Part 2

This British military prison, under the superintendence of the ill-famed Captain Cunningham, Provost-Marshall—from whom it took its name—and his deputy, Sergeant Keefe, was the scene of great brutalities to American, or, in the language of the times, “rebel” prisoners during the Revolution. The Provost was destined, as John Pintard, the meritorious New York historian, tells us, for the more notorious rebels, civil, naval, and military. An admission into this prison was enough to appall the stoutest heart. On the second floor, called derisively “Congress Hall,” prisoners of note were confined, citizens of distinction and many American officers, among them the famous Colonel Ethan Allen and Judge Fell, of Bergen county, New Jersey. Could these dumb walls speak, John Pintard exclaims, what scenes of anguish, what tales of agonizing woe, might they disclose. In his aforementioned article he gave a vivid account of the “Old Jail’s” history well known to him from the personal reminiscences of many a distinguished prisoner still living in his day.

For naval “rebels” a similar function as that of the “Old Provost” for civil and military “rebels” was fulfilled by “prison-ships.” On board of such vessels seamen were subjected to every possible hardship, to compel them to enter into the British service. As is well known, prison-ships were old vessels-of-war which had been condemned as unseaworthy, and unfit for store or hospital ships, and converted to this, the last use to which they could be applied. One of them has gained medallic interest, the “_Old Jersey Prison Ship_,” which was included as No. 5 in A. B. Sage’s series of “Historical Tokens.” It is No. 4 in the present essay.

On the obverse the center of the medallic space is occupied by a representation of the _Jersey_ as it is found on contemporary engravings. In the upper space one reads: THE OLD JERSEY. Underneath the ship an anchor is pictured between two skulls and bones. The engraver’s initial L is missing on this token. The reverse shows the same arrangement as found in all Sage’s prison tokens. The open shackles in half-circle in the upper space together with the half-circular designation AUG. B. SAGE’S HISTORICAL TOKENS surround the following legend: A/ BRITISH/ PRISON/ DURING THE/ REVOLUTION. The last word stands between two ornamental lines, the lower consisting of three big stars flanked on each side by a group of three small stars. Underneath one reads: No. 5.

The prison-ship _Jersey_ built in 1736 was a fourth-rate ship of the line, mounting sixty guns, and carrying a crew of four hundred men. She was first used as one of the Channel fleet, later sent repeatedly to the Mediterranean Sea, to Spain, the West Indies, Newfoundland, and was active in several naval engagements. Already in 1747 the _Jersey_ was laid up as evidently unfit for active service. On the renewal of hostilities with France, in 1756, she was refitted for service and again operated in the Mediterranean. She continued in active service until 1763 when she returned to England and was laid up once more. But in 1766 the _Jersey_ was again commissioned and sailed for America in 1769. At that time, the active duty of that ship appears to have been brought to a close, since she remained out of commission from 1769 to 1776. In this year the _Jersey_ was ordered, without armament, to New York as a hospital-ship. In the latter part of the year 1781 she was fitted as a prison-ship and was used for that purpose during the remainder of the Revolutionary War. “She remained until the termination of the British authority in New York, when she was abandoned to the fate to which she was justly entitled, and was subsequently overwhelmed in the mud of the Wale bogt, where she remains to this day.” An abundant literature of memoirs, letters, and lists of the prisoners tells the story of this prison-ship and its inmates by whose blood and sufferings the independence of the United States and the civil and religious privileges all of us can now enjoy, were achieved and purchased.

Two more of Sage’s tokens have undertaken to memorialize other Civil War prisons. In design and execution they are similar to the tokens described here. No. 2 of Sage’s “Historical Token” series pictures on its obverse a large building and has the following inscription: CITY HALL, WALL ST. N. Y. ERECTED IN 1700/ DEMOLISHED/ 1812. The obverse is very similar to that of No. 3 A, the uncorrected No. 1 of Sage’s historical series, two skull and bones emblems having been added. A specimen is in the author’s collection. I. N. Phelps Stokes’ _Iconography of Manhattan Island: 1498-1909_ (Vol. VI, 1928. p. 539, s. v. City Hall) does not give, however, any evidence that this building was used as a British prison during the Revolution. It is different in the case of _Livingston’s Sugar-House_. which was located on the South side of Liberty Street, New York City, adjoining the Dutch Church graveyard east of Nassau Street. This building was chosen by Mr. Sage as the subject of another token, No. 2 in his series “Odds and Ends,” executed in the very same manner as all the other tokens. Its obverse bears the inscription: OLD SUGAR HOUSE LIBERTY ST., N. Y. FOUNDED 1689/ DEMOLISHED 1840.

