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Engraving depicting the HMS Jersey, a 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 June 1736, perhaps most noted for her service as a prison ship during the American Revolutionary War, 1832.

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The HMS Jersey

The British in New York City In mid-1776, in the early months of the Revolutionary War, the British government sent General William Howe to New York with some 34,000 troops and a large fleet. Howe was authorized to negotiate for peace with the Americans; when these negotiations failed, he invaded Long Island, soundly defeating the […]

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Prison stockade at Andersonville, Georgia, American Civil War, 1861-1865. During the summer of 1864, 32,899 Union (northern) prisoners were confined here. In the National Cemetery at Andersonville, 12,912 who did not survive are buried.

Andersonville

Andersonville: Deplorable Conditions The first inmates began arriving at the Andersonville prison in February 1864, while it was still under construction. The facility became necessary after the prisoner-exchange system between the North and South collapsed in 1863 over disagreements about the handling of black soldiers. The stockade at Andersonville was hastily constructed using slave labor, […]

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The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Alcatraz as a federal prison. The commemoration organizers plan to use the occasion to raise funds to repair island's the old lighthouse keeper?s home and the social club for families, both damaged in the Indian uprisings of the early 1970s. So both structures might be good candidates to shoot.

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Alcatraz Escapes: 14 Breakout Attempts from the Island Prison

To ditch the infamous federal penitentiary, inmates tried everything from paper-mâché masks to a military impersonation to a bloody revolt.

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Al Capone in Alcatraz: How Public Enemy No. 1 Spent His Time in the Famous Prison

How Al Capone Spent His Time in Alcatraz

Public Enemy #1 was transferred to the now-infamous island prison a few weeks after it opened.

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What the Nixon Tapes Reveal About the Attica Prison Uprising

Nixon wanted to send a message to “the Angela Davis crowd.”

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The three prisoners that escaped from Alcatraz (L-R): Clarence and John Anglin, and Frank Morris.

Was the Escape from Alcatraz Successful?

A 2013 letter to the FBI, if real, suggests the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris survived one of the most daring—and dangerous—prison breaks of all time.

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This Day in History

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1943

U.S. Olympian Louis Zamperini’s plane goes down in the Pacific

World War II
1971

Uprising at Attica prison begins

Crime
1971

Massacre at Attica Prison

Crime
1961

Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches

European History
1945

Senior U.S. POW is released

World War II
1973

Release of U.S. POWs begins

Vietnam War
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