BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Anacostia Community Museum -- Exhibit: How the Civil War Changed Washington

DC -- Anacostia Community Museum -- Exhibit: How the Civil War Changed Washington:

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Description of Pictures: How the Civil War Changed Washington
February 2, 2015 – November 15, 2015
This exhibition examines the social and spatial impact of the Civil War on Washington, DC and the resulting dramatic changes in social mores, and in the size and ethnic composition of the city’s population. The population of the city increased tremendously during the war. Between 1860 and 1870, the population of the area that became the city of Washington increased from 75,080 inhabitants to 131,700, and the African American population increased from 1/5th to 1/3rd beginning a trend of growth that continued until a century after the war when they would become the majority. Women workers joined the federal work force; the federal government was reimagined and after the War; and forts built in the hilly terrain around the city became new neighborhoods, expanding the city’s footprint. The exhibition contextualizes these and other changes while telling the fascinating stories of individuals who came to Washington during the Civil War and who contributed to its shaping.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAMC1_150202_006.JPG: How the Civil War Changed Washington
2. SIAMC1_150202_019.JPG: Potential for Promise: Washington Before the Civil War: Despite being specifically planned as the nation's capital, at the start of the Civil War Washington was a small city of a few thousand residents and was virtually deserted during its hot summers. Washington had not yet grown into its prescribed boundaries. Georgetown, to the west, was an independent town separated from Washington by Rock Creek. Most of present-day Washington DC was located in what was then called Washington County and usually did not even appear on the maps of the time. After the war, many of the forts built on the hills surrounding Washington became residential settlements, expanding the city's physical boundaries and creating new homes and neighborhoods for many recently freed African Americans. The war also brought other migrants into the city. Among them were entrepreneurs and civilian workers -- including women, soldiers, and the war wounded. The Civil War changed the status quo, expanding the city and the opportunities within it.
3. SIAMC1_150202_022.JPG: Central Washington from Southeast of the US Capitol, ca 1855
4. SIAMC1_150202_026.JPG: The Arnold Map, 1862 (reproduction) The "Arnold Map," created by 1862 by civil engineer E.G. Arnold, depicts Washington's original 10-mile square that was laid out by Pierre L'Enfant and surveyed by Andrew Ellicott from 1791 to 1792. The map provides interesting details, including a chart listing the "white," "free colored," and "slave" populations of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria by decade from 1800 to 1860. The seven wards within Washington were color-coded. The map also showed how much land remained unsettled. The United States military authorities recognized the strategic importance of Arnold's detailed map since it showed all the roads leading into the city and the forts that already had been built to protect it. The three-foot-square folding map was considered a threat to national security. It was believed that if it fell into the hands of the Confederate Army it would help the enemy invade the city. The War Department confiscated not only all located copies of Arnold's map but also the plates from which the map been printed.
5. SIAMC1_150202_033.JPG: How the Civil War Changed Washington: The Civil War had a dramatic social and spatial impact on the nation's capital. There were significant changes in social mores, and in the size and ethnic composition of the city. The population increased tremendously. The 1860 census counted 75,080 people in Washington County; 14,316 of them were African American and of these 3,185 were enslaved. By 1870 the population of the city had increased 75% to 131,800. The African American population had increased to 43,404. This trend continued for a century, and by the late 1960s the city had an African American majority population. Women workers joined the federal work force as the federal government was reimagined and expanded. The military took advantage of surrounding hills, building forts on the hilltops at the outbreak of the Civil War. Many of these forts became new neighborhoods after the war, physically expanding the city. In the 20th century many of these forts became parks and places of leisure. This exhibition explores not only the historical context of these events and others, but also the stories of some of the individuals who came to Washington during the Civil War and contributed to these changes.
6. SIAMC1_150202_037.JPG: Ethnic Enclaves on the Eve of the Civil War: By the onset of the Civil War, ethnic neighborhoods were well established and often anchored by houses of worship, cemeteries, or social clubs. Washington's Irish communities centered around St. Patrick's Church, located on F Street NW, and St. Aloysius Church, located in the densely populated Irish neighborhood called Swampoodle. The Washington Hebrew Congregation, founded in a private home in the Dupont Circle neighborhood in 1852, was the heart of the Jewish community. By the mid-19th century the small Jewish community had grown from about 200 people to 2,000. In addition to businesses, the community also opened schools, a library, and clubs. Many German immigrants came to the defense of their adopted city by joining the 8th Battalion, District of Columbia Infantry. Privates John Ricks and Martin Ohl of Company B were killed in action on July 7, 1861. Two days later they were buried in the German-American Prospect Hill Cemetery at what is now North Capitol Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE.
7. SIAMC1_150202_041.JPG: District of Columbia Population Changes by Race and Ethnicity, 1850-1870
8. SIAMC1_150202_047.JPG: Swampoodle, ca 1895 The Irish Swampoodle neighborhood grew in the years preceding the Civil War. The construction of Union Station in northeast Washington leveled most of it.
9. SIAMC1_150202_054.JPG: Washington Hebrew Congregation: The Washington Hebrew Congregation purchased this former Methodist Church at 8th and I Streets NW in 1863, in response to the needs of a growing community.
10. SIAMC1_150202_057.JPG: Interior of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic Church, ca 1865: At its opening in October 1859, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church was one of the largest non-government structures in the city; from the beginning it drew large crowds of worshipers. Today St. Aloysius has merged with Holy Redeemer Church, and the original building now houses the Father McKenna Center, serving the homeless and needy of Washington.
11. SIAMC1_150202_061.JPG: St. Patrick's Catholic Church, ca 1853: St. Patrick's Parish was established in 1794, primarily to meet the needs of Irish immigrant workers who built the White House and the Capital building. By the time of the Civil War the Irish were the largest immigrant population in the capital city.
12. SIAMC1_150202_068.JPG: [German] Group Picnic at Schuetzen Park, 1873: The German American community often held outings throughout the city.
13. SIAMC1_150202_087.JPG: Where Slavery and Freedom Lived Side by Side: Slave housing was sprinkled throughout urban Washington. Most slaves lived in their masters' homes -- in attics, back rooms of the main house, and over carriage houses and stables. If separate housing was built, it was usually at the back of the lot, by an adjacent alley, and used for both work and housing. The close quarters provided easy access to the enslaved staff. It also provided a means of control over slaves who were "hiring their own time," and had to give a portion of their wages back to their masters. Giesborough Plantation (sometimes spelled Giesboro) stood across the Anacostia River in Washington County. George W. Young, a scion of an important and very rich Washington family, owned the plantation and its dozens of slaves. By 1862 all of Young's slaves were freed by the Washington DC Emancipation Act. Young's family eventually sold the property and moved away from Washington. "The Ridge," a free African American community, was only about a mile away from this sizable plantation. Tobias Henson, a former slave, purchased the land in 1826. Henson's descendants continued to inhabit "The Ridge" until the last house owned by a member of the family was sold in 1980.
14. SIAMC1_150202_093.JPG: George Washington Young, Slave Owner
15. SIAMC1_150202_097.JPG: Transfer of Slaves, 1825: Some of George Washington Young's slaves came to him from his father, Nicholas Young, who presented him with 19 enslaved people, including an infant, in 1825. Nicholas Young died on November 4, 1826, at his plantation "Nonesuch," also located in Washington a few miles from Giesborough.
16. SIAMC1_150202_101.JPG: George Washington Young, Slave Owner: George Washington Young was the biggest slave owner in the city during the decade before the Civil War. His family had lived in the Washington area even before the creation of the nation's capital. In 1833 he acquired Giesborough (Giesboro) Plantation, which sat on land now occupied by Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling along the Anacostia River. Young steadily increased Giesborough's agricultural output and its slave holdings. By 1850 he had 91 slaves and 700 acres of land. Giesborough was said to have valued at $50,000, or about $1,400,000 in today's dollars.
17. SIAMC1_150202_110.JPG: Broadside, 1858: Sophia Gordon, one of George Washington Young's female slaves, was often hired out in the city. She took advantage of this opportunity and ran away on October 11, 1858. About a month later, Young printed this broadside offering a $100 reward for her return. It is not known if she was ever captured.
