Libby Prison Museum

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Libby Prison Museum
Life Span: 1889-1899
Location: Wabash avenue, between Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets
Architect: Burnham & Root

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The building had been erected by Luther Libby as a ship chandlery in 1845 but was confiscated by the Confederates for a prison. W. H. Gray of the Knights Templar Assurance society found that it could be purchased for $23,000.

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The Original Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia
1866

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Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia
August, 1863

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Harper’s Weekly, October 17, 1863

Interior view of Libby Prison, showing the quarters of the Union soldiers confined there.—Sketched by Captain Harry E. Wrigley, Topographical Engineer (See page 667

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Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1888

Interest in the history and relics of the War of the Rebellion does not seem to lessen as the years roll by. Eastern book and magazine publishers find the dark days of ’61-65 mine productive of wealth; artists of more or less National repute have been impressed into the service to furnish the larger cities with cycloramas of the most important battles, and in numerous villages is to be found a “memorial hall” in which are displayed a company flag tattered and torn, half a dozen harmless shells covered with rust, a few mus-kets, and a sabre or two, all of which are reverently worshiped by the people of the neighborhood. A new departure in the line of relic-worship has been taken in this city, which is the headquarter of all the new departures which have achieved a National success in the last twenty-five years. Yesterday the preliminary steps were taken for the formation of a corporation whose object is the purchase and removal to this city of the famous Libby Prison of Richmond, Va. The gentlemen who figure as the Commissioners and who are instrumental in organizing and developing the scheme are Messrs. William H. Gray, Josiah Cratty, John A. Crawford, and Charles K. Miller. The company will have a capital of $100,000, and it is understood that all the stock has already been applied for. The history of the enterprise is best told in the words of Mr. William H. Gray, to whom is due the credit for its inception.

“Last November,” said he to a reporter for The Tribune, “when I was traveling through Eastern Virginia with Judge Moore of Tole do we met on the road between Old Point Comfort and Richmona Col. Barnes, a former oficer in the Confederate army, and at present engaged in the business of fruit-growing on a large farm near Richmond. In the course of a conversation on the events of the war reference was made to the old Libby Prison, and it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to purchase the building and transport it to Chicago. I took Col. Barnes into my confidence and asked him to ascertain if the property could be purchased. Shortly after my return I received a letter from Rawngs & Rose, real-estate dealers in Richmond, stating that the old prison was now the property of the Southern Fertilizing Company, and that it could be purchased for $23,000. At my request Mr. John A. Crawford, the General Superintendent of the Chicago Towing Company, went to Richmond and looked over the ground and investigated the possibility of moving the building. He returned full of enthusiasm for the enterprise. Some further correspondence with the real-estate firm mentioned resulted in their obtaining for me an option for thirty days on the property, with the understanding that if any other would-be purchaser offered as much or more, I was to close or reject in five days. The option fixed the price at $8,000 for the original store of Libby & Son, 4×30 feet, or $23,000 for the whole property, a building 132×90 feet. The five days’ compulsory clause did not suit me, and I once more entered into correspondence with Rawlings & Rose. This time I had better success, as you will see from the option I received a few days ago.” Here Mr. Gray exhibited the following document:

RICHMOND. Jan. 28, 1888.-In consideration of the sum of $50, the Southern Fertilizing Company hereby agree that W. H. Gray of Chicago, Ill., shall have and enjoy for during the period of thirty days from this date the exclusive right and option to purchase the brick warehouse and lot at the southeast corner of Cary and Twentieth streets, a part of Libby Prison, having a front of forty-four feet on Cary street and running through to Dock street, for the sum of $8,000; and also the further right and option to purchase the entire Libby Prison building, consisting of three houses fronting together on Cary street, commencing at Twentieth street. 132 feet, and running through to Dock street. for the sum of 823,000, upon terms of payment to be hereafter agreed upon. This option has no reference to machinery attached to or in the buildings, all of which will be removed on or before July 1, 1888, if sale is effected; or possession of the corner building can be had on or before June 1, 1888. The Southern Fertilizing Company to pay a rental at the rate of $2,000 per annum from day of settlement until delivery of premises, or a proportionate amount for any part of said buildings. Notice of the exercise of this option or offer to purchase by which this option can be closed and a sale effected to be made through Messrs. Rawlings & Rose.
THE SOUTHERN FERTILIZING CO.
W. H. Palmer, President.

