April 30, 1865: The Conspirators Removed to the Arsenal Penitentiary, Trial and Four Executions

In real time.

The eight suspects in the Lincoln assassination plot who had been imprisoned on the monitors USS Montauk and Saugus were transferred to the  Arsenal penitentiary, located in the compound of what is now Fort McNair.  This was also the site of their military trial which returned its verdict June 30, 1865.

Three of the eight, along with Mrs. Mary Surratt, were hanged in the penitentiary on July 7.  The three hanged this date were:

Lewis Paine who made  the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Secretary of State Seward

George A. Atzerodt who had been designated by Booth to murder Vice President Johnson

David E. Herold who had accompanied  Booth in his escape from the city and until their capture.

--Old B-Runner

April 27, 1865-- Part 2: Booth Buried, Conspirators Held

While the body was on board the monitor, an autopsy was performed and an inquiry conducted to establish identity.  Booth's corpse was taken by boat to the Washington Arsenal (now Fort McNair) where it was buried in a gun box the following day.

Herold was incarcerated in the hold of the Montauk which, along with the USS Saugus, was being utilized as a maximum security prison of eight of the suspected conspirators.

--Old B-R'er

April 17-25, 1865-- Part 3: Confinement of Conspirators on the Monitors

APRIL 17TH-25TH, 1865:  The last of the eight conspiracy suspects to be incarcerated on board the monitors was David E. Herold.

The prisoners were kept below decks under heavy guard and were manacled with both wrist and leg irons.  In addition, their heads were covered with canvas hoods the interior of which were fitted with cottonpads that tightly covered the prisoners' eyes and ears.

The hoods contained two small openings to permit breathing and the consumption of food.

An added security measure was taken with Paine by attaching a ball and chain to each ankle.

--Old B-Runner

April 17-25, 1865-- Part 2: Conspirators Moved to the Monitors

APRIL 17-25TH, 1865:  Edward Spangler, a stagehand at Fort Theatre and Booth's aid, along with Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel B. Arnold, close associates of Booth during the months leading up to the assassination, were also caught up in the dragnet.

O'Laughlin and Paine, after overnight imprisonment in the Old Capitol Prison, were transferred to the monitors at the Navy Yard.

Theyw ere joined by Arnold on the 19th and Spangler on the 24th.

George A. Atzerodt, the would-be assassin of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Ernest Hartman Richter, at whose home Atzerodt was captured, were brought on board the ships on the 20th.

Joao Celestino, Portuguese sea captain who had been heard to say on the 14th that Seward ought to be assassinated, was transferred from Old Capitol Prison to the Montauk on the 25th.

--Old B-Runner

A Fort Fisher and Wilmington Connection with the Lincoln Conspirators

The Lincoln conspirators, with the exception of Mary Surratt, were incarcerated aboard the monitors Saugus and Montauk after they were captured.  Both ships had been prepared for this purpose at Washington Navy Yard on April 15th.

The USS Saugus had been present at both battles of Fort Fisher.  After the second battle, she was towed to Norfolk for repairs and spent the rest of the war on the James River.

The USS Montauk was not at the battles of Fort Fisher, but participated in the follow up action on the Cape Fear River that led to the fall of Wilmington, North Carolina.

--Old B-R'er

April 17-25, 1865-- Part 1: The Monitors Montauk and Saugus and the Lincoln Conspirators

APRIL 17TH TO 25TH, 1865:  Four of the five Lincoln assassination suspects arrested on the 17th were imprisoned  on the monitors USS Montauk and USS Saugus which had been prepared for this purpose on the 15th and were anchored off the Washington Navy Yard on the Anacostia River.

Mrs. Mary E. Surratt was taken into custody at the boarding house she operated after it was learned that her son was a close friend of John Wilkes Booth and that the actor was a frequent visitor at the boarding house.

Mrs. Surratt was jailed at the Carroll Annex of Old Capitol Prison.

Lewis Paine was also taken into custody when he came to Mrs. Surratt's boarding house while she was being arrested.

--Old B-Runner

April 15, 1865: Death of Abraham Lincoln and His last Trip to Washington Navy Yard on April 14th

APRIL 15TH, 1865:  Secretary Welles announced the assassination of President Lincoln to the officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps.  Welles wrote:  "To him our gratitude was justly due, for to him, under God, more to any other person, we are indeed for the successful vindication of the integrity of the Union and the maintenance of the power of the Republic."

The President had continually demonstrated a keen interest in the Navy and far-seeing appreciation of seapower.

Late in the afternoon of the 14th he had taken what was to be his last trip to the Washington Navy Yard (which he visited often during the war) to view three ironclads there that had been damaged during the Fort Fisher engagement.

There were four monitors and the ironclad USS New Ironsides at Fort Fisher.  I have read these three ships were monitors, which leaves the New Ironsides out.  The four monitors were the Canonicus, Mahopac, Saugus and double-turreted Monadnock.