18. SIAMC1_150202_118.JPG: Negro Life at the South, 1859 Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) Eastman Johnson's Negro Life at the South depicts an urban slave scene in a backyard near the corner of F and 13th Streets NW. This slave housing was within a house yard and surrounded by high walls. The first floor of the structure was work space, and the upper floor held the sleeping quarters. The open yard could be used by the residents whenever they had a little leisure time. At the time he painted this work, Johnson lived next door and enjoyed a good view of scenes taking place in the neighbor's yard.
19. SIAMC1_150202_129.JPG: Havens from Hardship: Military Forts: The military forts surrounding the city were a place of refuge during the war. These forts initially served as a temporary home for white families who had to "follow the drum" and accompany their husbands and fathers into the war zone. As the federal army waded into Virginia, enslaved African Americans fled plantations and headed into Washington. Many of these refugees and freedom seekers first found a haven in the military forts.
20. SIAMC1_150202_135.JPG: Three "Contrabands" and Officers of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers at Camp Brightwood, Washington, DC, ca 1862: Having a "contraband" servant was an inexpensive proposition for Union officers. In a letter dated January 15, 1862, Lt. Charles Harvey Brewster of the 10th Massachusetts Volunteers wrote: "I Have got a 'Contraband.' " The young man had fled his owner in Montgomery County, Maryland, and walked 13 miles to Camp Brightwood, where Brewster's regiment was encamped. Brewster explained that as an officer he received an extra $15.50 a month if he retained a servant; it cost half of that to maintain his "contraband."
21. SIAMC1_150202_142.JPG: Bridge Across the Eastern Branch, April 1865: The 11th Street Bridge, also known as the Navy Yard Bridge, gave access to newcomers entering from eastern Maryland. Built in 1820 as a privately owned toll bridge, it became a "free" bridge in 1848 after it was purchased by the federal government. John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, fled Washington across the Navy Yard Bridge.
22. SIAMC1_150202_149.JPG: The 6th Street Wharf: The 6th Street Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront was an important point of entry for Civil War refugees and wounded Union soldiers coming to Washington for treatment.
23. SIAMC1_150202_154.JPG: Marching Towards a Better Future The Long Bridge, May 1865: The first bridge at the site of the Long Bridge (now the 14th Street Bridge) was a wooden toll bridge that opened in 1809. Of strategic importance as a connection with Virginia, the bridge was rebuilt several times after it was washed away by ice blocks floating down the Potomac River. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the bridge became militarily important. Union troops occupied it on May 24, 1861.
24. SIAMC1_150202_162.JPG: Marching Towards a Better Future: The Civil War made Washington a destination for an ever-increasing flood of newcomers. The war brought soldiers, government workers, and war contractors. Newly emancipated persons and African American refugees raced towards the freedom the city offered. Profiteers and criminals arrived as well, as they always do, to take advantage of new opportunities. Most people came into the city across the bridges over the Potomac River and the Eastern Branch. Others landed at the 6th Street Wharf, where both new arrivals and casualties of the war entered the city seeking a place to build new lives.
25. SIAMC1_150202_165.JPG: John Washington: From Refugee to Respected Washingtonian: "I... arrived safe at the 6th Street Wharf in Washington DC on the night of September 1st 1862 in the hard rain... slept on 14th St that night and next morning walked to Georgetown..." With these words from his 1872 memoir, John Washington described how he arrived in Washington DC, as a refugee. Washington's journey began five months prior, when he crossed the Rappahannock River to joint he Union troops besieging Fredericksburg, Virginia. Later he earned $18 a month as a cook for the Army, the first payment the former slave had ever received for his work. Washington settled in the District's Foggy Bottom neighborhood. He made a living as a painter. He and his wife, Anne Elizabeth, raised two sons and became respected and successful members of the African American community. In 1913 the couple moved to the small resort town of Cohasset, Massachusetts, to live with their son James and his family.
26. SIAMC1_150202_195.JPG: "Dear Mother, I've Come Home to Die" (1863)
27. SIAMC1_150202_199.JPG: "Grafted into the Army" (1862)
28. SIAMC1_150202_203.JPG: Music as a Morale Booster: Band at Camp Stoneman, Giesborough Cavalry Depot, Washington DC: At the beginning of the Civil War, every regiment was authorized to have a full brass band, which in some cases numbered 50 musicians. By 1862, out of an estimated 28,428 enlisted men, more than half -- 14,832 -- were musicians. In order to bolster the number of combat troops needed to stave off the imminent Confederate invasion of the North, the Union cut the number of musicians in the army. On July 29, 1862, the General Orders No. 91 from the War Department Adjutant General's Office reduced the number of band members in each volunteer brigade to only 16 musicians. Despite this setback, bands continued to be an important part of the military experience and no doubt a morale booster for the troops. [The Federal army was considerably more than 28,428 men by 1862. I'm thinking they probably mean "Before the Civil War" instead of "By 1862".]
29. SIAMC1_150202_205.JPG: Band at Camp Stoneman, Giesborough Cavalry Depot, Washington DC
30. SIAMC1_150202_208.JPG: Hardtack and Coffee: Hardtack (also sometimes called "army bread") was the name given to a thick cracker made of flour and water and sometimes salt that, when stored property, could last for years. Cheap to prepare and durable, hardtack was considered the most convenient ration for Civil War soldiers. Each soldier would be given nine or ten at a time. Unfortunately, if the hardtack was not stored properly, insect infestation would occur. Soldiers would break the hardtack, drop it into the morning coffee, and let the insects float to the top so they could be removed. They could also heat hardtack in a fire, to drive insects out. Those who were impatient or too hungry to wait would eat it in the dark to avoid seeing what they were consuming.
31. SIAMC1_150202_215.JPG: City Point, Virginia An African-American cook prepares a meal for the Union Army.
32. SIAMC1_150202_220.JPG: Tent Life of the 31st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Queen's Farm, Vicinity of Fort Slocum: A soldier of the 31st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment poses with is family and pet in front of his tent in Fort Slocum, now part of Washington's Brightwood neighborhood. All of the family possessions were taken out of the tent and displayed for the unidentified photographer. This regiment, which later became the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry, was organized in Philadelphia in August 1861 and saw duty in the defense of Washington between October 1861 and March 1862.
33. SIAMC1_150202_232.JPG: Soldiers' Settlements: Camp Life in the Civil War: Only a small fraction of a Civil War soldier's time was spent in combat. During good weather, a soldier could usually expect to be engaged in battle one day out of thirty. Army camps became temporary towns, a refuge from war and yet a constant reminder of it. Time in camp was mostly spent drilling, although music and gambling provided some entertainment. Much time was spent dealing with poor shelter, bad food, and lack of basic hygiene in these makeshift communities. Rations consisted of allotments of hardtack, salted pork or fresh meat, and coffee, sugar, and salt. The lack of fresh fruits and vegetables contributed to vitamin deficiencies and diseases such as scurvy. Another constant was dysentery, colloquially called "quickstep." After four long years of war under such circumstances, it is not surprising that for every soldier killed in combat, two died of disease.
34. SIAMC1_150202_235.JPG: "Washington is just now lively beyond all precedents... richly dressed pedestrians throng the sidewalks at all hours..." -- Chicago Times, October 23, 1862
35. SIAMC1_150202_240.JPG: "House of prostitution are reported to be fearfully on the increase..." -- Evening Star, September 26, 1863 Sin in the City: At the beginning of the Civil War, there were an estimated 500 "ladies of the night" in Washington. By war's end 5,000 women (not including those residing in Georgetown) were plying their trade in the city. During the war the area now called Federal Triangle hosted numerous saloons and houses of ill repute. The idea was nicknamed "Hooker's Division" after General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac. These soldiers visited the area frequently enough to inspire the term "hooker" still in use today. One of the most important and elegant houses of prostitution in Washington during this time belonged to Mary Ann Hall. It was conveniently located at the foot of Capitol Hill, where the National Museum of the American Indian stands today. Hall's business was so lucrative that, when she died in 1886 at age 71, her estate was valued at $100,000 or $1.9 million in today's money.
