Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

[Hank Trent]

I'm trying to find out about the inmates of the Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C. in October of 1865.

From the ORs, the report for October is as follows:

On hand Sept. 30, 1865--13
joined--4
total--17
transferred to other stations--2
delivery or exchange--0
died--0
escaped--1
released--11
total loss--14
memoranda sick--0, citizens--16

So October began with 13, four were added, and 14 were subtracted, leaving a total of three in November.

Elsewhere, the ORs list the three remaining prisoners by name and where they were sent in November: J.W. Duncan to Savannah, R. B. Winder to Richmond, and J. H. Gee to North Carolina.

What I'd like to do is identify those 11 who were released during October, marked in bold above, and I'd like to learn about the escapee as well. Any ideas where to look?

Also, strangely enough, the report doesn't seem to include Major Henry Wirz, who should show up as a military prisoner and be remaining at the end of the month. Wasn't he in the Old Capitol Prison at this time, undergoing trial?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Also, strangely enough, the report doesn't seem to include Major Henry Wirz, who should show up as a military prisoner and be remaining at the end of the month. Wasn't he in the Old Capitol Prison at this time, undergoing trial?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Hank..workin on the other parts

Richmond Dispatch.
Saturday...December 16, 1865.
Latest from Washington by mail


Winder and Wirz again.

Captain Weest, United States Army, has been cashiered for that he did, at the Old Capitol prison, take from their rooms, in which they were severally confined, Richard Winder and Henry Wirz, prisoners of State, and did convey them, in violation of all rules of the said prison, to the room of Brigadier-General Briscoe, United States volunteers, also a prisoner confined in said prison, and did permit them to remain in said room from nine P. M. until four A. M., on October 13, 1865.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Thank you! That certainly confirms Wirz and Winder were there.

I just realized that it says 16 citizens prisoners, but a total of 17, so the 17th non-citizen prisoner could be Wirz, except now we have another military prisoner:

room of Brigadier-General Briscoe, United States volunteers, also a prisoner confined in said prison,

Or, if Wirz is eliminated entirely from the count, Briscoe could be the sole military prisoner.

At this point, I'd be happy just to learn the type of people who made up the 11 released prisoners... High ranking Confederate politicians? Poor southern farmers who wouldn't take the oath? People accused of spying? That kind of thing.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Drygoods]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Mr. Trent,
It is interesting that you are working on this, while I am looking for 'petition of release' legal documents from Alcatraz Island during the same time frame. Where exactly does one go to find copies of the legal documents filed on inmates held in prison? LOC and FA are the only things that I can think of, but western prisons are tricky especially since so many records were lost during the 1906 quake. Any suggestions?

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Hank

Can you cross-verify Cpt. Weest or maybe West ?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Can you cross-verify Cpt. Weest or maybe West ?

The Veteran Reserve Corps was assigned to do guard duty at the prison at various times, so if I had to guess, I'd say it was Capt. George Weest of the 9th Veteran Reserve Corps. They were "Mustered out by detachments July 1 to November 16, 1865," according to the NPS Soldiers and Sailors database, where I also found his name, so some of the 9th VRC would still have been in service at that time. Since he took the men from their room and let them visit elsewhere, it sounds like he could have been a guard, rather than a U.S. Army soldier being held in the prison.

Edited to add: if that's the right Capt. Weest, here's his picture:

http://www.horsesoldier.com/catalog/37-179b.JPEG

That's from the cached page here where some of his things were being sold, and it says he was interviewed by a newspaper about "the removal of Booth's body in Washington DC" which does imply he was in Washington in the summer of 1865.

Judith,

Unfortunately I have no idea. I've been looking at post-war reminiscences about the prison and the ORs, but I don't know if there's a better database somewhere.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

The Veteran Reserve Corps was assigned to do guard duty at the prison at various times, so if I had to guess, I'd say it was Capt. George Weest of the 9th Veteran Reserve Corps. They were "Mustered out by detachments July 1 to November 16, 1865,"

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Do my spidey senses forsee a possible oppty for folks with trimmed, sky blue roundabouts ?

[Charles Heath]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Do my spidey senses forsee a possible oppty for folks with trimmed, sky blue roundabouts ?

Chris,

Totin' firearms (even antique boomstix) around the front steps of SCOTUS may be a bad idea these days. Nice thought, though. ;)

Hank,

Did I send you that blurb about the political prisoners, prostitutes, and handful of other ne'er do wells held during the closing days of this fine institution? Minimum security would be a good way to describe at least some of that prison, but I don't know if they had any tennis courts.

Time to grease up those infamous shoes again. I am so looking forward to this.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Did I send you that blurb about the political prisoners, prostitutes, and handful of other ne'er do wells held during the closing days of this fine institution? Minimum security would be a good way to describe at least some of that prison, but I don't know if they had any tennis courts.

You mentioned it briefly, but I don't see anything in my email file in detail. If it's easy to find, please send it!

Here's some stuff I've found on the prison in general:

Prison Life in the Old Capitol, earlier than 1865 but a first-hand account from an inmate in its heyday.

Haven't read this one yet, but The Old Capitol and its Inmates is written by a female prisoner.

American Bastille. That link should take you to a section on daily life, but a search within that volume for "old capitol prison" brings up other descriptions like this one, though it seems some is a rewrite of the information in Prison Life in the Old Capitol.

A little bit written by a prison official.

A brief bit on Mosby's men. They're also mentioned briefly in the account linked above.

Chris, can you head up to Washington City within a few days after Westville and spend a week? If so, email Charles.

Hank Trent
Definitely looking forward to this!
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Charles Heath]

Re: Old Capitol Prison inmates, Oct 1865

Hank,

Let me see if I tucked that article into the event files somewhere. Currently, I'm enjoying the New York Times articles from October 1865, and their ongoing trial coverage of poor Henry.

October 1865 NYT Articles

Unfortunately, I peruse about every fourth article about shipwrecks, the Alabama and Shenandoah "piracy," surplus hospital stores sold in Elmira, etc., etc., in what must be a horrid flare up of Campaigner Attention Deficit Disorder.

While I'm at it, I need to rummage through some boxes of books to find Tee Edmonds' diary. She was a bright young thing, and left behind some rather good reading about our target destination.

I remember a tree where apples hang well into the first hard snows, so if we make it to the overseer's house, we can dine on a couple of the finest apples ever grown. Unfortunately, we will be too late for the golden plums, but the view from that tree looking towards Warrenton is fabulous, especially as the sun drops over Ashby's Gap on a cool, clear, colorful, autumn evening.

This ought to sound familiar: "Perhaps we can buy a fresh newspaper in Harper's Ferry."