Posts Tagged With: Michael O’Laughlen

Escorting the Lincoln Conspirators to Fort Jefferson

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Dave Taylor

William F. Keeler was an assistant paymaster aboard the U.S.S. Florida, the sidewheel steamer assigned to transport the four Lincoln assassination conspirators sentenced to prison terms from Fortress Monroe, Virginia, down to Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys. The Florida reached the Dry Tortugas on July 24, 1865. A few days later, when the ship was in Key West, Paymaster Keeler wrote a letter to his wife, Anna, informing her of his recent duties. The following is part of the letter Keeler wrote about his experience picking up the conspirators, transporting them to their island prison, and his observations of life at Fort Jefferson.

U.S. Steamer Florida
Key West, Florida
July 27th, 1865

Dear Anna,

We left New York, as I have previously informed you in a brief note, on Sunday 16th. We had been ordered to be ready for Sea a number of days previously & had been give to understand that we were to go to Port Royal [South Carolina] to tow one of the monitors to Philadelphia.

…It seems however that the orders for Port Royal etc. were only for a blind & to conceal the real purpose in sending us off. Just as we were leaving the dock, a telegram from Washington was received ordering us to call at Hampton Roads.

We reached there the next day about noon & dropped an anchor opposite Fortress Monroe, the familiar scenery on all sides reminding me of the eventful occurrences at the outbreak of the war. Of course we were all ignorant of the cause of our being sent there & many speculations were ventured as to the why & wherefore. We had not long to wait however for a steamer which we saw coming down the bay as we came into the harbour, came up and anchored near us.

Big. Gen. [Levi Axtel] Dodd with a portion of his staff came on board in a small boat and were soon followed by Dr. [Samuel A.] Mudd, [Samuel] Arnold, McLaughlan [Michael O’Laughlen] & [Edman] Spangler, the unhung ones of the president’s assassins & a guard of 30 of the veteran reserves in charge.

The mystery was now solved and our real destination was found to be the Dry Tortugas. The prisoners were brought on board in irons and closely guarded, nothing about them to attract particular attention though their crime had given them a notoriety which made them objects of curiosity to all on board. They had been gazed at I suppose till they ceased to regard it as anything strange & seated themselves quite composedly in some chairs which had been placed for them on the quarter deck.

None of us were allowed any communication with the shore. We were under way again before sundown & were probably many miles at sea before the curious public knew but what the murderers were safely housed as for weeks past in the old capital prison. They were taken from Washington in the middle of the night, none but the President & his cabinet being aware of the transaction except the guard who accompanied them. The prisoners had seen in the papers that they were to be sent to the Albany penitentiary & supposed they were put on board of us for the purpose of being conveyed to New York. It was not till they had been on board for forty-eight hours that they began to mistrust their real destination. They appeared a good deal dejected when they learned the truth.

The Dr. wanted to know “how long a person would probably live at the Tortugas.” Like most all criminals they all claimed that they had been found guilty upon false evidence. Dr. Mudd had a good deal to say about the trial, pointing out the evidence where it clashed as he thought, giving the character of various witnesses, calling attention to points which he thought had been overlooked or had not received sufficient attention from the court. He had had the evidence in his case, pro & con, published in book form & produced a copy which he commended to our careful perusal.

He is about 30 years of age though he looks much older, he leaves a wife & four children. He is said to be a sharp shrewd man but I saw nothing about him to indicate it – he has a sort of cunning, foxy look as if possessed of plenty of low cunning & a desire for concealment.

The officers in charge of them & who have had a good opportunity of knowing say that “Mrs. Surratt & him furnished the brains for the party” – & they think that he should have accompanied her to the gallows, that her fate was just & merited they have no doubt & that she had any claims, as a woman, on executive clemency, they deny.

Spangler is a coarse, rough, uneducated, unprincipled man. His bull neck, bullet head & brutish features mark a villain, but without sufficient nerve & steadiness to carry out the villainny his heart would promote. He appears to take his punishment (six years) quite stoically & appears at times quite light hearted. He protests with any amount of profanity his entire innocence of the charge but admits that he was committed crime enough of other kinds to merit the punishment so that his sentence is not undeserved.