36. SIAMC1_150202_249.JPG: Within Sight of the White House: Section of Washington DC Known as "Hooker's Division," Which Contains 50 Saloons and 109 Bawdy-Houses -- List of 61 Places where Liquor is Sold With Government But Without City Licenses. "Hooker's Division," ca 1890: Hooker's Division was still in full bloom many years after the end of the Civil War. This hand-drawn map was produced in 1890 to show the many houses of ill repute still occupying the area. The map maker made a point of highlighting that the "houses" surrounded respectable establishments such as the headquarters of Washington's main newspapers and the then-new post office, now called the Old Post Office Pavilion.
37. SIAMC1_150202_255.JPG: Sin in the City: At the beginning of the Civil War, there were an estimated 500 "ladies of the night" in Washington. By war's end 5,000 women (not including those residing in Georgetown) were plying their trade in the city. During the war the area now called Federal Triangle hosted numerous saloons and houses of ill repute. The idea was nicknamed "Hooker's Division" after General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac. These soldiers visited the area frequently enough to inspire the term "hooker" still in use today. One of the most important and elegant houses of prostitution in Washington during this time belonged to Mary Ann Hall. It was conveniently located at the foot of Capitol Hill, where the National Museum of the American Indian stands today. Hall's business was so lucrative that, when she died in 1886 at age 71, her estate was valued at $100,000 or $1.9 million in today's money.
38. SIAMC1_150202_258.JPG: Reminders of a House of Ill Repute: Oyster shells and champagne bottle corks excavated at the former site of Mary Hall's house of prostitution. Only the best food and drink were served to Miss Hall's clients.
39. SIAMC1_150202_267.JPG: Law In the City: The Civil War brought a wave of new people into Washington, and, unfortunately, an increase in crime and lawlessness as well. As a result Congress created the Metropolitan Police Department on August 6, 1861. At first the newly appointed officers had to provide their own equipment, uniforms, and firearms. The new police force covered Georgetown, Washington proper, and the County of Washington. The area was divided into precincts with each one supervised by a sergeant.
40. SIAMC1_150202_269.JPG: Fireman's Trumpet Signaling Horn: Trumpets were used to call out instructions for the firefighters. The instruments were the precursors of modern-day bullhorns.
41. SIAMC1_150202_277.JPG: Safety in the City: Between 1804 and the end of the Civil War, the city boasted several independent fire companies. These companies sometimes proved to be more of a problem than a solution to the fires that burned in Washington on an almost daily basis. Often their equipment was not appropriate. Sometimes rival companies fought over which unit would respond to a fire, or went to far as to sabotage each other. On May 19, 1864, the city decided to establish a paid Fire Department, which was organized on July 1, 1864. Only four companies were paid at first, with a chief engineer and five commissioners appointed for the new organization dubbed the Washington City Fire Department. This was effectively the beginning of professional fire fighting in Washington DC.
42. SIAMC1_150202_282.JPG: Streetcar Stop in Front of the Navy Department, ca 1867: The streetcar lines connected strategic points in Washington, DC. This stop was in front of the Navy Department building on 17th Street near Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
43. SIAMC1_150202_297.JPG: Streetcar Map of Washington, DC 1888: By the 1880s, Washington was well served by a network of streetcar lines. In the 1960s the city destroyed its extensive streetcar network, although today streetcar lines are making a comeback.
44. SIAMC1_150202_309.JPG: Connecting Washington: On the eve of the Civil War, public transportation consisted of horse-drawn wagons called "omnibuses" -- dusty, dangerous, and inconvenient contraptions ill-suited to the growing capital city. On May 17, 1862, Congress granted the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company a charter to operate the first horse-drawn streetcar line. Rails were laid down Pennsylvania Avenue and service between the State Department and the Capital started in July. By October a streetcar line was running from Georgetown to the Navy Yard. Its route started at M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, along M Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, up to the Capitol, and then south along 8th Street to the Navy Yard. By 1864, the company reported a healthy profit and an estimated 7.5 million passengers transported that year. Washingtonians could now travel throughout their city with ease, connecting far-flung neighborhoods with government offices and businesses.
45. SIAMC1_150202_313.JPG: "I started toward the capitol, but there being no sidewalk, I sank ankle deep in mud and snow at every step." -- Mark Twain, February 17, 1854
46. SIAMC1_150202_314.JPG: Civil War Surgeon's Pocket Case, 1860s: An Army surgeon would carry a pocket case like this one to perform minor surgery in the field. Although incomplete, this Civil War-era case contains scalpels, probing needles, and a bullet extractor.
47. SIAMC1_150202_320.JPG: Mount Pleasant General Hospital, 1862: This hospital was located on Meridian Hill, on the east side of what was then known as the 14th Street Road.
48. SIAMC1_150202_326.JPG: Patients on Ward K, Armory Square General Hospital, August 1865: Armory Square Hospital was built in August 1862. Designed as a modern facility, the hospital boasted wards with 14-foot ceilings, a window between each bed to help fresh air circulate, and floors that were raised off the ground to avoid humidity. Each ward of 60 to 63 beds occupied separate buildings linked by covered walkways. Because it was close to the 6th St. Wharf, the main entry for steamboats carrying wounded soldiers, this hospital also received many of the bodies of those who died in transit.
49. SIAMC1_150202_333.JPG: Healthcare in the City: Washington was a major center for the care of Union soldiers. During the war, the city's hospitals created tens of thousands of soldiers. At the beginning of the Civil War, Washington had one civilian hospital. By the end of the war, 24 military hospitals were located inside Washington, and field and post hospitals served the soldiers occupying the military installations surrounding the city. The army also established general hospitals to care for sick and wounded soldiers who were either left behind or brought to Washington from surrounding battlefields. Only five installations were specifically built at hospitals. The rest were converted churches, schools, homes, hotels, warehouses, and abandoned military barracks. After the war, hospitals closed rapidly. Requisitioned buildings were either returned to their original uses or demolished. In the end, hospitals, which had been a constant reminder of the human cost of the war, were one of the most fleeting features of the Civil War in Washington.
50. SIAMC1_150202_342.JPG: Maria Oliver, Civil War Nurse: "I was born in Williamsburg, Va., and was sold into King William County, Va., and run off from my master about 1862... and I came here to Washington DC." With this straightforward statement, made some 35 years after the events, Maria Toliver told the tale of how she became a "contraband" at Camp Barker. She was one of the many residents of the camp who contracted smallpox and was confined to the hospital. While there she must have demonstrated special skills, because soon after her recovery, the surgeon in charge of the "Contraband Hospital" hired her as head nurse for the women. Her future husband, Henry Bear, who had also been a patient, was hired as head nurse for the men. The work at the "Contraband Hospital" was the beginning of a long-standing career as hospital workers for both Maria Toliver and her husband.
51. SIAMC1_150202_349.JPG: African American Nurses and Hospital Workers, Washington DC, 1865: African American nurses and orderlies often worked with the US Christian Commission to provide supplies and healthcare services to Union soldiers.
52. SIAMC1_150202_356.JPG: Campbell Military Hospital, Later Known As Freedmen's Hospital, ca 1864: Freedmen's Hospital served the black community in Washington DC for more than a century. The first hospital of its kind to provide medical treatment for former slaves, it later became the major hospital for the area's African American community.
53. SIAMC1_150202_375.JPG: From Forts to Neighborhoods: Of the many fortifications that surrounded the city during the Civil War, only one saw action. Fort Stevens saw battle on July 11-12, 1864, when Confederate Lt. General Jubal A. Early moved from Rockville, Maryland, towards Washington, in what was ultimately an unsuccessful attempt to occupy the city. Int he 20th century many of these forts became parks and are now administered by the National Park Service. These forts that protected the city, and yet never saw battle, are now an integral part of many Washington neighborhoods.
54. SIAMC1_150202_381.JPG: R.B. Boyson First Camp of the 117th New York State Volunteers, Tenleytown, DC: The 117th New York State Volunteers regiment was recruited in Oneida County, New York, in August 1862. Shortly thereafter the regiment was sent to Washington DC, and was stationed at Fort Reno until April 1863. This painting shows the area occupied by the fort covered with soldiers, tents, camp fires, and armaments.
