by Kevin Repice
Image: Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 305-06[1]
This document was created by Bvt. Maj. Jacob Roemer during his time as a Union soldier during the American Civil War from 1861-1865. The source was edited by L.A. Furney, most likely sometime before Roemer’s death in 1896. However, this person is not mentioned within the document so little is known about his contribution to the source. Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865 was published by the Estate of Jacob Roemer in 1897.
The intended audience may have been Roemer’s family, as he mentions that some of his family was brought to the island during the war,[2] and/or people who were interested in the way of life as a Union soldier who made it through the entirety of the war. In this viewpoint, it could have been written as a memoir to recount his lifestyle during the war. However, the section I focus on tells about the prisoners of war camp set up on Hart Island, and this section was most likely aimed to have a propagandistic purpose, to promote how much better the Union North was compared to the Confederate South.
This document may have been for Roemer to put his experiences down in writing so that they would be preserved. He brought an interesting point of view to the American Civil War as he survived the war from being enlisted in the beginning. The main purpose of the Hart Island section was to show how the Confederate, or “rebel,” prisoners were being treated. They were unable to wash themselves, yet they had some sort of economy within the camp – which consisted of trading small handmade trinkets for a few coins from the families that came to “visit” them – and were treated well by the Union soldiers and families that visited the island.[3] According to Roemer, the prisoners were treated as an “attraction,” more than likely to show the people of the Union what the Confederate prisons and prisoners look like. But the prisoners were also happy to see that they had visitors, according to Roemer’s account.[4] In Bowring’s piece, though, the camp is described as “a disciplinary and concentration camp” with unbearable conditions,[5] so this leads me to believe that Roemer’s descriptions of the camp might have made light of the actual situation to make the Union seem nicer to the prisoners than what was actually happening.
Roemer’s piece focuses heavily on his time as a soldier and major within the Union troops, so most of his story is military orders and the day to day activities he had within the military. The time period in which it was produced was very focused on warfare and, because of that, it was maybe not as focused on too many personal aspects. However, within the prison section, Roemer mentions that his family and other people come to Hart Island in order to see the prisoners, so it’s possible that certain people during this time period were able to take it easy and live a more luxurious lifestyle during the war.
This document shows that within the history of incarceration, prisoners of war were not treated well, but were able to have some freedom within their camp, as proved by the selling of goods within the camps.[6] It also shows that prisoners of war were seen as appealing to the public and were put on display like animals at a zoo.[7] This may also have some ties to the carceral history of public humiliation, as the prisoners are being put on display to the Union soldiers and families. However, Bowring claims this camp to be akin to a concentration camp and that the island was isolated and confined from the rest of society because of its association with Confederate prisoners of war.[8] Later in its history, Hart Island also becomes home to a prison workhouse, insane asylum, and reformatory,[9] expanding its reach within carceral history as the carceral archipelago forms. In current times, it still has ties to incarceration, although no prison system exists on the island, as prisoners from Riker’s are sent to work on Hart Island to dig and expand the mass burial site that Hart Island has become.[10]
Roemer’s source is significant because it shows that the American Civil War was not all warfare and bloodshed between the Union and Confederacy. It dives deeper and conveys the lifestyle for a soldier, and also provides insight into the prisoner of war camps that existed during this time period. It also shows slight Union propaganda, as the accounts from Roemer do not exactly match up with the accounts from Bowring. Roemer sheds light on the positives of the prison camp; Bowring focuses heavily on the negatives and brutality of the Hart Island.
Notes
[1] Jacob Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, ed. L.A. Furney (The Estate of Jacob Roemer, 1897), 305-06, Gale Primary Sources: Archives Unbound.
[2] Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 305
[3] Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 305
[4] Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 306
[5] Jacky Bowring, “Containing Marginal Memories: The Melancholy Landscapes of Hart Island (New York), Cockatoo Island (Sydney), and Ripapa Island (Christchurch),” Memory Collection 1, no. 1 (2011): 257, http://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/handle/10182/5697
[6] Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 305
[7] Roemer, Reminiscences Of The War Of The Rebellion 1861-1865, 305-06
[8] Bowring, “Containing Marginal Memories: The Melancholy Landscapes of Hart Island (New York), Cockatoo Island (Sydney), and Ripapa Island (Christchurch),” 257
[9] Bowring, “Containing Marginal Memories: The Melancholy Landscapes of Hart Island (New York), Cockatoo Island (Sydney), and Ripapa Island (Christchurch),” 258
[10] Bowring, “Containing Marginal Memories: The Melancholy Landscapes of Hart Island (New York), Cockatoo Island (Sydney), and Ripapa Island (Christchurch),” 257
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