2. Historical Medals

In contrast to the aforementioned tokens, No. 6 and No. 7 are historical medals in the specific meaning of this term. No description or mention of either of them have come to this writer’s attention.

The medal No. 6 measures forty-four millimetres in diameter and was struck in silver, bronze, and white metal. The American Numismatic Society has a specimen of each type in its collection. The obverse shows the “Old Sugar House, Rose Street, N. Y.,” a large five-story building, of which the front and side are visible. The space between the third and fourth story of the front is occupied by the number 1763, the year of its foundation, as the legend says. The space between the uppermost window on the gable front and the two lower windows has as inscription these letters: BRS. All windows are grated. Above the representation of the building one reads the following half-circular inscription: OLD SUGAR HOUSE ROSE ST. N. Y. Below, there appears this inscription: FOUNDED 1763 DEMOLISHED 1892. On the reverse the half-circular legend, A BRITISH PRISON, is placed above a small representation of the frontside of the gable. The latter shows the uppermost window in the highest corner, and underneath two more grated windows in a row. Above the left window the initial I, above the right one the initial S are visible. The lower part of the reverse is occupied by a key in horizontal situation being the ill-famed prison-key, underneath shackles are placed. The ornamental arrangement is in symmetrical correspondence with that in the upper part. In the middle of the space one reads in two lines: DURING THE/ REVOLUTION.

The “Old Sugar House Rose Street, N. Y.,” which stood on the corner of Rose and Deane Streets in New York City, was erected by Henry Cuyler, Jr., for his heir, Barnet Rynders Cuyler, probably in 1763. This date, which appears on the medal twice, is based on an authority “who had opportunity to observe.” John Austin Stevens stated from personal recollection “that he saw the date 1769 high upon the brick wall in iron figures.” The good engraving which is reproduced in James G. Wilson’s _Memorial History of the City of New York_ and may well have been the model for the engraver of the medal, shows the year 1767 on the wall of the building. As disputed as the date of its erection is also its use as prison during the Revolution. Wilson writes: “The date and the architect’s initials are still to be seen on the side of the building, worked in wrought-iron characters, quaint and old. The Rhinelander family has owned the property since 1790, and much of the land around it has been in their possession much longer than that. When first erected the house was used as a sugar-house, but the great interest in the old building is in the memory of the use to which it was put in revolutionary times. The grated windows, the dungeon-like underground cellars, the general air of solidity and impregnability which impress the observer at first sight, bear out the assertion, which has become a creed among the neighbors, that during the Revolution the sugar-house was diverted from its legitimate use and turned into a British prison, where many an American patriot suffered not only imprisonment, but cruelties and starvation.” This was written by Wilson in 1892 in commemoration of the then recent demolition of the structure. It seems that it was the very same occasion that caused the issuance of the medal, bearing the year of the building’s demolition. Nevertheless, the use of the Rhinelander sugar-house as a prison during the Revolution was “denied by Stevens and others, who have presented testimony to disprove it,” as Stokes tells us. It seems almost impossible to decide the issue which, in turn, renders the historical justification of the issuance of the medal also doubtful.

No. 7 is the only medal known to the author referring to a military prison in the Civil War. No specimen of it is found in the museum of the American Numismatic Society. Nor do the catalogues, guide-books, and other pamphlets published by the Libby Prison War Museum Association in Chicago mention this medal that was probably issued by this very association. There is nothing about it in the files of the Chicago Historical Society. The Chicago newspapers of 1893 might have some article or note. But as they are not indexed it would take a great deal of time and labor to search through them.

The very heavy medal measures seventy-one millimetres in diameter. It is made of type metal, coated with a bluish-black lacquer. The obverse shows in its upper part the following legend: LIBBY PRISON; and in the lower part: WAR MUSEUM/ CHICAGO 1893. The space in the center is occupied by the picture of Libby Prison as it stood in its original place in Richmond, Virginia. Four prisoners’ tents are visible in the foreground. Of course, no barbed wire, and not even a fence are indicated. Instead sentries can be seen in front of the main building as well as of the tent-barracks, their number being six _in toto_. The picture is that well known from contemporary drawings or etchings.