“The building ” continued Mr. Gray, “is built of red brick, three stories high, and covered with an old fashioned gable roof. It fronts on Cary street and runs back almost to the James River, the first story in the rear being the basement in the front. It was built in the good old-fashioned substantial manner, which is a distinguishing feature of the plain architecture of the South, and is as solid today as when erected over fifty years ago. it contains about 600,000 bricks, stone caps, and sills, and is surrounded on three sides b a stone sidewalk. I have consulted with Burnham & Root, the architects, and they inform me it can be taken down, removed to this city, and rebuilt just as it how stands in Richmond. We, that is the company, propose to number every brick, stone, and shingle. The building will be taken down in sections, the material will be boxed up and transported by rail to Chicago. We will carefully draw every nail that has not rusted away; we will grind up the mortar and use it as far as possible in the rebuilding. Every beam, joist, door, and window will be set in place.”

“What will the enterprise cost?”

“Somewhere about $200,000. We will surround it with another building 200×150 feet, with a glass roof, and on the wall opposit the rear of the prison we will have painted a panoramic view of the James River and the Country bevond.”

“Where do you intend to place it?”

“We have hot vet determined. Some of the exposition people favor tearing down the conservatory at the south end of their building and giving us a site there. However, we will get a site that will be convenient to the centre of the city and easy of access. We estimate that the cost will be divided in this way: For the building, $23,000; for tearing and boxing, $10,000; freight, $10,000; for reconstruction, $23,000; for the site, s60,000; inclosing building, $76,000. If we cannot buy the lot we want we will lease. It is our intention to make an elaborate collection of relics of the Rebellion-in tact, make it a perfect museum of the late War. We will have panoramic views of the engagement between the Monitor and the Merrimac and other well known events of the war.”

“When do you expect to get to work?”

“The contract for the building. and property will be closed this month. We hope to get early possession of the old store of Libby and Son, and have this portion rebuilt in time for the Republican National Convention next June. As soon after as is possible we will complete the rebuilding of the remainder of the prison.”

“Will the Richmond people allow you to move the building! Do they take any local pride in it?”

“I am informed that up to two years ago, when the property came into the possession of the Southern Fertilizing Company, the Richmond authorities had to keep a guard around it to ward off the relic hunters, who would have picked it to pieces. I have been informed that some of the Richmond people may kick, but it will do them no good.”

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Josiah Cratty, one of the incorporators, in talking of the scheme, said: The beams are very large, the walls are twenty inches through, and the building is solid as ever, notwithstanding its age. The building is practically unchanged since war times. The checkerboards cut by the prisoners are still to be seen on the solid old planks, and every available inch is covered with names carved in the wood and in the bricks themselves. The same old sidewalk surrounds it on the two sides open to the street. The design is to take it to pieces, transport it here, and set it up again exactly as it was. This is no easy undertaking, but it can be done. Every brick, plank, shingle, beam, and lath will be numbered. Then hundreds of photographs will be taken at every stage of the work, that in restoring it will be the workmen guided by the marks on the material and by the photographs as well. The number of bricks in the building has been carefully estimated at 600,000, and it will take fifty cars to transport the débris here. It will be slow, careful, and expensive work. The work of tearing down the building will have to be done piecemeal and with great care. The material will have to be carefully boxed to prevent damage in transportation and in handling. The site of the building in Chicago has not been definitely determined, but it will be within half a mile of the Court-House. A site on the North Side has been offered to us free, but will not be accepted. Offers have also been received to take it to New York City and Coney Island, but we have decided that Chicago was the place for it.

“It should be understood that there is no idea of waving the bloody shirt’ in this; it is simply a business speculation for what there is in it. I take it that very few people have not heard of Libby Prison, and we have calculated on its being an object of interest to people from all parts of the country, the South as well as the North. The Gettysburg panorama people divided $400,000 in three years, and it still pays 8 per cent on a capital stock of $360,000-so I guess there is a fair chance at any rate of the thing taking. There will be no lack of money to give the plan a trial, at any rate. It won’t be a bad thing for Chicago anyway. It will add another to the long list of her advertisements if nothing else. Those interested are all Chicago men.”

“Libby Prison,” which took its name from the officers, “Libby & Son, Ship Chandlers and Grocers,” was used as a prison for the Union officers captured by the Confederates, and its first inmates were officers made prisoners at the battle of Bull Run. At first the prison consisted only of the Libby store, but as the needs of the Confederate Government in this line increased the two adjoining stores. which had been used as a tobacco warehouse, were added to it, and the whole became known as Libby Prison. The old sign-board was sold a few years ago to a relic-hunter for $250.

