The Dry Tortugas
At one o’clock in the morning on Monday, July 17, 1865, a soldier awakened Dr. Samuel Mudd in his cell at Washington’s Arsenal prison and ordered him to get up.
Most people’s nightmares are over when they wake up, but Dr. Mudd’s was just beginning. He and three other Arsenal prisoners, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlen, were rousted from their cells and taken in irons to a nearby wharf on the Potomac River. At the wharf, they were put aboard the side-wheel Army steamer State of Maine. The four prisoners assumed they were being put aboard the State of Maine for transport to New York, and from there to the Federal penitentiary in Albany, where they had been told they would serve their sentences. They were wrong.
Most people’s nightmares are over when they wake up, but Dr. Mudd’s was just beginning. He and three other Arsenal prisoners, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlen, were rousted from their cells and taken in irons to a nearby wharf on the Potomac River. At the wharf, they were put aboard the side-wheel Army steamer State of Maine. The four prisoners assumed they were being put aboard the State of Maine for transport to New York, and from there to the Federal penitentiary in Albany, where they had been told they would serve their sentences. They were wrong.
The State of Maine
About two o’clock in the morning, the State of Maine splashed away from the wharf and picked up speed as it slipped through the night down the Potomac River. By sunup, the ship was in the Chesapeake Bay, and by late afternoon it arrived at Fortress Monroe, located at Hampton, Virginia where the Chesapeake Bay empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the ships lying at anchor off Fortress Monroe that afternoon was the Navy side-wheel steamer U.S.S. Florida. At 6:30 P.M., the Florida’s commander, Captain William Budd, noted in his log book that he had taken aboard as passengers Brigadier General Dodd, Colonel Turner, Captain Dutton, and Doctor Porter, all of the U.S. Army. Also taken aboard were “4 Rebel Prisoners, with a guard of 28 men & their rations.” He would soon learn that his “4 Rebel Prisoners” were the four men who had been convicted but not hung in the Lincoln conspiracy trial.
One of the ships lying at anchor off Fortress Monroe that afternoon was the Navy side-wheel steamer U.S.S. Florida. At 6:30 P.M., the Florida’s commander, Captain William Budd, noted in his log book that he had taken aboard as passengers Brigadier General Dodd, Colonel Turner, Captain Dutton, and Doctor Porter, all of the U.S. Army. Also taken aboard were “4 Rebel Prisoners, with a guard of 28 men & their rations.” He would soon learn that his “4 Rebel Prisoners” were the four men who had been convicted but not hung in the Lincoln conspiracy trial.
At 7 P.M., the Florida raised anchor and set out to sea. She quickly left the Chesapeake Bay, entered the Atlantic Ocean, and turned south. One week and a thousand miles ahead lay the Dry Tortugas.
U.S.S. Florida
From Fortress Monroe to Fort Jefferson
After a seven day journey, the U.S.S. Florida arrived at Fort Jefferson at 11:30 A.M. on July 24, 1865. Rain squalls kept the temperature down to 85 degrees, not too bad for the Florida Keys at the end of July. A pilot came out from the fort to guide the Florida to an anchorage. At 2 P.M., an officer from the fort came aboard to escort General Dodd and other officers ashore. An hour later, Dr. Mudd and his companions were taken ashore. O’Laughlen would not leave Fort Jefferson alive, dying two years later during the great 1867 yellow fever epidemic. Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler would not leave the island prison until March 1869 after receiving pardons from President Johnson.
When Dr. Mudd and his companions arrived at Fort Jefferson, the casemates, or gunrooms, on the second tier of the Sally Port wall were used to house prisoners. Construction of these second tier casemates had been suspended because the weight of the fort was causing it to sink into the ground. Except for their three months in the dungeon, Dr. Mudd, Spangler, Arnold, and O’Laughlen lived together in the cell immediately above the Sally Port.
The four new prisoners were assigned to work according to their skills. Dr. Mudd was assigned to work in the prison hospital. Samuel Arnold, who had attended Georgetown College, was assigned to clerical work in the Provost Marshal's office. Edman Spangler and Michael O'Laughlen were assigned to work as carpenters in the fort's engineering department. Arnold said “Spangler’s trade was a godsend at this time and proved so on more than one occasion afterwards.”
The four new prisoners were assigned to work according to their skills. Dr. Mudd was assigned to work in the prison hospital. Samuel Arnold, who had attended Georgetown College, was assigned to clerical work in the Provost Marshal's office. Edman Spangler and Michael O'Laughlen were assigned to work as carpenters in the fort's engineering department. Arnold said “Spangler’s trade was a godsend at this time and proved so on more than one occasion afterwards.”
Fort Jefferson
In late December 1824 and early January 1825, about five years after Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million dollars, U.S. Navy Commodore David Porter inspected the Dry Tortugas islands. He was on the lookout for a site for a naval station that would help suppress piracy in the Caribbean. Unimpressed with what he saw, he notified the Secretary of the Navy that the Dry Tortugas were unfit for any kind of naval establishment. He reported that they consist of small sand islands a little above the surface of the ocean, have no fresh water, scarcely land enough to place a fortification, and in any case are probably not solid enough to bear one.
While Commodore Porter thought the Dry Tortugas were unfit for a naval station, others in the Government thought the islands were a good location for a lighthouse to guide ships around the area’s reefs and small islands. A small island called Bush Key, later called Garden Key, was selected as the site for the new lighthouse. Construction began in 1825 and was completed in 1826. The 65-foot lighthouse was constructed of brick with a whitewashed exterior. A small white cottage for the lighthouse keeper was constructed beside the lighthouse.