55. SIAMC1_150202_391.JPG: The "Home Place," the Bangerter Family House, Date Unknown: (From left to right) Seated on the steps are Edward Bangerter (son); unknown person; Frederick Bangerter (father) and Lillian Bangerter (daughter). Standing in the yard are Christiana Wilhelmenia (wife); Frederick W. Bangerter (son); and an unknown person. This photograph was taken sometime before 1894, the year in which both Frederick and his son Edward died of typhoid fever. This was the second house that Frederick Bangerter owned in Reno, and it stood on Lot B, plots 30 and 31. It was known by the family as the "Home Place."
56. SIAMC1_150202_402.JPG: Business card for "Swiss Dairy"
57. SIAMC1_150202_404.JPG: Frederick Bangerter, Dairyman: Frederick (Frederic) Bangerter emigrated from his native Switzerland in February 1864 and made his way to Washington. In November 1868, Bangerter married a German immigrant named Christiana Wilhelmenia Krueger. Five years after arriving in Washington, Bangerter bought a house and two lots in Reno City. Developer Onion and BUtts posted an ad in the National Republican that the location was most desirable and that "everything requisite for... a suburban residence" was available. Bangerter's descendants believe he bought the Quartermaster's house, still standing after the abandonment of Fort Reno. Bangerter built the successful "Swiss Dairy," named as a nod to his motherland. The Bangerter family had a presence in Reno until well into the 20th century. Eventually they fell victim to the evictions that plagued the residents while the federal government acquired the land to create Reno Park.
58. SIAMC1_150202_408.JPG: "... they were like a blue cloud risin [sic] ..." -- Uncle George, a contemporary African American observer, describing the number of Union soldiers occupying Fort Reno
59. SIAMC1_150202_412.JPG: Baist Map, Reno Subdivision, 1909: The properties of the Bangerter and the Dover families, both located in Lot B of the development, are highlighted on this map. According to a Bangerter descendant, the family's main house occupied parcels 30 and 31 of lot B. In her will Ariana Dover left her heirs parcels 4 and 5 of lot B, where the family house was built.
60. SIAMC1_150202_423.JPG: Fort Reno: Fort Reno was built at the highest point of the city. Its construction started in August 1861, and eventually it would contain 3,000 troops, making it the largest of the forts surrounding Washington. After the war, real estate developer Onion and Butts divided Fort Reno into lots. The developer sold plots to both whites and African Americans, many of whom may have been "contrabands" who had settled around the fort. Despite living in close proximity, in the early 20th century the white and African American communities seemed to have little interaction. Both groups maintained separate social and religious organizations and sent their children to segregated schools. At first, Reno City was a densely developed urban area surrounded by large tracts of rural properties. As time passed, the rural properties became high-priced homes. The more densely populated, primarily African American area attracted negative attention. In the 1920s, the construction of a water reservoir and water tower, two schools, and the ill will of nearby neighbors displaced Reno City. Most of the site is now a park run by the National Park Service. It is a green oasis within the very affluent Tenleytown neighborhood of upper Northwest Washington.
61. SIAMC1_150202_427.JPG: George and Ariana Dover, Reno Residents: George Henry Dover and his wife, Ariana, were the heads of a very large family. Dover had been enslaved by the Peirce family, the owners of Peirce Mill, now a favorite tourist attraction in Rock Creek Park. Ariana and her five older children belonged to Lewis Kengla, a rich Georgetown merchant. Right after the Civil War, George and Ariana Dover acquired at least three parcels in Lot B within the grounds of Fort Reno. Their lots faced Kearney Street (later called Dennison Place). The family built two dwellings on their property.
62. SIAMC1_150202_430.JPG: "Anyone who sees the prosperity of this community... witnesses the new hopefulness with which most of its members seem to be inspired." -- Freedmen's Bureau Report, 1868
63. SIAMC1_150202_437.JPG: Samuel E. Pomeroy, Senator from Kansas, ca 1865: Selling land to former slaves in the vicinity of Washington was met with great resistance from the white population. General Howard had to use intermediaries to effect the purchase. Both Senator Pomeroy and John Elvans were part fo the committee that that set up the Barry Farm development. They would be memorialized in the names of streets in the new development. Notice of the Sale of Barry Farm, Evening Star, April 26, 1867: John R. Elvans, a prosperous Washington businessman, acquired the tract (held in trust for the Freedmen's Bureau) where the new development for freedmen would be built. This is probably the first time the name Barry Farm was used in the context of the new development. Notice that the proceeds of the sale were to be used to build colleges for freedmen. Some of the money was used to build Howard University in Washington DC. General O.O. [Oliver Otis] Howard, ca 1860: General Howard issued Special Order 61 on April 23, 1867, to "relieve the immediate housing needs of Freedmen" in Washington DC; this special order created Barry Farm.
64. SIAMC1_150202_440.JPG: Peirce Family Bible, entry for Birth of George Dover, March 2, 1812
65. SIAMC1_150202_445.JPG: Lots for Sale to Freedmen: The Hope and Promise of Barry Farm, 1867: The establishment of Barry Farm across the Eastern Branch in 1867 was for many newly freed African Americans a promise and first step for the future. Barry Farm was a "new town" created from agricultural land and divided into lots. The lots were sold through a monthly payment plan similar to a modern mortgage. New homeowners could buy building materials at a reasonable cost. Additionally, training and technical assistance were all part of the enterprise. The new settlers worked for a living during the day and built their new houses at night. The hills and valleys of Barry Farm "were dotted with lights, and the sound of hoe, pick, rake, shovel, saw and hammer rang through the late hours of the night," according to one of the first settlers. At times Barry Farm was known as Potomac City, Howard Town, and Hillsdale. In 1883, Solomon Brown, one of the most distinguished residents, wrote "A History of Hillsdale" in which he stated: "Too much praise cannot be given them [Hillsdale residents] to the peaceful disposition toward each other. With very few exceptions we rarely hear of any noticeable neighbors bralls [sic]..." Barry Farm then was a place of hope and development.
66. SIAMC1_150202_452.JPG: Housing Available to Freedmen in Washington, post-Civil War: Immediately after the Civil War, many freedmen built houses with recycled materials on vacant land. Sometimes the materials were pulled from abandoned military forts. The chance to build a house with new materials on a large plot of land, raise small livestock, and plant a truck garden must have been considered a rare opportunity by those who moved to Barry Farm.
67. SIAMC1_150202_461.JPG: Historical Map of Barry Farm, 1867: This map of Barry Farm includes the names of many of the first homeowners. These residents stepped into freedom by buying the land and building their houses with their own hands.
68. SIAMC1_150202_467.JPG: "A Dead End with a Million-Dollar View": Elvans Avenue: Elvans Avenue (later Elvans Road) is located on the east side of the Barry Farm development. It started on Stanton Avenue and did not quite reach Sheridan Avenue on the other side. It dead-ended a few yards away, perhaps because the terrain was so steep. Of the 34 plots that fronted Elvans, 23 were sold soon after they became available, possibly because two springs, one on each side of the street, provided water. It was decades before the neighborhood would enjoy piped water. Soon a church and a cemetery were built, and a school was located a few blocks away. The new residents had "a million-dollar view," as a modern student of the history of Elvans Road dubbed it. While the area has fallen on hard times, in 1867 it was a hopeful place for people who had just obtained their freedom.
69. SIAMC1_150202_471.JPG: View of Elvans Road, Date Unknown: This early view of Elvans Road shows a street still unpaved but already outfitted with electricity, water, and sanitation. Today most of the houses on the right side of the street have been demolished and the lots remain vacant. On the left side of the street many of the houses have been replaced by apartment buildings.
70. SIAMC1_150202_477.JPG: Solomon G. Brown, Renaissance Man: Solomon G. Brown was born free in Washington DC, around 1829. For a time, Brown worked at the post office with Samuel Morse, the developer of the Morse code. Brown carried the first telegraph service was inaugurated in Washington, DC. He started working at the Smithsonian Institution in 1852 and stayed for 54 years, retiring on February 14, 1906. A true "Renaissance Man," Brown was also a poet, scientific lecturer, and a public servant, serving as a member of the House of Delegates of the District of Columbia for three consecutive terms. Brown and his wife, Lucinda, were an important presence in the Barry Farm community and on Elvans Avenue in particular. They built a comfortable home on Lot 31 and planted an orchard that residents dubbed "Brown's Park."