The other two are young men, quiet & still, saying but little except when spoken to – men of no more than ordinary information & intelligence. With the exception of Dr. Mudd who may have the ability to plan I cannot conceive how the execution of plans of such vast consequences to the rebels could have been entrusted to such kind of persons.

With Gen. Dodd was Capt. [George W.] Dutton, Dr. [John H.] Porter & thirty privates. The Assistant Judge Advocate General (Col. [Levi C.] Turner) also went down with us with instructions to look into the status of all the political prisoners at Tortugas & other places south & with power to liberate such as in his judgement he might deem advisable. We had a very pleasant company, the Gen. & Col. going into the cabin to mess & the Dr. & Capt. coming into the Ward Room.

The hand irons were taken off the prisoners after they came on board but the leg irons were kept on for the first two or three days, after that they were removed during the day but put on at night. The first two nights they were kept on the orlop deck below the Ward Room, but they complained so much of the heat & closeness they were allowed to spread their mattresses on the quarter deck but were closely guarded. They were fed the same as the sailors – the regular ration. I was in hopes they would send us Jeff Davis from Fortress Monroe, it needed him to make the assortment of scoundrels complete. They appeared much more contented & resigned than I should suppose persons leaving behind them everything that could make life desirable, to be shut out from the world the remainder of their lives could be. … that they realized their condition was shewn by a remark of the Dr.’s one day – that “if it were not for his dread of an hereafter he should jump overboard.”

We arrived at Port Royal on Wednesday the 19th & left for the Tortugas on the 21st… I could imagine the feelings of our prisoners as we approached Fort Jefferson, on the Dry Tortugas, on the morning of the 24th where they were to spend the remainder of their lives. The particular island is a small, low patch of white sand on the coral reef of about thirteen acres, seven of which are enclosed within the brick walls of the fort, a good portion of the reminder being covered with sheds, shops, stables, etc., pertaining to the fort & its occupants giving it, at a short distance, the appearance of a small village.

Not a particle of vegetation is visible on the island outside the fort. The only green thing in sight was a few scrubby oak bushes on another small patch of sand a half a mile or so distant. Inside the fort, vegetation adapted to the dry, sandy, hot soil was nursed with a great deal of care, most of it transplanted from Key West, a tamarina, a few oaks, some banannas, mangroves, a number of varieties of the cactus (one of them producing the flower from which the night blooming cereus is extracted) were pointed out to me growing around the officers quarters.

A false impression seems to be entertained of this place at the north – that it is dreary & desolate in its appearance you can infer from what I have already said – nothing but the “wide blue sea” can be seen from it except a few small patches of low, barren, white sand scattered at irregular intervals along the coral reefs. A sea breeze continually blowing makes it cool & comfortable & the health must be good as a visit with the Surgeon to the hospital of the garrison of a full regiment (the 110 N.Y.) shewed but five patients & that of the 550 prisoners contained by 4. The Dr. told me that in his six years’ residence there he had but six cases of yellow fever. His wife had just left for the north after a stay of three years.

The prisoners are kept employed when there is work to do, but, now there is nothing for them to do & they roam about the fort & beach at will, fishing, bathing, gathering corals, shells, mosses etc. which they sell to those visiting the place or send abroad for sale, many of them realising quite a handsome sum from the proceeds of these curiosities. They are kindly treated & seem to enjoy almost unrestricted liberty. Notwithstanding the sentence of “hard labor with ball & chain” with which many of them are sent there such punishment is not carried out & is only resorted to as a penalty for misbehavior after their arrival on the island.

Dr. Mudd is to be sent into the hospital as an assistant to the Surgeon, Arnold is to be employed as a clerk & Spangler will be kept to work at his trade. I have no doubt but what they are glad by this time that they were not sent to the penitentiary as was first intended.

I got some beautiful corals which I will send home the first opportunity – hope I will be able to bring them myself.