Most likely, the Monadnock was the one not viewed by Lincoln the day before he died because  it was at Hampton Roads on April 7 and then sailed for Havana on April 17th.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 3, 1865-- Part 4: I Need Monitors More Than You Do

FEBRUARY 3RD, 1864:  In anticipation of the movement on Wilmington, Porter wrote Dahlgren requesting that the monitors he had dispatched to Charleston after the fall of Fort Fisher be returned for duty on the Cape Fear River.

Although each squadron commander wanted the sturdy ironclad warships to spearhead his own efforts, Dahlgren prevailed in his belief that his problem was the greater against the heavily fortified Charleston Harbor.

Thus Porter had to plan on the services of only the USS Montauk, the lone Monitor he had retained.  The other Monitors he had had with him for the attacks on Fort Fisher were the Canonicus, Mahopac, Saugus and Monadnock.  The ironclad USS New Ironsides was also there.

The Montauk arrived after the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.

--Old B-Runner

January 13, 1865: The Beginning of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher-- Part 1

JANUARY 13TH, 1865:  Early on the morning of the 13th. the second amphibious assault on Fort Fisher was begun.  Read Admiral Porter took some 59 warships into action.  Major General Alfred Terry commanded 8,000 soldiers.  The naval landing party of 2,000 sailors and Marines would raise the assaulting force to 10,000.

Col. Lamb's valiant defenders in the fort numbered 1,500.

The USS New Ironsides, Commodore William Radford, led the monitors Saugus, Canonicus, Monadnock and Mahopac to within 1,000 yards of Fort Fisher and opened on the batteries.

A spirited engagement ensued.

Porter wrote Secretary Welles:  "It was soon quite apparent that the iron vessels had the best of it; traverses began to disappear and the southern angle of Fort Fisher commenced to look very dilapidated."

The USS Brooklyn, Captain Alden, and USS Colorado, Commodore Thatcher, led the heavy wooden warships into battle and the federal fleet maintained a devastating bombardment throughout the day until after dark.

--Old B-Runner

The Four Fort Fisher Monitors 1-1-65

The four monitors in the Fort Fisher attacks were the Canonicus, Monadnock, Mahopac and Saugus and were all surprisingly listed as 3rd Class warships.  because of their importance I would have thought they would have been at least 2nd Class if not 1st Class.  It was perhaps because of their small number of guns, two apiece except for the double turreted Monadnock.

Canonicus, 3rd class, 2 guns, Off Beaufort, Lt.Cmdr. G.E. Belknap
Monadnock, 3rd Class, 4 guns, Beaufort, NC, Commander E.G. Parrott
Mahopac, 3rd Class, 2 guns, Beaufort, NC, Lt. Cmdr. E.E. Potter
Saugus, 3rd Class, 2 guns, Beaufort, NC, Commander E.R. Colhoun

Evidently, you had to be a lieutenant commander or commander to command one of the monitors.  The USS New Ironsides was also an ironclad, but much larger and more guns and rated as 1st Class.

3rd Class?  What Gives?  --Old B-Runner

Lincoln Assassination Suspects Transferred to Arsenal Penetentiary

APRIL 30TH, 1865:  The eight suspects in the Lincoln assassination plot who had been imprisoned on the U.S. monitors Saugus and Montauk were transferred to the Arsenal Penitentiary, located on the compound of what is today Fort McNair.  This was also the site of their trial by a military tribunal which returned its guilty verdict on June 30th.

Three of the eight, along with Mary Surratt, were hanged in the prison yard of the penitentiary on 7 July--  Lewis Paine who made the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Secretary of State Seward; George A. Atzerodt who had been designated by Booth to murder Vice President Johnson; and David E. Herold who had accompanied Booth in his escape from the city.

Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel B. Arnold, boyhood friends of Booth and conspirators in the actor's earlier plans to assassinate top officials, were sentenced to life in prison.  Another accomplice, Edward Spangler, stagehand at Ford's Theatre, was sentenced to six years in prison.  The remaining two of the eight who had been incarcerated on the monitors-- Ernest Hartman Richter, a cousin of Atzerodt, and Joao Celestino, a Portuguese sea captain--were released without being brought to trial.

--Old B-R'er

Booth Killed

APRIL 27TH, 1865: The body of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, and David E. Herold, who had accompanied Booth in the escape from Washington and was with the actor when he was shot, were delivered on board the monitor USS Montauk, anchored in the Anacostia River off the Washington Navy Yard.

Booth had been slain and Herold captured at John M. Garrett's farm three miles outside Port Royal, Virginia, in the early morning hours of the previous day.  While the body was on board the monitor, an autopsy was performed and an inquiry conducted to establish identity.

Booth's corpse was taken by boat to the Washington Arsenal (now Fort McNair) where it was buried in a gun box the following day.  Herold was incarcerated  in the hold of the Montauk which, along with the USS Saugus, was being utilized as a maximum security prison for eight of the suspected assassination conspirators.

