The Alton Military Prison
Built in 1833, the notorious Alton prison was the first state penitentiary in Illinois; it later closed in 1857. In 1862, during the Civil War, the prison was reopened to house the growing population of Confederate prisoners of war. Thousands of Union men died of starvation and disease there.
This federal prisoner was nearly starved to death in Alton, also known as Camp Sumter. The picture was taken when the prisoner was released, around 1865.
Execution Day
The execution of Lincoln's assassination and conspirators took place on July 7, 1865. The four condemned conspirators, David Herold, Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt, and George Atzerodt, were given the death sentence. After the Lincoln assassination, several hundred people were arrested, but most were soon released due to lack of concrete evidence. The government eventually charged eight people with conspiracy. The defendants were allowed to have attorneys and witnesses, but they were not permitted to testify themselves.
The execution of Mary Surratt, the first woman ever to get the death sentence in the United States, had been a particular focus of criticism received after the hanging took place.
Robert Smalls
Smalls was born a slave in South Carolina. During the American Civil War, he freed himself, his crewmate, and their families by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the CSS Planter, an armed Confederate military transport, by dressing as the captain. He then sailed toward the Union lines, waving a white sheet as a flag. His example and persuasion are what helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army.
After the war, Smalls went on to serve in the United States House of Representatives, representing his state, South Carolina.
The Lord of War
Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, also known as the 'father of American naval ordnance,' was a United States Navy officer who led the Union Navy's ordnance department during the Civil War. He designed several different kinds of arms and cannons that were credited as part of the reason for the Union's victory.
Dahlgren designed a smoothbore howitzer that was capable of adapting to many sizes of craft and shore installations. He later introduced a cast-iron muzzle-loading cannon with increased range and accuracy, which became known as the Dahlgren gun. It eventually became the Navy's standard armament.
"Whipped Peter"
"Whipped Peter," or Gordon, was a slave from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The scars are a result of a whipping by an overseer, Artayou Carrier, who was fired by the "master" after the incident, as it took two months for Peter to recover from the horrific beating.
The photograph was taken sometime in 1863 and was widely distributed in the North during the war as proof of the brutality of slavery. Peter later enlisted in the Union Army and gained his freedom.