To learn more about what the prison experience was like for the four Lincoln conspirators escorted to the Dry Tortugas by William Keeler and the rest, may I recommend the documentary I created and put on YouTube entitled The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson. This eight-part series was shot on location in Key West and the Dry Tortugas, and it covers the history of Fort Jefferson and the conspirators’ time there.

In addition, on June 30, 2026, I was asked by a local news affiliate out of Orlando to appear as a live guest to talk about the conspirators and Florida’s role in guarding them. Here is the video of that live interview for those interested.

References:
Aboard the USS Florida: 1863-65: The Letters of Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, U.S. Navy To his wife, Anna edited by Robert W. Daly (1980)

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An Edman Spangler Anniversary

Posted on February 7, 2025 by Dave Taylor

Today, February 7, 2025, is the 150th anniversary of the death of Edman Spangler. A carpenter and stagehand at Ford’s Theatre, Spangler was convicted of being a conspirator in John Wilkes Booth’s plot against Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to six years of imprisonment at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Spangler was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869. After returning home, Spangler returned to working for John T. Ford at his theater in Baltimore. However, a fire gutted the Holliday Street Theater in 1873, leaving Spangler out of a job. He ended up traveling down to Charles County, Maryland, to the home of his former cellmate, Dr. Samuel Mudd. Though the two men had never met each other prior to their arrest and trial, they had bonded during their years together at Fort Jefferson. Dr. Mudd welcomed Spangler into his home with open arms and even gave him some acreage on the farm property for Spangler to work and live on. Spangler died at the age of 49 after contracting an illness in a heavy and cold rain. The Mudd family had their friend buried in a local cemetery, the original St. Peter’s Church Cemetery, which also held the grave of Mrs. Mudd’s father.

Of the nine Lincoln conspirators that were tried in 1865 and 1867, Edman Spangler is the one for which there is the least amount of evidence connecting him to the assassination. Spangler was mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time and was also unfortunate enough to be friendly with the wrong person: John Wilkes Booth. Upon arriving at the backstage door of Ford’s Theatre, Booth called for Spangler to hold his horse. Spangler quickly delegated the task to a less critical Ford’s Theatre employee before returning to his duties shifting scenes. After the shot rang out and the assassin ran out the backstage door, a confused Spangler was unsure what had occurred. When another stagehand suggested that it was Booth who had committed the crime, Spangler cautioned the man not to jump to conclusions or say anything that might slander an innocent man. When it was later firmly established that his friend, Booth, had committed the terrible deed, his words and actions came to be seen as conspiratorial. Investigators felt that Booth must have had an “inside man” at Ford’s Theatre in order to ensure his success, and so Spangler became that man in their eyes.

In reality, there is no conclusive evidence that Spangler knew anything of Booth’s plot against Lincoln. The two men were friendly and had a history dating back to when Spangler helped to construct the Booth family home of Tudor Hall in Bel Air. Spangler assisted Booth by constructing a stable for him in the alley behind the theater, and he was certainly pro-Confederate in his leanings. However, there is no strong evidence that Booth entrusted Spangler with the details of his plot. Instead, it appears that Booth felt bad for the trouble his actions brought to Spangler. After Booth was killed on April 26, 1865, his accomplice David Herold was taken into custody and transported up to Washington. During his integration by the authorities, Herold stated that Booth had told him during their escape that “There was a man at the theatre that held his horse that he was quite sorry for.” While Herold didn’t recall his name at the time, he recounted that “Booth said it [i.e. the act of holding the horse] might get him [Spangler] into difficulty.”

That act did, indeed, get Spangler into difficulty. Yet even the term of his jail sentence of six years demonstrates how poor the evidence was in trying to connect Spangler to the plot. All of the other conspirators tried alongside him were sentenced to death or life in prison, making Spangler’s punishment a “slap on the wrist” by comparison. However, as my recent documentary series on The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson shows, life was incredibly difficult for Spangler and the other men sentenced to the Dry Tortugas.