71. SIAMC1_150202_483.JPG: Model of an A-Frame House, Barry Farm, Late 1860s: The $10 monthly payment provided Barry Farm settlers with enough material to build a 14-by-24-foot two-room house. But many Barry Farm residents later added additional rooms. Those with means bought more than one lot and constructed large homes. Others with money to invest purchased several lots and constructed homes for rental or sale. By the 1900s, the neighborhood had become a sought-after location for up-and-coming African Americans in Washington, DC.
72. SIAMC1_150202_495.JPG: "Memorial Verse by Solomon G. Brown in Honor of the Late Mr. Isaac Brown of Hillsdale, DC," April 1894: Solomon Brown wrote a poem on the passing of Isaac Brown, a close friend who was only 37 years old.
73. SIAMC1_150202_501.JPG: Native Washingtonians and Long Time Residents: As the government expanded, Washington remained a beacon of opportunity. Today the District is often thought of as a "transient" city filled with politicians, interns, and appointees who stay for only a few months or years before moving back to their hometowns. That population is certainly a significant one within the District, but, for many residents, Washington is a permanent home. The Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of Washington, DC, was founded in 1865 and is still active today, although membership requirements have changed. Today the organization represents the interests of District residents and preservation of Washington history.
74. SIAMC1_150202_504.JPG: Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, 1879: "Disgruntled old residents" founded the Oldest Inhabitants Association in 1865 to distinguish themselves from the new politicians and the post-war new rich pouring into the nation's capital. Originally they represented the white prewar population. Today the organization is integrated by race, ethnicity, and gender.
75. SIAMC1_150202_507.JPG: Continued Growth: The Civil War forced Washington to grow into its boundaries. Throughout the war, defenses ringed the city with heavy artillery and temporary camps. As these forts transformed into neighborhoods after the war, the edges of Washington County became the boundary of a new modern Washington, DC. In 1871, Washington, Washington County, and Georgetown were consolidated into one entity. Within the expanded city, neighborhoods grew and changed. Former downtrodden shantytowns evolved into fashionable communities, and some previously thriving areas fell into decline. Places like Swampoodle completely disappeared. Others were renamed. New neighborhoods, such as NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue, NW), continued to develop. In time, streetcars gave way to the Metro rail system, which today connects the far flung neighborhoods of Virginia and Maryland to a modern Washington -- mirroring the pattern seen 150 years ago.
76. SIAMC1_150202_510.JPG: General George Henry Thomas, Thomas Circle: Thomas Circle, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Vermont Avenues and 14th and M Streets NW, honors Major General George Henry Thomas, one of the principal commanders of the Western Theater of the Civil War. General John A. Logan, Logan Circle: Logan Circle, located at the crossroads of Rhode Island Avenue and 14th and P Streets NW, honors General John A. Logan, commander of the Army of the Tennessee. General Philip Sheridan, Sheridan Circle: Sheridan Circle, located on the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, R and 22nd Streets NW, honors General Philip Sheridan, commander of the Union troops in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. General Winfield Scott, Scott Circle: Scott Circle, at the confluence of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Avenue NW, honors General Winfield Scott, who created the Anaconda Plan which helped defeat the Confederate Army.
77. SIAMC1_150202_518.JPG: Generals Still Ride in Washington: Traffic circles are perhaps one of the most conspicuous legacies of the Civil War in the city. Many of them sport gallant statues of Civil War Union generals astride their horses. Washington's street layout consists of numbered streets along the north-south axis and lettered and named streets (of single and multiple syllables in alphabetical order) along the east-west axis. Avenues crisscross the grid diagonally, and where the avenues intersect there is a traffic circle. These circles bearing generals' names challenge modern drivers, but were a quaint addition to Washington's landscape in the 19th century.
78. SIAMC1_150202_528.JPG: Founding Congregations: Civil War Legacy: As Washington's population grew, so did the many church congregations. In some instances, new houses of worship were built to accommodate the larger gatherings. In other situations, new groups coming into town longed to create their own religious spaces. The congregations featured here are integral to their communities. They have flourished for 150 years and witnessed the changes and progress that the city has experienced since the Civil War.
79. SIAMC1_150202_531.JPG: James Howard, Church Founder: James Howard had been enslaved in Caroline County, Virginia, before coming to Washington DC. He worked for the Freedmen's Bureau, helped to build Barry Farm, and acquired lot number 20 on Elvans Avenue, later 2536 Elvans Road. In 1866 James Howard was one of the founders of the Macedonia Baptist Church, which was located steps away from this house, facing Sheridan Avenue (later Sheridan Road).
80. SIAMC1_150202_534.JPG: Adas Israel, Washington, DC, 1903: Adas Israel ("the community of Israel") was founded in the late 1860s by 35 immigrant families from Europe who wanted to maintain traditional Jewish observances within the modern American community. They left the Washington Hebrew Congregation when it became a Reform Synagogue and liberalized its services. Constructed in 1876 on 5th Street NW, Adas Israel was the first Jewish congregation in Washington to build its own synagogue. Today the Lillian and Albert Small Museum occupies the first building that houses Adas Israel.
81. SIAMC1_150202_545.JPG: Shiloh Baptist Church, 1950: Shiloh Baptist Church's foundation came out of the stress and dislocation caused by the Civil War. In 1862 several African American members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, fled to Washington. Among them was John Washington, whose personal history is told earlier in this exhibit. In September 1863 a handful of these new Washingtonians organized a church with the same name as the church they abandoned in their search for freedom. This church still thrives today in its location at 9th and P Streets in the historic Shaw neighborhood.
82. SIAMC1_150202_553.JPG: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 1940: As Washington's Catholic population increased, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, the first Catholic congregation to be founded in Washington, became overburdened. Consequently several new churches were built to serve the city's Catholics. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was the first church of the northern limits of St. Patrick's parish, on 8th and N Streets NW. The cornerstone was laid on Sunday, October 30, 1864, and the building was completed in 1865. This was the first structure to be built in this area of the city. The present church building was dedicated in 1874. At this time the congregation is preparing to celebrate its sesquicentennial.
83. SIAMC1_150202_561.JPG: James Thomas Howard and Wife, Jane, Macedonia Baptist Church, ca 1880: James Howard's son, James Thomas Howard, and his wife, Jane, appear in front of the original building of Macedonia Baptist Church. James Thomas was a student at the Mt. Zion (Howard) School and a pupil of Miss Frances Hall, a white missionary teacher who lived in the neighborhood.
84. SIAMC1_150202_573.JPG: Henson's Legacy on the Ridge
85. SIAMC1_150202_577.JPG: Henson's Legacy on the Ridge: Tobias Henson's descendants lived at "The Ridge" until almost the very end of the 20th century. This series of photographs tells the story of how this neighborhood developed since Tobias Henson purchased the land in 1829. A vibrant community grew up around these family sites over more than a century.
86. SIAMC1_150202_580.JPG: Georgiana Logan, Granddaughter of Tobias Henson: Georgiana Logan was born in 1855. She was the first generation of the family to go to school and learn how to read and write.
87. SIAMC1_150202_584.JPG: The Last House on "The Ridge": This was the last house to belong to a Henson descendant on "The Ridge." Always mentioned as the "home place," it was located at 1501 Alabama Avenue SE. It was sold in the early 1980s to the District of Columbia and razed in the early 2000s.
88. SIAMC1_150202_590.JPG: Henson Ridge, Alabama Avenue SE, 2014: Henson Ridge, a development of townhouses named after Tobias Henson and located on Alabama Avenue, markets itself as offering a "suburban feel in a convenient urban location." Located a few blocks from the site of Tobias Henson's property, Henson Ridge was built on the site of the old Frederick Douglass Dwellings, which had been built during World War II as temporary housing but had been later converted into public housing. Construction of the new development started in 2008.