--Old B-Runner

Lincoln Conspirators Held on USS Saugus and Montauk-- Part 2

O'Laughlin and Paine, after overnight imprisonment in Old Capitol Prison, were transferred to the monitors at the Navy Yard.  They were joined by Arnold on the 19th and Spangler on the 24th.

George A. Atzerodt, the would-be assassin of Vice President Johnson, and Ernest Hartman Richter, at whose home Atzerodt was captured, were brought on board the ships on the 20th.  Joao Celetino, Portuguese sea captain who had been heard to say on the 14th that Seward ought to be assassinated, was transferred from Old Capitol Prison to the Montauk on the 25th.

The last of the eight conspiracy suspects to be incarcerated on board the monitors was David E. harold.  The prisoners were kept below decks under heavy guard and were manacled with both wrist and leg irons.  In addition, their heads were covered with canvas hoods the interior of which were fitted with cotton pads that tightly covered the prisoners' eyes and ears.

The hoods contained two small openings to permit breathing and the consumption of food.  An added security measure was taken with Paine by attaching a ball and chain to each ankle.

Not Exactly the Lap of Luxury.  --Old B-Runnero

Lincoln Conspirators Imprisoned on Monitors Montauk and Saugus-- Part 1

APRIL 17-25, 1865:  Four of the five Lincoln assassination suspects arrested on the 17th were imprisoned on the monitors USS Montauk and Saugus which had been prepared for the purpose on the 15th and were anchored off the Washington Navy Yard in the Anacostia River.  These USS Saugus had been at both battles of Fort Fisher.

Mrs. Mary E. Surratt was taken into custody at the boarding house she operated after it was learned that her son was a close friend of John Wilkes Booth and that the actor was a frequent visitor at the boarding house.  Mrs. Surratt was jailed ta the Carroll Annex of Old Capitol Prison.

Lewis Paine was also taken into custody when he came to Mrs. Surratt's  house during her arrest.  Edward Spangler, stagehand at the Ford Theatre and Booth's aide, along with Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel B. Arnold, close associates of Booth during the months leading up to the assassination, were also caught up in the dragnet.

--Old B-R'er

Confederates Capture Tug Lizzie Freeman in Virginia

DECEMBER 5, 2014,:  Confederate force under Acting Master William A. Hines, CSN, captured tug Lizzie Freeman by boarding near Smithfield, Virginia.  The daring raid took place shortly before midnight while the Union tug, with two Army officers on board, lay at anchor.

USS Chocura, Lt. Cmdr. Meade, seized blockade-running British schooner Julia south of Velasco, Texas, with cargo including bar iron, medicines, cotton bagging and rope.

DECEMBER 5-6TH, 1864:  Monitors USS Saugus, Onondaga, Mahopac and Canonicus (most of them at the Battle of Fort Fisher 19 days later) participated in a lively engagement with strong shore batteries at Howlett's, James River, Virginia.  The Saugus received a solid 7-inch shot which disabled her turret.

--Old B-Runner

Fighting at Deep Bottom on the James River

JUNE 29-30, 1864:  Converted ferry boat USS Hunchback and single-turreted monitor USS Saugus bombard Confederate batteries at Deep Bottom on the James River and caused their eventual with drawal.

Rear Admiral Lee reported: "The importance of holding our position at deep Bottom is obvious.  Without doing so our communications are cut there, and our wooden vessels cannot remain above that point, and the monitors would be alone and exposed to the enemy's light torpedo craft from above and out of Four Mile Creek.

"The enemy would then plant torpedoes there to prevent the monitors passing by for supplies."

Evidently, Deep Bottom was behind the Union forward ships.

--Old B-R'er

Why It Takes So Long To Do These Confounded Blogs

OK, yesterday, while doing my Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago entry, I mentioned that on August 4, 1862, that the USS Unadilla had captured a British blockade-runner named the Lodona at Hell Gate, Georgia.  I'd never heard of Hell Gate, Georgia, so looked it up and found that it was near Savannah (I had an entry about it yesterday).  While looking for information on it, I came across a town called Georgia, Vermont, which had the nickname Hell's Gate which it got during the War of 1812.  Well, I had to check that out as well and blogged about it on my War of 1812 blog.

Then, I looked up the service record of the USS Unadillo and found out it was one of the 23 "90 Day Gunboats" constructed in that length of time at the beginning of the war and that it had participated in both battles of Fort Fisher and the capture of Fort Fisher.

Then, I found out that the blockade-runner Lodona became the USS Ladona and captured other blockade-runners.  Its first commander, Edmund R. Colhoun later became a rear-admiral and commanded the monitor USS Saugus at both battles of Fort Fisher where he was commended.

No wonder it takes me so long to do these blogs.

Small World.  --Old B-R'er