In memory of the innocent Lincoln conspirator on the 150th anniversary of his death, here are three letters Edman Spangler wrote from prison during the time when Yellow Fever struck the fort. They were written to unknown friends of Spangler’s in Baltimore and then published in the newspapers. From other writing samples of Spangler’s, we know that he struggled with spelling and grammar. However, these three letters contain relatively few mistakes, implying that he may have been assisted in their writing by his cellmates or that perhaps his letters were cleaned up by the newspaper editors. Regardless, they give a brief peek into the life of Edman Spangler during the most terrifying portion of his imprisonment.

Fort Jefferson, Fla

Sept. 6, 1867

I am well at present, but don’t know how long it will last, for we have the yellow fever here, and there are two or three dying every day, and I am busy working in the carpenter’s shop, making coffins day and night, and I don’t know when my time will come. They don’t last more than a few hours. I will enclose a few moss pictures for you, and I will send you a barrel of coral, if I don’t get the yellow fever and die; but there are ten chances to one if I ever see you again. It is very desperate here. The doctor of the post is very sick with it, and there is no doctor here but Dr. Mudd, and he volunteered his services, and has made a good hit of it. We have lost no cases with him yet.

With love all,

Edman Spangler

Fort Jefferson, Florida

September 23, 1867

I have received the barrel of potatoes and am very thankful for them. We have drawn but a half bushel of potatoes from the government since the first of January. We have bought some at Key West, for which we paid seven and eight dollars per barrel. There are some seven of us in one mess; we do not eat with the other prisoners. We have the yellow fever here very bad. We had a doctor that came from Washington: he got it and died: his name was J. Sims Smith. He has a wife and two children. Dr. Mudd was in charge for a few days, and was very successful, and then they got a doctor from Key West; but Dr. Mudd is still in the hospital attending to the sick, and I am in the carpenter shop making coffins for those that die. While I am writing they have burned all the beds that belonged to every one that got sick, and all their clothing. We have a dreadful time of it here. There is no use of getting frightened at it; we must stand up and face the music.

Since writing the above, one of Dr. Smith’s children has died, Lieutenants Solam and Ohr, Major Stone’s wife and Michael O’Laughlin.

Fort Jefferson, Florida

Sept. 24

Poor Michael O’Laughlin, my friend and room-mate died at 7 o’clock yesterday of yellow fever, and during the 24 hours, seven others passed from life to eternity. The fever has assumed a more malignant type. There is but one officer for duty at the post, the others having died or now lying ill with the fever. Lieut. Gordon, taken two days ago, is now lying in a critical condition. From all I can learn, we have had 280 cases, out of which so far thirty have died. Some are even taken with it the second time, and from appearances, and from what the Doctor says, we shall always have it here – the thermometer never falling below 63 degrees. I have not been attacked yet, but may be at any moment, in which case I thought it best to forward to you and my family small mementoes, should I die of the fever. Arnold has had it, and has fully recovered, yet remains in a very weak condition. Something should be done, if possible, towards obtaining our removal from this den of pestilence and death to some more healthy place. Nearly all the late cases are of a very malignant type, scarcely any recovering.

Sources:
“Letter from Spangler,” New York Times, September 22, 1867, 3.
“Letters from the Dry Tortugas,” Baltimore Sun, October 11, 1867, 1.

Categories: History, The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Freedom and Beyond

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Dave Taylor

In the final part of The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson series, I discuss the legal efforts undertaken by the conspirators and their families to gain their release from prison. I also cover the rest of the conspirators’ lives and the transformation of the Dry Tortugas into a National Park.

Part 8: Freedom and Beyond

While the series ends with part 8, there is one more video that I am publishing today. During our last day at the fort, Jen and I attempted to do one of those time-lapse walk-through shots that travel vloggers always seem to do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a natural place for that footage within the confines of the main series. Still, I didn’t want to waste it since the tour does give a great sense of the size and beauty of Fort Jefferson. So, I decided to integrate it into a final video of bonus footage. In addition to the walk-through, this extra video contains a visit to a grave in Key West, some underwater shots, bloopers, and still photographs.