89. SIAMC1_150202_596.JPG: Fort Lincoln: Fort Lincoln was built in the summer of 1861 along the District line adjacent to Prince George's County in northeast Washington DC. Situated directly along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the fort served as an outer defense of Washington. It is now part of Fort Lincoln Cemetery. Today Fort Lincoln is a neighborhood bounded by Bladensburg Road, Eastern Avenue, New York Avenue NE, and South Dakota Avenue NE. It is home to the "New Town" development built in the 1960s and 1970s. President Lyndon B. Johnson conceived "New Town" as a planned, racially and economically integrated community to showcase his "Great Society" programs. Fort Lincoln New Town Corp, a private company, built the New Town apartment buildings and condominiums. The National Park Service built a playground and cultural park area, which interprets the history of the former fort, and the District built an elementary school. Today the residents enjoy a cultural center, an elementary school, a recreation area, and one of the city's few big-box retailers.
90. SIAMC1_150202_609.JPG: From Fort, To Neighborhood, to Park: Reno's existence as a neighborhood was threatened from the beginning of the 20th century. The land was considered prime property, and both the white and black citizens were forced out over time. For the Bangerter family the final two blows came in 1923 and 1942. In 1923, the family had to give up property for improvements to the water reservoirs. In 1942 Lillian Barthel sold the family's last Reno property for $6,000, a sum considered extremely small by the lawyer who represented her in the negotiations. By the Second World War, most of the early residents had left. Most of the houses were razed by the end of the war, with some of the remaining houses used by the military. Today, Fort Reno Park is a pleasant oasis, and there are two schools on the grounds of the Reno community: Alice Deal Junior High and Wilson High School.
91. SIAMC1_150202_612.JPG: Building on the Past: Enduring Legacies: Two of the most enduring legacies of the war were the preservation of the Union and the emancipation of African Americans. For Washington DC, the most enduring legacies of the Civil War were the influx of women into the federal workforce, the growth of the African American community, and the physical expansion of the city. In 2010 a federal government study reported that women made up over 44% of the federal work force. More than half of those female workers were in clerical positions. These employees are the result of the government clerks who opened new doors during the Civil War. The thousands of refugees who entered the city during the Civil War took the first steps into making Washington an African American majority city one hundred years later. Today, fast-paced gentrification, which has brought into the city a number of young, affluent residents of many ethnicities, has reversed the trend. The Civil War created new opportunities within a new city. By the end of the war, Washington began to grow into its promise of an urban, monumental city.
92. SIAMC1_150202_615.JPG: Lansburgh and Brother, A Family-Owned Business: Lansburgh and Brother, a famous old name in Washington commerce, opened its first store on October 30, 1860, at 322 C Street. The founders were German immigrants Gustav and James Lansburgh, who had come from Baltimore to open their store in the fast-developing capital. In 1865, the company provided the black crepe used for the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln. By then they had moved the store to the growing 7th Street commercial corridor. It remained family-owned until 1951 and went out of business in June 1973.
93. SIAMC1_150202_620.JPG: Gustav Lansburgh, date unknown James Lansburgh, date unknown
94. SIAMC1_150202_633.JPG: A Growing Business District: By the time of the Civil War, 7th Street had become a center of commerce in Washington, anchored by the bustling Center Market on Pennsylvania Avenue. Heading north towards Maryland, the street was home to a variety of businesses serving the needs of an ever-increasing wartime population.
95. SIAMC1_150202_636.JPG: "A woman can use scissors better than a man, and she will do it cheaper. I want to employ women to cut the Treasury notes." -- General Francis Elias Spinner, treasurer of the United States, 1862
96. SIAMC1_150202_638.JPG: Clarina Howard Nichols, Feminist and Copyist at the Quartermaster Department: Clarina Nichols and her daughter, Birsha Davis, could be viewed as the prototypes of the federal government's first female clerks. They were white, well-educated, from a genteel family, and in financial distress because of the Civil War. In 1854, Nichols and her family moved from Vermont to Kansas as part of a group of anti-slavery immigrants. During the Civil War, she and her daughter sought employment in Washington. Birsha, who had been a teacher in Kansas, took a job as a copyist in the Internal Revenue Office of the Treasury Department in 1862. In 1863, Nichols followed her daughter to Washington for a position as copyist in the Quartermaster's Department. In February 1865, Nichols left her job at the Quartermaster Department to be matron at the Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children in Georgetown. When Clarina Nichols arrived, she found the orphans in a deplorable situation. Under her management, conditions at the home improved considerably.
97. SIAMC1_150202_643.JPG: Cup and Saucer, 1770s: Clarina Nichols was a friend of Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln. Family lore states that she served Mrs. Lincoln tea in this cup and saucer while Mrs. Lincoln visited the Nichols' Washington residence. The cup and saucer had been in her family for generations.
98. SIAMC1_150202_647.JPG: The Government Clerks: When the Treasury Department hired women for clerical positions in 1862, it caused a social stir in Washington. Until then these positions were held exclusively by men. In 1864, a congressman declared on the floor of the House of Representatives that the Treasury Department was "a house of orgies and bacchanals." The investigation by the House cleared all accused, but one can only imagine the climate in which these women worked -- and for merely $600 a year, half the salary of a male clerk. These women helped open the doors of office employment for women in the federal government and the private sphere as well.
99. SIAMC1_150202_650.JPG: Women Employees Leaving the Treasury Building, Harper's Weekly, February 18, 1865: This engraving appeared shortly before the end of the Civil War. Hand-colored copies were sold as souvenirs.
100. SIAMC1_150202_669.JPG: Washington Growing Into Its Potential: The Civil War brought unparalleled prosperity to Washington. For the first time hotels were full even when Congress was not in session> The volume of business exceeded all previous records, and so did the level of employment. In 1860, the number of government employees was 1,500; by 1865 it had increased to 7,000. Government contractors, who came to town with large capital to invest, soon became rich from the war. Every house was occupied, and the price of room and board increased 150% between 1860 and 1866, creating wealth for landlords. Construction boomed. New warehouses and stables sprang from many vacant lots in the city to cater to the needs of the war effort. Despite the extensive suffering of the many wounded who where [sic] brought into the city for treatment and the plight of the African American refugees who lived in appalling conditions, Washington and many of its new residents benefited economically from the Civil War.
101. SIAMC1_150202_677.JPG: New Roles and Opportunities for Women: The Civil War accelerated the trend, which had started with the industrialization process, of hiring women for the labor force. The war economy demanded more production, which meant more workers. Furthermore, women were called on to fill the ranks of a labor force vacated by men going to war. Many women also felt compelled to take jobs to provide for their families if the head of the household was lost to war or disease. Nevertheless, women were invariably paid less than their male counterparts and often worked under difficult and dangerous circumstances. Female government clerks, who broke the social mores of the time -- and could be said to be forerunners of the Women's Liberation movement -- sadly faced low pay and openly hostile working conditions as a consequence of their daring acts.
102. SIAMC1_150202_680.JPG: Teachers from the North: More than 11,000 teachers, both African American and white, male and female, taught freed African Americans in the South between 1861 and 1876. This unprecedented educational endeavor created an economic opportunity for teachers willing to move south. In Washington, DC, the first 16 teachers arrived to teach in the 1861-62 school year. Washington received the highest number of teachers for any city in the South during the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction, a total of 489 by 1876. Washington's long tradition of education for free people of color in the city, the high number of African American refugees, and the fact that every freedmen's benevolent society wanted to have a presence in the nation's capital undoubtedly influenced these positive numbers. John W. Alvord, superintendent of education for the Freedmen's Bureau, declared in awe in January 1866, "What other people on earth have ever shown, while in their ignorance, such a passion for education?"
103. SIAMC1_150202_687.JPG: Georgiana Rose Simpson, Star Pupil: Georgiana Rose Simpson was one of the most successful students to come out of Frances Hall's classroom. Her parents had come from Virginia and settled in Barry Farm. Georgiana attended Hall's class at the Howard (Mt. Zion) School and later on went to Hillsdale School. At one point Hall told her she had a first-class mind and motivated her to continue her studies in earnest. After completing 8th grade she transferred to the M Street High School. From there she trained at Washington's Normal School to be a teacher and was appointed to the segregated Washington, DC, school system. By 1921 she had received a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She was the second African American woman to receive a doctorate. She was then hired by Howard University as aprofessor of German language and literature.