In May 1829, Commodore John Rodgers stopped at the Dry Tortugas to evaluate the anchorage. Contrary to Commodore Porter's experience, Rogers was delighted with what he found. The Dry Tortugas, he reported, consisted of 11 small keys and surrounding reefs and banks, over which the sea broke. There was an outer and an inner harbor. The former afforded a safe anchorage at all seasons, and was large enough to let a large number of ships ride at anchor. Of more importance, the inner harbor combined a sufficient depth of water for ships-of-the-line, with a narrow entrance of not more than 120 yards. Rogers said that if a hostile power should occupy the Dry Tortugas, United States shipping in the Gulf would be in deadly peril, and "nothing but absolute naval superiority" could prevail. However, if occupied and fortified by the U.S., the Dry Tortugas would constitute the "advance post" for a defense of the Gulf Coast.
A series of engineering studies and bureaucratic delays consumed the next 17 years, but the construction of Fort Jefferson was finally begun on Garden Key in 1846. The new fort would be built so that the existing Garden Key lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s cottage would be contained within the walls of the fort. The cell in which Dr. Mudd lived for most of his time at Fort Jefferson overlooked the lighthouse tower and lighthouse keeper’s cottage. The lighthouse would continue to serve a vital function in guiding ships through the waters of the Dry Tortugas Islands until the current metal light tower was installed atop an adjacent wall of the fort in 1876. The original brick lighthouse tower was taken down in 1877, eight years after Dr. Mudd left Fort Jefferson.
The design of the fort called for a three-tiered six-sided 420 heavy-gun fort, with two sides measuring 325 feet, and four sides measuring 477 feet. The walls met at corner bastions, which are large projections designed to allow defensive fire along the faces of the walls they joined. The heavy guns were mounted inside the walls in a string of open casemates, or gunrooms, facing outward toward the sea through large openings called embrasures. Fort Jefferson was designed to be a massive gun platform, impervious to assault, and able to destroy any enemy ships foolhardy to come within range of its powerful guns. If a fully constructed and manned Fort Jefferson had ever been put to the test, it would have surely been a one-sided fight.
Construction of Fort Jefferson was still under way when Dr. Mudd and his fellow prisoners arrived in 1865, continued all during the time they were imprisoned there, and for several years thereafter, but was never completely finished. 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 tropical climate could no longer be justified. The Army turned the fort over to the Marine-Hospital Service to be operated as a quarantine station. In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt set aside Fort Jefferson and the surrounding waters as a national monument. In 1992 the area was designated as Dry Tortugas National Park to protect the historical and natural features.
While Commodore Porter thought the Dry Tortugas were unfit for a naval station, others in the Government thought the islands were a good location for a lighthouse to guide ships around the area’s reefs and small islands. A small island called Bush Key, later called Garden Key, was selected as the site for the new lighthouse. Construction began in 1825 and was completed in 1826. The 65-foot lighthouse was constructed of brick with a whitewashed exterior. A small white cottage for the lighthouse keeper was constructed beside the lighthouse.
In May 1829, Commodore John Rodgers stopped at the Dry Tortugas to evaluate the anchorage. Contrary to Commodore Porter's experience, Rogers was delighted with what he found. The Dry Tortugas, he reported, consisted of 11 small keys and surrounding reefs and banks, over which the sea broke. There was an outer and an inner harbor. The former afforded a safe anchorage at all seasons, and was large enough to let a large number of ships ride at anchor. Of more importance, the inner harbor combined a sufficient depth of water for ships-of-the-line, with a narrow entrance of not more than 120 yards. Rogers said that if a hostile power should occupy the Dry Tortugas, United States shipping in the Gulf would be in deadly peril, and "nothing but absolute naval superiority" could prevail. However, if occupied and fortified by the U.S., the Dry Tortugas would constitute the "advance post" for a defense of the Gulf Coast.
A series of engineering studies and bureaucratic delays consumed the next 17 years, but the construction of Fort Jefferson was finally begun on Garden Key in 1846. The new fort would be built so that the existing Garden Key lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s cottage would be contained within the walls of the fort. The cell in which Dr. Mudd lived for most of his time at Fort Jefferson overlooked the lighthouse tower and lighthouse keeper’s cottage. The lighthouse would continue to serve a vital function in guiding ships through the waters of the Dry Tortugas Islands until the current metal light tower was installed atop an adjacent wall of the fort in 1876. The original brick lighthouse tower was taken down in 1877, eight years after Dr. Mudd left Fort Jefferson.
The design of the fort called for a three-tiered six-sided 420 heavy-gun fort, with two sides measuring 325 feet, and four sides measuring 477 feet. The walls met at corner bastions, which are large projections designed to allow defensive fire along the faces of the walls they joined. The heavy guns were mounted inside the walls in a string of open casemates, or gunrooms, facing outward toward the sea through large openings called embrasures. Fort Jefferson was designed to be a massive gun platform, impervious to assault, and able to destroy any enemy ships foolhardy to come within range of its powerful guns. If a fully constructed and manned Fort Jefferson had ever been put to the test, it would have surely been a one-sided fight.
Construction of Fort Jefferson was still under way when Dr. Mudd and his fellow prisoners arrived in 1865, continued all during the time they were imprisoned there, and for several years thereafter, but was never completely finished. 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 tropical climate could no longer be justified. The Army turned the fort over to the Marine-Hospital Service to be operated as a quarantine station. In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt set aside Fort Jefferson and the surrounding waters as a national monument. In 1992 the area was designated as Dry Tortugas National Park to protect the historical and natural features.