Bonus Footage

Thank you all for watching my videos and learning about the conspirators’ time in the Dry Tortugas. This was a really fun project to complete and one that I had wanted to do for years. If you have an interest in the Lincoln assassination, visiting Fort Jefferson is not only a fascinating trip through history, but also a truly beautiful one. Jen and I are looking forward to returning to Fort Jefferson someday, where we can actually enjoy our vacation and disconnect from the world instead of shooting video footage all of the time.

To learn more about this video series and to watch the other installments, please check out The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson page.

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Yellow Fever

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Dave Taylor

Of all the diseases that threatened the residents of the Dry Tortugas, none were as terrifying as “Yellow Jack.” Fort Jefferson had previously fallen victim to the plague of yellow fever, which saw the victims’ skin become yellow and their vomit turn black. Starting in August of 1867, another yellow fever outbreak struck the fort. The epidemic ravaged the fort, killing many officers and even the prison doctor. In episode six of the series, we see how the different Lincoln conspirators fought against, endured, and even succumbed to this deadly disease.

Part 6: Yellow Fever

To learn more about this video series and to watch the other installments, please check out The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson page.

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Life and Death at Fort Jefferson

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Dave Taylor

In the fifth part of the series, we look at the everyday life of the Lincoln conspirators. We examine the daily struggles of insects, disease, and poor food which made it challenging to survive on such a distant and dangerous land. This part also looks at the few ways the conspirators occupied their time when not at work, including writing and creating woodworking projects to send home.

Part 5: Life and Death at Fort Jefferson

To learn more about this video series and to watch the other installments, please check out The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson page.

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The Dungeon

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Dave Taylor

In the aftermath of Dr. Mudd’s escape attempt in 1865, the Lincoln conspirators found themselves removed from their regular cell in the second tier of the fort and placed into a locked room on the first floor. In this installment of The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson, we learn what life was like for the men in The Dungeon.

Part 4: The Dungeon

To learn more about this video series and to watch the other installments, please check out The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson page.

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A Prison for the Lincoln Conspirators

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Dave Taylor

The Civil War led to a significant change for Fort Jefferson. Rather than just being a military garrison on the gulf, the fort was transformed into an isolated island prison for disloyal and criminal Union soldiers sentenced by court-martial. In this, the second part of my documentary series, I discuss the use of the Dry Tortugas as a prison, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the arrival of the four Lincoln conspirators sentenced to serve time at Fort Jefferson.

Part 2: A Prison for the Lincoln Conspirators

Coming soon: Dr. Mudd’s Escape

To learn more about this video series and to watch the other installments, please check out The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson page.

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The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson Documentary Series

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Dave Taylor

Slumbering in the midst of the Gulf of Mexico at the very end of the Florida Keys is a unique relic of the past. It is the largest brick masonry fort in the Western Hemisphere, built to guard America’s shipping lanes through the Gulf. During the Civil War, this southern fort stayed in Union hands and found a new purpose as an isolated prison. In 1865, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, and Edman Spangler were convicted of assisting in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and found themselves condemned to this lonely fortification. While all four men would eventually leave this place, one did so in a coffin.

In 2023, my wife Jen and I visited the Dry Tortugas and shot footage for a homemade documentary series about the Lincoln conspirators’ lives at Fort Jefferson. After sitting on the footage for over a year, daunted by the prospect of how to put it all together, I finally commenced editing. I’m happy to announce that the project is now ready to be shared.

The end result is a documentary series of over an hour and a half in length. For ease of viewing, I have split it up into eight parts. Today, I am releasing the first in this eight-part series. I will continue to release new parts a few times a week until they are all published. In addition to these individual posts, the videos can also be found on the new permanent “The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson” page on the top menu bar.

I hope that you will enjoy learning about the history of Fort Jefferson and the time the Lincoln conspirators spent there.

So, without further ado, here is A Fort is Built, the first part in the series The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson.

I hope that this first entry has whet your appetite for more. In a few days, I’ll publish part two of the series titled A Prison for the Lincoln Conspirators.

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