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Operational between 1802 and 1939, the jail held many notable figures, among them Denmark Vesey, Union officers and Colored Troops during the American Civil War, and high-seas pirates.

[3] John and Lavinia Fisher, and other members of their gang, convicted of highway robbery in the Charleston Neck region were imprisoned here in 1819 to 1820.

[citation needed] Tradition holds that Vesey spent his last days in the Jail before being hanged, although no extant document indicates this.

[citation needed] William Moultrie, General during the American Revolution and later Governor of South Carolina, allegedly spent a short time in debtor's prison at the Jail.

[3] Most notably were numerous African American soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Regiment captured after their assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863.

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Slave trader Alonzo J. White advertised the sale of Holly and her nine children for auction at the Work House Negro Mart on Magazine-street on January 20, 1841
Charleston Jail and Workhouse as pictured in Harper's Weekly in February 1865; the accompanying text stated that "In last August the jail and yard were occupied by six hundred army and navy officers, who were placed under the fire of our batteries on Morris Island . They were occupied at the same time by felons, murderers, lewd women, deserters from both armies, United States colored soldiers, and Southern slaves, most of whom were permitted to walk at will among the officers." [ 4 ]
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