On this day in 1865, P.T. Barnum’s American Museum was destroyed by a fire of mysterious origin. Located in Manhattan at the intersection of Broadway and Ann St., the museum was a spectacular combination of zoo, lecture hall, wax museum, theater and freak show with exhibits ranging from live beluga whales to the singing and dancing of General Tom Thumb (lower right). At its peak, the museum is said to have sold as many as 15,000 admissions a day, remaining open for 15 hours at a time.
Previous to the July 13th fire, the museum had fallen prey to arson on November 24th, 1864. Confederate sabateurs, intending to avenge the destruction perpetrated by Sherman and his troops throughout Georgia, coordinated over a dozen simultaneous terrorist attacks by fire throughout Manhattan. Initially intending to target government buildings, this plan was found to be impractical due to the heavy presence of Union troops around these structures. The arsonists instead chose to burn New York's most prominent hotels. Despite their use of a crude version of "Greek Fire" as an accelerant, most of the fires were extinguished before causing any significant damage. The would-be firebugs locked doors and windows to the rooms they set ablaze to prevent early discovery but in doing so deprived their incendiary offspring of the nourishing oxygen they would need to grow to maturity.
While the Barnum Museum was not among the list of targets, Confederate agent Captain Robert Cobb Kennedy tossed a bottle of the flaming accelerant into the museum's stairwell on his way between hotels because he believed it would be, in his words, "fun to start a scare". Kennedy was later captured and hanged for spying and "violation of the laws of war" on March 25th, 1865.
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