104. SIAMC1_150202_689.JPG: Frances E. Hall, Devoted Teacher
105. SIAMC1_150202_693.JPG: Frances E. Hall, Devoted Teacher: On April 20, 1868, Miss Frances E. (Fanny) Hall, a white graduate from Antioch College and teacher from Auburn, New York, took charge of one of the classrooms of the freedmen's school in Barry Farm. Before moving into her own home on Elvans Road, Hall stayed as a guest at the house of Solomon and Lucinda Brown. Hall's class started with 40 students, but by the time the school year ended she had 60. According to an 1871 report on the schools for African Americans in Washington DC, Hall was "interested in the school and the ... scheme of Barry farm [sic]." Her students and their parents, according to the same report, showed "a deep interest" in the privilege of attending her class.
106. SIAMC1_150202_696.JPG: Keith Sutherland, Entrepreneur
107. SIAMC1_150202_698.JPG: Keith Sutherland, Entrepreneur: Sandy and Rachel Sutherland fled from slavery in Maryland into Washington DC, around 1863. They brought with them three children: Keith, Webster, and Josephine. After the Civil War, the Sutherland family went into business, selling coal at the corner of Vermont Avenue and R Street NW, an area then called Hell's Bottom. As a young boy, Keith shined shoes near the Treasury Building. After the war, he joined his family's coal distribution business, before opening a saloon nearby. By the 1880s he was selling liquor and food from his pool hall. As Hell's Bottom became more affluent, the area gentrified and Keith's saloon closed. Eventually he opened a food vending service, "Fairview Hotel," at Florida Avenue and 1st Street NW. Finally, even this venue was closed by the authorities, and by the 1920s Keith was working as a government employee.
108. SIAMC1_150202_701.JPG: Building Modern Washington: The throngs of people moving into Civil War Washington sparked the need for new city services. New public transportation and police and fire departments served the ever-growing city. Hospitals were built to accommodate the soldiers wounded in the battles fought in the surrounding areas. The war also brought sin to the city. With the increased number of unattached men, especially soldiers, there was a demand for the services of so-called "ladies of the night," and a new red-light district quickly developed. Washington rapidly transformed during the Civil War from a little dormant southern city into a bustling urban area.
109. SIAMC1_150202_704.JPG: Contraband Quarters, Mason's Island, 1864: Analostan Island or Mason's Island, now Roosevelt Island, was the country residence of General John Mason, a merchant and federal government official. In 1863 it was used as a training camp for African American detachments from Washington and then as a "contraband" camp in 1864. The island's proximity to Washington allowed it to be used as an employment depot for the refugees. Others were paid to plant corn and potatoes on the island. The "contraband" camp was disbanded in July 1865.
110. SIAMC1_150202_710.JPG: Early Residents of Freedmen's Village, 1860s: In 1863, the US Army established Freedmen's Village on General Robert E. Lee's former Arlington estate, across the Potomac River from Washington. Originally it was envisioned as a temporary settlement to help former slaves assimilate into post-slavery society. Instead it became a permanent home for hundreds of African Americans who rented accommodations and land from the federal government. By 1870, the army owned the land, and the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) no longer administered Freedmen's Village. The army rented housing to African American families until 1887, when the War Department ordered the residents to vacate within 90 days. The residents fought to remain in the place where many had started their free lives; however, they eventually lost the fight, and in March 1900 all residents had to leave.
111. SIAMC1_150202_717.JPG: Plan of Contraband Camp [Camp Barker], 1863: Camp Barker had previously served as a cemetery, brickyard, and finally as temporary barracks for a detachment of dragoons from Chicago led by Major Charles W. Barker, after whom the camp was named. It was located near 13th Street between R and S Streets, which was then beyond the city limits. A deep excavation on the 13th Street side had filled with water and become a swamp. As William O. Stoddard described it in 1890, "a tight barrier of six-foot pin boards" fenced in the camp, probably as much to keep out intruders as well as to keep in the inmates. The only fresh water in the camp came from a contaminated well which caused diarrhea. Today on the site where Camp Barker stood, just two blocks from the fashionable neighborhood of Logan Circle, there are no remnants of the suffering and sickness that prevailed there at the time of the Civil War.
112. SIAMC1_150202_723.JPG: "Contraband" Camps: The government tried to place the influx of "contrabands" in a number of locations where they supposedly could receive assistance and at the same time be controlled, or "corralled." Unfortunately, some efforts subjected the refugee population to much suffering. Refugees often lived in squalor, and disease frequently ravaged the camps and temporary housing. When smallpox broke out in Duff Green's Row, many feared it would spread throughout the city. As a precaution refugees were moved to Camp Barker. There smallpox remained rampant, and mortality was extremely high. From June 1862 to April 1864 about one in seven residents died. According to Camp Barker's last superintendent, James J. Ferree, the residents included "many... chronic invalids... a mass of old folks -- men, women and children." Healthy refugees left the camp to find work in the city. In 1864, the authorities moved the camp's remaining inhabitants to a site in Virginia.
113. SIAMC1_150202_727.JPG: Secrets of the Prison-House -- The Black Hole of Washington, DC, 1861: At first, Washington's marshal jailed the fugitive slaves in the "Old Capitol Prison," under miserable circumstances. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, one of the premier publications of the time, sent an illustrator to depict the conditions of what it called "The Black Hole" of Washington. Today the Supreme Court building stands at that site.
114. SIAMC1_150202_735.JPG: Duff Green's Row, May 1862: The Union Army, now in charge of dealing with the "contrabands," moved them to Duff Green's Row, a row of townhouses on the east side of the 100 block of 1st Street on Capitol Hill. Decades earlier the houses catered to boarders. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln, as a freshman congressman from Illinois, lived there in 1847. By May 1862, there were at least 600 "contrabands" housed there. Today the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress stands at this location.
115. SIAMC1_150202_742.JPG: Elizabeth Keckley, Civic Activist
116. SIAMC1_150202_745.JPG: Elizabeth Keckley, Civic Activist: Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in Virginia around 1820. Through sheer determination and hard work she was able to buy her freedom and eventually make her way to Washington, DC, in 1860. There she established her own dressmaking business. First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln hired Keckley as her personal dressmaker. In time she also became Mrs. Lincoln's confidante. Mrs. Keckley was appalled by the conditions the city's "contrabands" lived in and Washington's seeming indifference to their plight. In fall of 1862, she founded the Contraband Relief Association. Early contributors to the cause were Frederick Douglass and Mary Todd Lincoln. On November 3, 1862, Mrs. Lincoln wrote a letter to her husband, urging him to approve a $200 donation to the Contraband Relief Association from a $1,000 relief fund for Union soldiers. Mrs. Lincoln insisted that "the cause of humanity requires it." President Lincoln approved the donation -- the single largest donation made to the association during its first year.
117. SIAMC1_150202_748.JPG: Group of Contrabands at Allen's Farm House Near Williamsburg Road, Yorktown, Virginia, 1862: Whole groups of "contrabands" fled to the Union lines in Virginia. The women often worked as laundresses, and the men did general work, as shown in this photograph.
118. SIAMC1_150202_758.JPG: Building New Lives: From "Contrabands" to Freedmen: The upheaval of the Civil War produced an opportunity for runaway slaves, often called "contrabands," to seek protection behind Union lines. The term "contraband" originated in 1861 from Major General Benjamin Butler's decision to not return three fugitive slaves who had come to Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads, Virginia. Rather than sending them back to their owner -- where they had been building a confederate artillery position -- Butler opted to hold them as contraband war loot. Ironically, this legal loophole allowed Union soldiers an opportunity to grant escaped slaves a type of freedom by continuing to treat them as property. Although Butler did not coin the term "contrabands," the term came into usage later that year. "Contrabands" tended to settle around military installations. The forts offered security, shelter, food, and work. Others were housed by the government in "contraband" camps. By 1864, an estimated 50,000 African American refugees had moved to Washington. Whatever their situation, these men, women, and children had decided that anything was better than remaining in slavery.
119. SIAMC1_150202_766.JPG: Unidentified Civil War "Contraband," ca 1862-1865: This unidentified "contraband" posed for carte de visite, a kind of Civil War postcard that was a very popular collectible item. He does not seem to be intimidated by the circumstances. Note his elevated chin and the obviously relaxed posture of his hands. He was not afraid or subservient. Nevertheless, his clothing demonstrates the state of poverty in which he was living.