The reverse of the medal bears an extensive legend in eighteen lines. These are surrounded by a circular panel, showing on top clasped hands, at the bottom crossed sabres. The panel inscription reads: NO SECTIONALISM—1861—NO NORTH—NO SOUTH—1865—NO ANIMOSITY. The eighteen-line legend gives an historical account of Libby Prison and its transformation into the Chicago War Museum:

1845 LIBBY PRISON RICHMOND, VA. ERECTED IN 1845 BY LUTHER LIBBY.

OCCUPIED BY LIBBY AND SON, SHIPCHANDLERS AND GROCERS. IN 1861 TAKEN BY THE CONFEDERATED AND CONVERTED INTO A PRISON. FROM 1861 TO 1864, 40,000 UNION PRISONERS WERE CONFINED IN IT. LARGEST NUMBER AT ONE TIME 1400.

FOR OFFICERS EXCLUSIVELY IN 1864-5. FEBRUARY 9 1864, 109 UNION OFFICERS MADE THEIR ESCAPE BY THE CELEBRATED TUNNEL PLANNED BY COL. THOS. E. ROSE. MOVED TO CHICAGO IN 1889, CONVERTED INTO A NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OWNED BY THE LIBBY PRISON WAR MUSEUM A’SSN.

C. F. GUNTHER. PRES; L. MANASSE. VICE PRES; C. E. KREMER. SEC. AND TREAS. 1893

The history of Libby Prison as sad as it is romantic is too well known to be retold here even briefly. The New York Public Library has in its Americana collection no less than 222 items on Civil War prisoners and prisons. Many of them are devoted exclusively or partially to Libby Prison. The selected bibliography appended to this article will guide historically interested readers. With reference to the medal under consideration it is surprising that the famous commander of the prison, Major Thomas P. Turner, found no mention in its historical legend. He “was always a gentleman,” as one of the former prisoners wrote in his memoirs.

In view of the fact that the medal is dedicated to the Libby Prison War Museum in Chicago, the history of the removal of the building from Richmond may be of interest. The following quotation is an excerpt from the pertinent introductory chapter in the now rare _Catalogue and Program_ of the Libby Prison War Museum, first published probably in 1889 and later reprinted in the early eighteen-nineties:

“The removal of Libby Prison from Richmond, Va. to Chicago was a project never before equaled in the history of building moving and one that will not be surpassed for years to come. This famous old structure as a Confederate prison is too well known to need the repetition of its history, and it is enough to state that it was the palace prison of the South, and during the late war it held more than 40,000 Union officers and enlisted men as prisoners. The project of removing Libby Prison to Chicago was thought of by a well-known Chicago business man who interested a syndicate of his business associates, and as a result they visited Richmond in the latter part of 1888 and took a thorough look over the ground.... Mr. Louis M. Hallowell, a well-known and experienced Philadelphia architect, was engaged to work on the spot. He made all of the working plans for taking the structure apart, shipping it to the cars and rebuilding it in Chicago. The work commenced in December, 1888, and as the building was taken apart each board, beam, timber and block of stone was numbered and lettered in such a manner that there was not the least trouble about placing these parts correctly together again in rebuilding.... Sending to Chicago required 132 twenty-ton cars ... the re-erection of Libby Prison ... was completed early in September. The Museum was opened to the public September 21, 1889.... It contains the most complete and valuable collections of Confederate relics in existence.”

The museum was situated on Wabash Avenue between 14th and 16th Streets. The enterprise proved a failure, however. The Libby Prison War Museum was torn down in 1899, according to information received from the Chicago Historical Society. The Coliseum was erected on the site. The prison wall on the Wabash Avenue is now incorporated in the facade of the Coliseum, all other material used having been disposed of.

The officers of the Libby Prison War Museum Association whose names appear on the medal, are identifiable from their advertisements on the covers of the _Catalogue_. The President, C. J. Gunther, was a confectioner who advertised his candies; the Vice President, L. Manasse, an optician; and the secretary-treasurer was a member of the law firm, Schuyler and Kremer, “attorneys at law and proctors in Admiralty.”

