Lynch's Slave Pen

The history

A marker on the block Busch Stadium now covers. Bernard M. Lynch, St. Louis' most notorious slave trader, ran his third pen here from 1859 to 1861, holding people for sale down the Mississippi to Memphis, Natchez and New Orleans. The Union army seized it in September 1861 and turned it into a Confederate prison. It stands two blocks from the courthouse where the Scotts sued for their freedom.

In brief

Bernard M. Lynch ran the largest slave-trading business in St. Louis; his pen at Fifth and Myrtle held people for sale down the Mississippi until the Union army seized it in 1861.

My photos

Where it is