The Black Lady of Fort Warren

Fort Warren was not a bad place during the Civil War. Compared to other strongholds of the era it was downright comfortable. Located on George’s Island in Boston Harbor, it served as a jail for Confederate soldiers. Some of these men were quite wealthy and were ale to have food and liquor sent to them. To pass the time the men played card games, sang songs, and put on plays.

One young man enjoyed none of this. He was Samuel Lanier. Back in Crawfordville, Georgia, he had married the lovely Melanie. She was his childhood sweetheart. They had not spent forty-eight hours together before Samuel went off to fight the Confederacy. Less than a month after that he was captured by Union soldiers and sent to Fort Warren. The love struck prisoner smuggled a message out of the prison asking his wife to come to him.

Melanie Lanier should have been the soldier, not her husband. Though raised in a genteel environment she was not as dainty as other women. After she received her husband’s letter she made plans to go to Boston.

After arranging passage with a blockade-runner, Melanie made the trip and landed in Hull, Massachusetts. She had arranged to stay with some family friends who were Southern sympathizers.

Carefully, Melanie staked out the fort. She observed everything that she could see through her telescope. After some time she felt that she was familiar enough with the routines of the guards and the schedule of boats that landed at the island. One cold January night in 1862 Melanie was ready. She donned a Union soldier’s uniform and cut off her hair.

As sleet pelted down, Melanie’s boat came ashore at George’s Island. She slipped past the guards and to the wall outside the part where her husband was. Whistling a few bars of a song the couple had often sang during childhood, Melanie watched and waited. After a few minutes a makeshift rope was lowered and little Melanie squeezed into the prison through the musketry loophole.

After tears and embraces from her husband Melanie revealed that she had smuggled in a pick, shovel, pistol, and bullets. The feisty woman had intended to use these things for her husband’s escape, but the prisoners came up with a more daring plan. They wanted to tunnel through the fort and under near the parade grounds. The object was not to escape, but to surface near the armory. Then, the group would overpower the guards, seize their weapons, and take the fort for the Confederacy.

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