120. SIAMC1_150202_774.JPG: "So many [contrabands] drifted into Washington City and its vicinity... that it was necessary to corral them, and what is termed the "Contraband Camp" grew to its present proportions upon some vacant land northward, just beyond the corporation limits." -- William O. Stoddard, from Inside the White House in War Times, 1890
121. SIAMC1_150202_776.JPG: Freedom Comes to DC: In 1862, under the euphemistic title of "An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia," the 37th Congress of the United States passed a law freeing enslaved people in Washington, DC. President Lincoln signed the bill into law on April 16, 1862, eight and a half months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The act provided that slave owners would receive compensation for their slaves.
122. SIAMC1_150202_779.JPG: Straddling Social Boundaries: The Urban Free African American Community: Free African Americans lived in a twilight zone -- not enslaved but not really free. They were required to always carry a copy of their "certificate of freedom." Without proof of status, they could be jailed and, even after proving their freedom, required to pay for the cost of their stay in jail. If they failed to prove free status in sufficient time, they could be sold into slavery. Despite this constant threat, the community grew on solid ground. Among southern cities with large free black populations, the opportunities in Washington were second only to those in New Orleans. In Washington, the occupations held by free African Americans included domestic workers, drivers, cooks, seamstresses, and laborers. Neighborhoods developed and thrived. African American churches were their backbone, and private schools catered to about 1,000 African American children who were legally barred from public schools.
123. SIAMC1_150202_785.JPG: Map of Washington with Location of Property Owned by Free African Americans, 1861: This map shows that in 1861, free African American property owners were spread throughout most of the urban area of Washington, including around the White House.
124. SIAMC1_150202_793.JPG: Tobias Henson, From Property to Property Owner: Ownership of land and freedom for oneself and one's family were goals that might have seemed unattainable to many African Americans in the first half of the 19th century. Tobias Henson, who lived in Washington's rural area across from the Eastern Branch, reached these goals, one by one, over a period of seven years making sacrifices that one can hardly imagine. He was born around 1767. The first time he appeared in the official record was in an 1817 slave list in the estate appraisal of his owner, Philip Evans. Even then he was listed only as "Toby about 50 years of age" and given the value of $350. Also among the estate slaves were 22-year-old Matilda and 12-year-old Mary Ann, daughters of Tobias and his wife Bessie Barton. Bessie, according to the family lore, was a red-headed Irish woman. But Tobias was only chattel, "an item of tangible movable or immovable property."
125. SIAMC1_150202_797.JPG: Tobias Henson, from Property to Property Owner
126. SIAMC1_150202_800.JPG: Estate Appraisal for Philip Evans, May 17, 1817: Tobias Henson ("Toby") is listed on the first line.
127. SIAMC1_150202_805.JPG: Promissory Note, 1833: Besides being a hard worker, Henson was also very shrewd. He did not free his children immediately. By owning them he could protect them from the hardships imposed on freed African Americans. It also gave him some economic leverage. In 1832, he bought the freedom of Matilda and her child Mary Jane from Henry Evans, the younger son of Philip Evans. One year later, he bought the freedom of his other daughter Mary Ann from James Middleton for $300. Evidently short of cash at the time of the transaction, Tobias Henson obtained a loan from Henry Evans. He signed a promissory note for $150 in which he promised the services of Mary Ann to Evans for four days a week. Very soon he repaid the loan, freeing his daughter from the obligation.
128. SIAMC1_150202_812.JPG: Freedom Day for Henson Descendants on the Eve of the Civil War, Henson Family Freedom Papers: On Tuesday, October 25, 1859, several of Tobias Henson's descendants went to downtown Washington for their free papers. They might have donned their best clothes, piled into a cart or ridden smart-looking horses to go downtown. Registering at the US District Court, they declared that they had been born free because decades earlier Tobias Henson had achieved his goal of obtaining freedom for himself and his family. Tobias Henson's descendants lived at "The Ridge" for several generations as free people.
129. SIAMC1_150202_820.JPG: Permit to Reside in the District of Columbia, October 9, 1843: According to the "Act concerning free negroes, mulattoes, and slaves" (1827), free African Americans had to obtain a certificate that attested to their freedom and also gave them permission to live in the city for one year. This certificate was issued to Jane Taverns, who had come from New Castle, Delaware, with her 6-year-old son Francis.
130. SIAMC2_150202_08.JPG: The Explosion at the Washington Arsenal: The higher echelons of the Washington elite would not have considered the arsenal's female workers as "ladies." They were mostly members of the working class but they were also breaking the boundaries of what was considered at the time respectable work for women. They had been hired because of prevailing beliefs about female dexterity (demonstrated by women's sewing ability) and natural inclination for obedience (demonstrated by their submission to husbands and fathers). Most of them lived in the "Island." The center of the neighborhood was 4-1/2 Street (today 4th Street SW) which ran all the way to the Washington Arsenal, located on Greenleaf Point (today occupied by Fort McNair). Packed around 4-1/2 Street living in mostly rundown housing was a mixture of poor whites, both new immigrants and native-born, and newly arrived freed African Americans. Most of the women workers at the arsenal were Irish or Irish American. This section of the exhibit honors the memory of those women who were killed in the explosion on June 17, 1864.
131. SIAMC2_150202_11.JPG: Ruins of the Washington Arsenal Building after June 17, 1864: The explosion almost completely destroyed the building where the women worked.
132. SIAMC2_150202_23.JPG: Women Workers at the Washington Arsenal, Undated: Most, if not all, of the women depicted in this photograph died in the explosion of June 17, 1864.
133. SIAMC2_150202_30.JPG: Statue atop the Arsenal Monument, Congressional Cemetery, Washington DC: A privately financed monument was raised at Congressional Cemetery atop the mass grave where many of the women were buried. The funeral was paid by the government and attended by President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton who had led the funeral cortege.
134. SIAMC2_150202_34.JPG: The Women of the Arsenal: The war economy demanded more and more production to arm the men who were leaving the workforce to fight. Women answered the call and filled their vacant positions. On Friday, June 17, 1864, 29 women were working in the "choking" room of the Washington Arsenal, inserting bullets into cartridges and tying the cases closed. At exactly 11:50am, a pan of fireworks, which had been irresponsibly placed to dry behind the choking room, exploded. The resulting "fiery serpent" flew into the room through a window or door, left open against Washington's oppressive summer heat. The explosion set off the gunpowder in the choking room, igniting an inferno. Of the 29 women working that day, only eight survived. Eighteen died instantaneously, the intensity of the fire rendering many of them unidentifiable. Three women survived the fire only to die later from grievous burns. At the time, this was the biggest accident with mass casualties to occur in Washington.
135. SIAMC2_150202_38.JPG: 52/100 Calibre Cartridges for Sharp's Improved Rifle, Washington Arsenal, 1864: Women workers at the Washington Arsenal filled cartridges with bullets and closed the cases, after male workers had filled them with measured gunpowder.
136. SIAMC2_150202_47.JPG: A Monumental City in the Making: At the beginning of the Civil War Washington was far from the monumental city it is today. The streets were unpaved. A fetid canal ran through what is now the National Mall. The Washington Monument was unfinished, as was the Capitol building's imposing dome. The transient population of politicians and government functionaries rarely stayed in town all year, leaving most of the area designated for the city unoccupied. Yet by the end of the war, Washington DC was bustling with a growing population and well on its way to becoming a grand world capital. Photographer Jason Powell's series "Looking into the Past" is deceptively simple. As he describes it "I take an old photograph that I find interest in some way, visit where it was taken, and hold it up in front of my camera and shoot it in the modern-day context." Sometimes the original photo was taken in the middle of what is now a busy street. Powell states, however, that "so far I have managed to avoid any mishaps, fortunately." Powell grew up in Leesburg, Virginia, and was always interested in history. When he came up with the idea for "Looking Into the Past," he realized that the Washington area was rich in possibilities.
137. SIAMC2_150202_50.JPG: Jason Powell Looking into the Past (series)
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