19th Century
During the American Civil War, Castle Williams held Confederate prisoners of war and Fort Jay held captured Confederate officers. After the war, Castle Williams was used as a military stockade and became the east coast counterpart to military prisons at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Alcatraz Island, California.
In 1878, the military installation on the island, then known collectively as Fort Columbus, became a major Army administrative center. In 1885, the first incinerator in the U.S. was built on Governors Island.
Read more about this topic: Governors Island
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“The innocence of those who grind the faces of the poor, but refrain from pinching the bottoms of their neighbour’s wives! The innocence of Ford, the innocence of Rockefeller! The nineteenth century was the Age of Innocence—that sort of innocence. With the result that we’re now almost ready to say that a man is seldom more innocently employed than when making love.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)