Last updated: July 5, 2021
Place
Civil War Guard House
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Baltimore, MD
Significance:
The guard house of the fort after the War of 1812.
Amenities
2 listed
Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
The Civil War Guard House served as the work staton for those soldiers whose duty it was to guard the high-risk prison inmates housed in the three adjacent cells. One prisoner, Henry Hall Brogan, described the conditions in the uppermost cell as such: "At no time were the walls of my cell dry, near the wall particularly. Moisture trickled down it the whole time and could fill my hand with a green slime simply by passing it up the face of the wall."
Today the Guard House offers interpretive signage regarding Abraham Lincoln's controversial suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and what the American flag meant to different groups of people during the Civil War. The Guard House can be reached by entering the starfort, taking an immediate left up the ramp, and then an immediate left up the stairs and into the room.