One would expect to learn that the medal was struck on some occasion connected with the Libby Prison War Museum, either on the completion of its rebuilding in Chicago or on its opening. This was, however, not the case. There is no other indication as to when the medal was executed except the year 1893 appearing on its reverse. It proves that the medal must have been struck in connection with the Columbian Exposition held in that year in Chicago. This is all that could be explored of its history.

Finally a token should be mentioned that refers to Civil War prisons, though indirectly only. It is representative of a whole group of similar tokens. In 1864-1865 a special committee of the United States Sanitary Commission published the gruesome results of an inquiry into the privations and sufferings of United States officers and soldiers during their war imprisonment. It aroused, of course, the public at that time. The United States Sanitary Commission, established in 1861, to cooperate with the army, arranged a series of great fairs, popularly termed “Sanitary Fairs,” in order to raise funds for the relief of sickness, the improvement of hospital sanitation, and the promotion of the health conditions among the armed forces in general. The Commission distributed during the war supplies to the value of fifteen million dollars, and funds amounting to five million more were received into its treasury, at least two-thirds of which were obtained from the numerous “Sanitary Fairs.” The first was held at Chicago in 1863, and many other cities followed.

Tokens of the kind of that pictured here as No. 8 were given to the “cheerful givers.” The obverse of No. 8 shows Washington’s head facing the right, at each side four stars, the legend being: GEO. WASHINGTON / PRESIDENT. The reverse has the following inscription in nine lines, the first three and last one curved: GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER / GREAT FAIR / IN AID OF THE / U. S. / SANITARY / COMMISSION / NANTUCKET / MASS. / AUGUST 1864. The size is twenty-four millimeters. Specimens were struck in silver, copper, brass, nickel, and tin.

To be sure, the present essay represents but a very modest contribution to the discipline of medallic history. If through the methodological approach of a specific problem it would aid in stimulating further research in this little cultivated field, the author would consider this a highly gratifying reward.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Prisoners of War in General

William E. S. Flory, Prisoners of War: A Study in the Development of International Law. Washington, D. C.: American Council on Public Affairs, 1942.

A good survey of all legal aspects of the subject, with a selected bibliography.

Georges Werner, “Les Prisonniers de Guerre,” in Académie de Droit International: Receuil des Cours, 1928, Vol. I, Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1929, pp. 1-107.

Scholarly juridical treatise on all legal problems concerning prisoners of war.

Franz von Liszt, Das Völkerrecht. Twelfth edition by Max Fleischmann. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1925, pp. 480-488.

The standard German work on International Law, with a selected bibliography.

André Warnod, Prisonnier de Guerre: Notes et Croquis Rapportés d’Allemagne. Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1915.

Experiences in a German internment camp, with interesting drawings by the author as illustrations.

[Alexander] Backhaus, Die Kriegsgefangenen in Deutschland. Siegen-Leipzig-Berlin: Verlag Hermann Montanus, 1915.

About 250 photographs from German prison camps with explanatory comments.

[Anonymous]: Deutsche Kriegsgefangene in Feindesland. Berlin and Leipzig: 1919.

Official accounts of the German government concerning prisoners of war in France and England.

Clemens Plassmann, Die deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in Frankreich, 1914-1920. Berlin: Verlag der Reichsvereinigung ehemaliger Kriegsgefangener, 1921.

A systematical discussion of all legal and social problems concerning the German prisoners of war in France, 1914-1920.

Dora Coith, Kriegsgefangen: Erlebnisse einer Deutschen in Frankreich. Leipzig: Hesse und Becker Verlag, 1915.

Description of experiences in a French war prison of a German civil internee.

Robert Guerlain, A Prisoner in Germany. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1944.

Account of a French soldier who spent more than a year as a prisoner of war in one of the vast prison camps in Germany, 1940-1941.

I. Internment Camp Money

Bruno Röttinger, Das deutsche Gefangenenlagergeld sowie Gruben und Zechengeld 1914/1918. (Volume V of Dr. Arnold Keller’s Notgeldbücher). Frankfurt a. M.: Adolph E. Cahn, 1922. V + 42 pp.

The most complete check-list of all kinds and varieties of the German internment camp money superseding previously published lists.

