Biography
Samuel J. Anderson was a Georgia native living in New York. The federal account says officials regarded his support for release of other detainees and correspondence with Southerners as evidence of disloyalty. The Secretary of State caused his arrest on August 27, 1861 before a proposed return to Georgia, followed by confinement at Fort Lafayette. It records his release on October 11, 1861 after an allegiance oath and conditions on future conduct. The cited account records administrative wartime detention and supplies no criminal conviction. Source: Official Records, series II, volume II, section 1, printed page 602, https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570242/page/n617/mode/2up. His name also appears among the October 8, 1861 prisoner remonstrance signers reproduced in American Bastile (1869), printed pages 666-667, https://archive.org/details/americanbastile00marsgoog/page/n683/mode/2up.
The Fort Lafayette return records admission on August 27, 1861; this is a prison admission, not a separately verified physical arrest day. It records actual discharge on October 11, 1861. Source: Official Records, Series II, Volume II, printed page 229, https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570242/page/n244/mode/1up. The institution-specific admission recorded here does not establish the start of all custody in this case; a complete imprisonment total is therefore left unspecified.
A July 31, 1861 police letter says Anderson had already been arrested twice on suspicion of treason; neither earlier arrest date is supplied, and a further arrest proposed that day is not proved to have occurred. Anderson later reported rheumatism aggravated by damp confinement. October 9 was the release order, while October 11 was actual release. His signed parole restricted travel and correspondence with Confederate states. A November 1 letter describes difficulty finding work after release, and a July 22, 1862 letter says he remained on parole; this later restriction does not establish continued physical imprisonment. Sources: Official Records, Series II, Volume II, printed pages 602–604 and 617–619, https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570242/page/n617/mode/1up and https://archive.org/details/cu31924079570242/page/n632/mode/1up. The printed 1862 year on page 619 was checked visually against the scan.
