus act’s second performance. Fifteen years prior, Tom Thumb performed at the Lyceum – Alexandria’s main intellectual and social club. Barnum acted as his manager and promoted him as “The Man in Miniature.”[3] Additionally, Northern Virginian Hachaliah Bailey, from the neighboring namesake town of Bailey’s Crossroads, formed an act in 1837 that would go on to join the “Greatest Show on Earth” in the coming decades.[4] And thus we can safely say that the conglomerate Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus was born from Alexandria, Virginia!

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Madeline Feierstein is an Alexandria, VA historian specializing in psychiatric institutions, military hospitals, and prisons. A native of Washington, D.C., her work has been showcased across the Capital Region. Madeline is the founder of Rooted in Place, LLC, a project dedicated to telling stories of historic sites and the people once bound to them. She continues to lead efforts to document the sick, injured, and imprisoned soldiers that passed through Civil War Alexandria. Additionally, she supports the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. 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.

[1] John D. Macoll, Alexandria: A Towne in Transition, 1800-1900, (Alexandria: Alexandria Bicentennial Commission, 1977), 183.

[2] “Alexandria Gazette, Volume 63, Number 270, 1 November 1862,” Library of Virginia, https://virginiachronicle.com.

[3] “What happened on this day in Alexandria’s History?” Office of Historic Alexandria, n.d., https://www.alexandriava.gov/historic-alexandria/this-day-in-history#text-barnum

[4] Jim Suthard, “Baileys Crossroads; a circus, an inn, and a patriotic anthem,” WUSA9, January 22, 2024, https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/the-dmv-you-dont-know-baileys-crossroads/65-f5d3b76d-11c1-4a07-992b-90d6a3d3d093.