J. Schulman, La Guerre Européenne 1914-1916: Catalogues, Nos. LXVII, January, 1917, pp. 99-129, nos. 864-1188, plates IX-XI (Germany, Austria-Hungary); pp. 152-154, nos. 1387-1400 (Germany); LXX, March, 1918, pp. 66-70, nos. 745-801 (Germany); pp. 129-131, nos. 1441-1465 (Austria-Hungary); LXX, pp. 166-168, nos. 1797-1831 a (France); LXXIII, January, 1919, pp. 19-27, nos. 171-259 (France); pp. 55-58, nos. 535-573 (Germany); pp. 78-79, nos. 770-773 (Austria); pp. 104-106, nos. 1049-1064 (France); LXXV, December, 1919, pp. 10-12, nos. 90-112 (France); pp. 91-96, nos. 832-882 (Germany); pp. 99-100, nos. 906-917 (Austria-Hungary).

Many complete sets listed with very fine numismatic descriptions.

[Anonymous], “The Numismatic Side of the European War.” The Numismatist, XXIX (July, 1916), p. 328.

On internment camp money of Freistadt, Grodig, and Kleinmünchen.

[Anonymous], “Europe’s War Legacy to Collectors.” The Numismatist, XXIX (1916), pp. 498-499.

On Austrian war prisoners money “in the war prisoners’ camp at Braunau, and struck in nickel-aluminum. All are of the same type and have a small square hole in the center.” Also on war prisoners money used in the camps at Danzig-Troyl, Prussia, and Kleinmünchen, Austria, with reproduction of several sets.

[Anonymous], “European War Prison Camp Tokens.” The Numismatist, XXX (1917), pp. 18-19.

Particularly on the prisoners money of the “k. u. k. Offiziersstation für Kriegsgefangene Mühling,” (1915), with reproductions.

J. Hunt Deacon, “Isle of Man Internment Camp Money.” The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, IX (June, 1943), pp. 313-314.

On internment camp money issued in the present war.

J. Hunt Deacon, “More Internment Camp Money.” The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, IX (July, 1943). pp. 428 f.

On present war money issued for civilian internment camps.

Robert Guerlain, A Prisoner in Germany. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1944.

On pp. 71-73, information is found on prices and currency in German prison camps, during the period of 1939 to 1941.

II. European War-Prisoner Medals

German Capture Medal by Ludwig Gies

J. Schulman, La Guerre Européenne 1914-1916. Catalogue LXV, April 1916, p. 82, no. 809.

The description reads:

Prisonniers de guerre.

Médaille uniface coulée en bronze par L. G(ies). Un soldat allemand amène un soldat français, un russe, un anglais, un belge, un serbe et un indigène. Br. mm. 64. Médaille très intéressante. fl. 18.

Max Bernhart, Die Münchener Medaillenkunst der Gegenwart. Munich-Berlin: R. Oldenbourg, 1917.

A photographic reproduction, 60 millimeters in diameter, is found on Plate 15, no. 102.

French War-Prisoner Medal of 1916

J. Schulman, La Guerre Européenne 1914-1916. Catalogue LXXIII, p. 8 no. 52.

The description reads:

Pour nos prisonniers.

Médaille portative par O. Yencesse. Un poilus assis en attitude accablée. Légende POUR NOS-PRISONNIERS. Rev. Une colombe portant dans son bec un rameau d’olivier, en bas. 1916. Métal argenté mm. 26, coins arrondis. fl. 3.50.

German Camp Douglas Medal

[Anonymous], “German Prisoners’ Art School,” in The New York Times, Sunday, August 20, 1916, p. 12.

[Anonymous], “Some Interesting Medallic Issues,” The Numismatist, XXIX (March, 1916), p. 124, no. 4.

III. American War Prison Tokens and Medals

Civil War Prisons and Prisoners

Richard F. Hemmerlein, Prisons and Prisoners of the Civil War. Boston: The Christopher Publishing House, 1934.

A general survey of the history of the prisons and the treatment of prisoners during the Civil War, with select bibliography.

A. B. Sage’s Historical Prison Tokens

Augustus B. Sage, Catalogue of Coins, Medals, and Tokens, No. 1, New York: February, 1859, p. 1.

Advertisement and description of the series of Sage’s “Historical Tokens,” nos. 1-10.