List of Prisoners at Fort La Fayette autograph manuscript. [Fort Lafayette, New York], [1861]. 3 pages, folio, 8 3/4 x 12 3/4 in., on blue paper.

A fascinating list of prisoners held at Fort Lafayette who had been captured from Southern privateer schooners. The prisoners are listed by room, with each room housing 10-12 captives. Each man is listed with their date of arrival and where they were from. Notably, one prisoner, Frank E. Williams, is listed as originating from "Choctaw" Territory. Page 3 specifies the "Crew of Privateer Schr. "York", of Norfolk, Va., taken from Schr. "Geo. G. Baker", of Galveston, Texas, by U.S. Gun boat "Union." Aug. 9th 1861," also listing "Crew of Privateer Schr. "Dixie", taken from Schr. "Mary Alice", of New York, by U.S. Steamer Frigate "Wabash." Aug. 3d. 1861."

The author of the document is not recorded. However, it was possibly prepared by a prisoner and given to David Reno, who was recently discharged from Fort Lafayette. Reno is mentioned as providing a copy to the Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, Georgia), where it was published on 13 September 1861.

The document dates from the early period of Fort Lafayette's service as a U.S. military prison which began on 15 July 1861. Originally constructed during the War of 1812 and completed in 1822, the Fort was situated at the Narrows of New York Harbor at the southern tip of Brooklyn. Prisoners were confined in the Fort's two principal gun batteries and in four casemates of the lower story, the four rooms listed here. Each casemate was a vaulted cell measuring 24 by 14 feet. Later in the war, up to 30 prisoners would be held in each casemate. It often held civilians viewed as disloyal and was sometimes called the "American Bastille." The Fort was demolished in 1960 during the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Condition: short separations along old folds, creasing, some toning at edges.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Navy, Naval History, Manuscripts, Letters, Documents, Ephemera, POW, Prisoner of War]