Lincoln Assassination Trial · Federal Execution Site · Continuously Operating U.S. Army Post
Fort Lesley J. McNair occupies the southern tip of Buzzard Point at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers in southwest Washington, DC. The site has been an Army post since 1791 and is one of the oldest continuously operating military installations in the United States. It later became the Washington Arsenal, then the U.S. Military Reservation, and was renamed Fort McNair in 1948 in honor of Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair.
The building most often associated with the post's nineteenth-century history is Grant Hall, designated Building 20, which was built in 1830-1831 as an addition to the federal penitentiary. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, suspected conspirators were imprisoned at the adjacent Old Arsenal Penitentiary on the McNair grounds. From May 9 through June 30, 1865, a nine-officer military tribunal tried the eight defendants in a third-floor courtroom in Grant Hall.
Four of the convicted conspirators, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, and Mary Surratt, were hanged on a scaffold in the south courtyard of the prison on July 7, 1865. Surratt was the first woman executed by the United States federal government. The Old Arsenal Penitentiary was later demolished, but Grant Hall survived and was substantially restored in time for a 2012 rededication ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the conspiracy trial. The third-floor courtroom has been recreated using period furnishings.
Fort McNair is the headquarters of the National Defense University and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. Public access is limited to scheduled events, such as the free quarterly courtroom open houses at Grant Hall, for which guests without a Department of War, federal or Automated Installation Entry ID are asked to register in advance for base access.
Sources
- https://www.army.mil/article/116505/lincoln_era_history_comes_back_to_life
- https://washingtonian.com/2015/07/03/lincoln-co-conspirators-hung-1865-lewis-powell-mary-surratt-david-herold-george-atzerodt-old-arsenal-penitentiary-dc-fort-mcnair/
- https://thesouthwester.com/2013/05/03/famous-building-at-fort-mcnair-restored-and-rededicated/
- https://wtop.com/halloween-news/2018/10/local-legends-the-lincoln-conspirator/
- https://www.audacy.com/connectingvets/news/dont-trash-talk-the-ghosts-tales-from-haunted-fort-mcnair
ApparitionsPhantom footstepsDoors opening/closing
Fort McNair's haunted reputation centers on Mary Surratt, who was tried in Grant Hall in May-June 1865 and executed on the post's south courtyard scaffold on July 7 that year. As the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government, her case has been culturally durable, and the building's continuous use after the trial generated more than 150 years of accounts.
When Building 20 served as married officers' quarters in the twentieth century, families reported a recurring story about sick children. Parents would put a feverish child to bed and find the child unusually quiet the next morning; on questioning, the child described "the lady standing behind you" pressing a finger to her lips. Parents who showed children a photograph of Mary Surratt reported the children identifying her as the woman they had seen.
During the run-up to the 2012 rededication, contractors performing structural and finish work on Grant Hall reported the most consistent disturbances. Tradesmen working before dawn described footsteps in the attic when the building was confirmed empty, and at least one carpenter reported being followed closely up the cellar stairs by a presence he could not see. A handful of accounts describe the appearance of a single fly traveling between rooms in the otherwise sealed attic.
Folklore aggregators repeat additional tales, particularly that Mary Surratt's footprints melted snow between the prison cells and the gallows, and that a window in the room where she kept vigil with her daughter on the night before the execution still mists over inexplicably. The Army's published historical material treats the trial and execution as documented record and the apparitions as a separate body of post folklore.
Notable Entities
Mary Surratt