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Inter Ocean, September 22, 1891

No landmarks the civil war have associated with them more that repels than the Southern prisons. They have gone into history as prison hells, where the barbarous cruelties of the inquisition and the dungeons of the Tower and the Bastile failed to furnish adequate contrasting features to convey an idea of what men suffered—Andersonville, Saulsbury, Libby, Castle Thunder, and other names arouse more indignation than any other in American history, and they have no defenders. They excite hate in the North, and shame in the South. As landmarks merely, they had better be forgotten. Such was the feeling when it was proposed to bring the old Libby Prison to Chicago. But that feeling has given way to one of interest in the old building, as it is understood that this is here only to form the home for one of the most complete and interesting museums of the war in the country-a museum that knows no North and no South, but is of historical interest to all, because of the impartiality shown in the collection of relics of the civil war. Tho portraits of Lincoln and Jeff Davis, those of Grant and Lee, and the great military captains on both sides, hang upon the walls, and their letters, dispatches, and orders are in the cases.

A leading Democrat who stood high in the councils of the last administration, in looking over the museum at its opening. said that he was happily surprised at the result. He had denounced the proposition to bring Libby Prison to Chicago as a dangerous scheme to keep alive the animosities of the two sections, and since its completion believed it would be one of the strongest ties in the reunion.

Be this as it may, Libby Prison is now in Chicago instead of Richmond, and it is filled with war relias instead of prisoners of war. The towers and turrets of the wall which incloses the old prison reminds one of the fortresses of old, but the gates awing out as well as in, and in fact it is much easier to get out than to pass in. Libby, too, holds its prisoners now only by their own interest in the museum, and the “underground railroads to God’s country,” as the tunnels were called, are no longer needed for escape.

The old sign on the corner of the building gives its early history. This reads: “Libby & Low, Ship Chandlers and Grocers.” It tells all that is necessary to explain that the big square. red brick building standing on the bank of the James River was a grocer’s warehonse before the war, and until the Confederate authorities needed a prison in which to confine their prisoners of war. Then it was converted into a bastile, by making no greater changes than to take the groceries and boxes out and substitute Union prisoners. In the exigencies of war this was perhaps all that Jefferson Davis could do in the way of following the example of Napoleon. He had no great penitentiary there. He had no walled fortress. Therefore he took possession of the big warehouse and filled it with prisoners What could not be done with walls and iron bars was done by guards. Sentinels patrolled the streets surrounding the building, with muskets ever ready to shoot off the head of a Yankee who became even curious enough to look out the windows.

It had four floors and two solid brick division walls extending, from ground to root. Those made the place three prisons instead of one. There were nine large rooms, 105×45 feet, with three sets. of stairways reaching from cellar to garret When converted into a prison narrow doorways were cut through the walls dividing the two upper floors so as to permit the prisoners to mingle freely. The basement were not named, except that in the middle for a carpenter shop. The east collar I was surrendered to the rats, and known as rat hell.” The first floor in the eastern section was used by the commandant of the prison, Major Turner, and his guards; the first floor of the second division was converted into a kitchen and dining-room, and the first floor of the western section was used fort hospital. The second and third floors were occupied as the prison quarters.

Many of the Union officers captured were sent to Libby for safe confinement at the capital. where they might be held as hostages, or exchanged as the government found it advantageous. This at times almost filled Libby with intelligent and well-bred men who had never known what it was to want food or clothing. and oven in their army life had been accustomed to have servants to do their bidding. Here they were compelled to help themselves and take their turns at cooking in the kitchen, scrubbing the floors, and other menial work.

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Among the first prisoners were Colonel Straight and Colonel Milroy, and they, with their accompanying officers and men were located in the the second and top floors of the east section over the commandant’s room. Milroy had the second floor and ever afterward it bore the name of “Milroy’s room.” Colonel Streight had the top floor or garret, and it always bore the name of “Straight’s room.” These were the only two rooms that bore the names of individuals.

The second section of the building was occupied by Chickamauga prisoners and the rooms were known as the upper and lower Chickamauga rooms. The third section was devoted to Gettysburg prisoners and the rooms were designated as upper and lower Gettysburg. The rooms are all marked now as they were designated then when crowded with from 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners.

Libby Was the Best Managed
of the Southern prisons, but it became as celebrated as Andersonvilie, because of the many officers of rank imprisoned there. There were cruelties practiced, but the prison was under the very nose of the President of the Confederacy and his Cabinet, and the prisoners were men of intelligence and force to demand some rights as prisoners of war, and, often held hostages for Confederate officers in the North, they could not be so easily imposed upon. But they had no furniture, not even blankets. They slept on the floor in double rows, head to head and feet to feet, covering whole floors with a human and loyal carpet. In the cold weather they were commanded to sleep spoon fashion, and appointed captains who gave the order when the row was to change from the right side to the left, or vice versa.

