Under Orders Of The Governor

Stables located at the MT Vernon Arsenal

The Mount Vernon Arsenal was seized by troops under the order of the Alabama Governor on 4 January 1861.

The Mount Vernon Arsenal was authorized by Congress in 1824 and formally finished and named on 1 January 1829.  It was built near the Mobile River about 3 miles from Fort Stoddert.  The Arsenal’s primary duty was the assembly of gun parts manufactured elsewhere and the manufacturing of ammunition.

On 4 January 1861 militia troops under the orders of Alabama Governor Andrew Barry Moore seized the Mount Vernon Arsenal.  The commander of the Arsenal at the time was United States Captain Jesse I Reno.  He surrendered the garrison without any shots fired.

Once Alabama seceded, the Arsenal was turned over and remained in Confederate hands until the end of the war.  Following the fall of New Orleans in 1862, most of the equipment was moved to locations farther away from Union lines.

After the Civil War ended the Arsenal was turned into army barracks, and was used as a prison camp for about 400 Apaches between 1887 and 1894, including Geronimo.  The United States government deeded the property to the state of Alabama in 1895.  On 11 December 1900 the Alabama State Legislature turned it into the Mount Vernon Hospital for the treatment of the insane.  

Another website to find more information is MT. VERNON ARSENAL & BARRACKS