‘Tis the season for ghost stories. One of Boston’s most popular
is that of the “Lady in Black” who allegedly haunts Fort Warren
in Boston Harbor. It has been told and retold over generations.
I have read the story in countless publications and heard it
around many a campfire. Leaving ghosts aside for the moment, in
hearing the story I have always presumed that the history behind
the tale is factual. Turns out that may not be so. Fort Warren
in Boston harbor was the mightiest of the fortifications
constructed to defend the capital of the Bay State. Commenced in
1833, construction of the huge pentagonal fort on George’s
Island was completed in 1861, just before the start of the Civil
War. Never was a shot fired in anger from the fort. However, it
served a useful purpose during the Civil War as a training camp
for several Massachusetts regiments and, on a more grim note, as
a prison for both Confederate soldiers and civilian officials.
The most famous inmate of Fort Warren was Confederate Vice-
President Alexande