In the little kitchen, with only two small stoves, they fought for preference, stole from each other the places at the fire, removed each other’s skillets and pans to secure places for their own, when they had food to cook, and when they didn’t they divided with each other and starved together. It was a fight for existence and many surrendered rather than keep up the fight.

The names cut in the floor and in the brick walls are still to be found, and in many cases they are the head stones carved to mark the graves of those who cut them.

But all was not sadness and sorrow in Libby. There were debates and discussions, literary exercises and singing school, language lessons and even ministrel performances. The men did not dispair. They made the best use of their time while in the prison. They figured out great engineering schemes for escape. And when the news came that Vicksburg had been captured by Grant, they made the old prison walls resound with the “Star Spangled Banner” and all the war songs they could remember, not forgetting to let Richmond hear how Yankees could sing “John Brown’s Body Lies Moldering in the Grave.” It made the Richmond people mad, but that only encouraged the prisoners to sing louder and longer, and without lights, they bang all night until the impregnable capital of the Confederacy had in its midst one of the grandest loyal choruses that ever sang patriotic hymns.

The one great event of Libby, however, was the tunnel escape, when 109 men gained their freedom in one night, and half of them reached the Union lines. This tunnel was projected by Colonel Rose, of Pennsylvania, and he was assisted by Major Hamilton, of Kentucky. These men were both daring spirits, and were determined to escape. They planned several tunnels, but the first one toward the river filled with water, and others had to be abandoned for various reasons, until they determined upon a tunnel clear across an open lot where the guards were constantly on duty. This necessitated tunnel fifty feet in length, To get into the cellar, or “Rat Hell,” as it was known, Rose and Hamilton went into the kitchen, took out the brick in the back of the fireplace, then dug between the floors and made an opening that allowed them to slip from the kitchen in one division to the cellar of the other division under the hospital without giving any alarm in the hospital. It required weeks of slow and silent work to accomplish this, for each night after they had worked upon the hole they had to replace the brick and recover them with soot to prevent suspicion. When this was accomplished they made a rope ladder and let themselves down into the cellar. Here they removed the bricks in the outer wall and began their tunnel. They organized a party of fifteen prisoners, who were taken in the secret, and by relays they worked all the time, five men in each relay. One. would dig
another drag out the dirt, a third use a blanket to fan fresh air into the tunnel, a fourth fought the rate and concealed the dirt under a lot of straw in the cellar, and the fifth remained on guard. It required eighteen days And nights to dig the tunnel, and several times they were near exposure, once when the digger thought he was safe beyond the sentry line and started to make the opening, only to find that he was almost under, the sentinel’s feet; and again when in counting the prisoners two men at work in the tunnel were found missing in spite of the repeating of their fellows, and from that time on had to live in the “rat hell” to prevent detection.

When the tunnel was completed the fifteen men engaged in the work agreed that each should convey the secret to a friend and that the second fifteen should wait an hour after the first fifteen had escaped before they attempted to follow; that they should then convey the secret to fifteen others, and let the plan to work until as many as possible had escaped without detection. But no sooner had Colonel Rose and his party crawled out through the tunnel than the secret got out and the whole 1,200 prisoners began to try to escape. There was a struggle, but 109 escaped and 59 reached the Union lines. The Confederates recaptured forty-eight and two were drowned This was the biggest tunnel escape during the war, and it gave Libby wide celebrity.

The commandant’s room, then occupied by the Confederate guard, is now filled with relics of the late Confederacy. There are oil portraits of Davis and Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and all the Southern leaders: the autograph copy of General Lee’s farewell address to his army, his acceptance of the command, his commission from President Davis; Stonewall Jackson’s acceptance of the command, Albert Sydney Johnston’s report of the campaign at Bowling Green, Ky. Jefferson Davis’ commission as colonel of volunteers in the Mexican war, his report of the campaign in Mexico, his commission to Congress in 1845, his proclamation declaring martial law in Richmond; General Hardee’s reports of the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, and Murfreysboro: the wil of John Brown made only an hour before his execution, letters and dispatches from Beauregard, J. K. Johnston and Longstreet, dispatches from Davis while fleeing from Richmond, letters of
Alexander Stephens, all the books and papers printed in the South during the war, letters of Captain Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville, the original models for the Confederate flags, and the most interesting collection of Confederate relics to be found are here in this room.

In the second room, or old kitchen, are relics of the Union armies, pictures of Grant and Lincoln, Logan and Hancock, all the leading Generals, the Cabinet officers under Lincoln; long rows of glass cases filled with autographs, letters, engravings and photographs, all kinds of arms used in the civil war, flags, etc. In the third room, or hospital, this collection is continued, and has added to its large collection of relics of President Lincoln, a piece of the flag that floated over Fort Sumter when fired upon, a piece of the oil cloth marked with the life-blood of the brave Colonel Ellsworth, the chisel with which the tunnel was dug, Sherman’s old army printing press, Lincoln’s bootjack, the hat which General Hancock wore at Gettysburg, etc.

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Libby Prison
Greeley Carlson
Atlas of Chicago
1892

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The Standard Guide to Chicago in 1891

One of the principal permanent attractions of the city. The original Libby prison (transported from Richmond, Va., and put up brick after brick, just as it stood during the War of the Rebellion, when used as a prison for Union soldiers) is enclosed with massive walls, built after the manner of the middle ages.

Among the attractions offered in Libby Prison are the following:

Portraits in oil of all the leading Northern and Southern generals and statesmen; All kinds of firearms used in America, from colonial times to the present period; The finest collection of shot and shell used in American warfare;
The original first dispatches of war from Generals McClellan, Grant, Hooker, Sherman, etc.
The original, acceptance of the command of the Confederate Army by Generals Lee and Stonewall Jackson
Original portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln, with relics and mementos;
The stove, goose and shears used by Andrew Johnson when working as a tailor in Tennessee
The original will made by John Brown an hour before his execution
The very rare curiosity of two bullets that met in mid-air in battle at Petersburgh.
The finest collection of historic chairs in America
The original photographs of scenes in Sherman’s March from Atlanta to the Sea
The original commission of Jeff. Davis to Congress in 1845, also his commission in the war with Mexico; the wheel of Commodore Perry’s flag-ship, ” Powhatan,” that opened the ports of Japan to the world.
The original Arctic clothing used in the Greely relief expedition.

Admission, 50 cents; children, half-price; open day and evening.

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Libby Prison Museum in Chicago
Stone wall was built new for dramatic effect

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AFTERMATH.

Altho the Museum was in Chicago during the year of the Columbian Exposition (1893 World’s Fair), it had no connection with that Fair, and was never considered as a Fair attraction. It was quite some distance from the Exposition Grounds. The Museum was highly profitable and continued so until 1899. At that time the venture was disbanded and the second Coliseum was erected on the site.

Many of the bricks were disposed of as souvenirs and to builders. A large number went to the Chicago Historical Society, along with the collection and other parts of the building. The Society constructed the north wall of their Civil War Room from these bricks. This building is located at North Avenue and Clark St., Chicago.

The beams, timbers and most of the wood were sold to an Indiana farmer named Davis and he used these to build a massive barn on his farm at Hamlet (La Porte County) Indiana. The barn still stands and is owned by his daughters, Miss Ella J. Davis and Mrs. Charles Dowdell of Chicago. Most of the timbers still show the stenciled words “Second Floor M; or “Third Floor E.”, together with the pathetic names and initials carved by the men while in prison. Miss Davis has presented the City of Richmond recently with a gavel made from this wood.

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Libby Prison Museum
1899

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Libby Prison Museum
Advertising Card

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Libby Prison
April, 1865

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Inter Ocean, January 4, 1899

The Libby Prison War Museum association of Chicago has assigned and set over to the Coliseum company of Chicago a certain leasehold interest dated Feb. 6, 1889, and executed by John D. Jennings and wife to the Libby Prison War Museum association for the term of 99 years, covering the following ppty: Wabash av. 488½ s of 14th st. w f. 283 64-100×172, together with the appurtenances, buildings, structures, and fixtures thereon and belonging thereto, for the same term and subject to all the provisions, terms, and conditions of the above-mentioned lease. The consideration is $1; deed is signed by S. H. Woodbury, president for the Libby Prison War Museum Assn. and is dated Dec. 30, 1890.

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Inter Ocean, April 26, 1899

The Coliseum company, the corporation that is to build a new coliseum building on the site of the old Libby prison, has acquired 69.5×171 feet of the ground to be built on by a purchase from Ira B. Cook and wife for $51,222. The ground is on the east side of Wabash avenue, 546 feet north of Sixteenth street. A deed of trust gto the property has been given to the Title Guarantee and Trust company in security of a loan of $36,000 for three years with 4½ per cent interest. The old prison building, which was used as a war museum, is being torn down. Charles F. Gunther is the president of the Coliseum company.

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Inter Ocean, June 29, 1899

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