Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument

The Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument is a war memorial at Fort Greene Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It commemorates more than 11,500 American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison ships during the American Revolutionary War. The remains of a small fraction of those who died on the ships are interred in a crypt beneath its base. The sixteen ships included HMS Jersey, HMS Scorpion, Good Hope, Falmouth, Stromboli and Hunter.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", pp. 568–9.Wilson, James Grant. The memorial History of the City of New-York, From its First Settlement to the Year 1892, vol. IV New York:New-York History Company, 1893, pp. 8–9. Accessed: January 22, 2012

Their remains were first gathered and interred in 1808. In 1867 landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, designers of Central Park and Prospect Park, were engaged to prepare a new design for Washington Park as well as a new crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs."Fort Greene Park: Prison Ship Martyrs Monument: History" on the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation website In 1873, after development near the Brooklyn Navy Yard uncovered the remains, they were moved and re-interred in a crypt beneath a small monument. Funds were raised for a larger monument, which was designed by noted architect Stanford White. Constructed of granite, its single Doric column in height sits over the crypt at the top of a 33-step staircase. At the top of the column is an eight-ton bronze brazier, a funeral urn, by sculptor Adolph Weinman. President-elect William Howard Taft delivered the principal address when the monument was dedicated in 1908.

Context

Remains of deceased prisoners

During the Revolutionary War, the British maintained a series of prison ships in New York Harbor and jails on shore for prisoners of war.Andros, Thomas. "The old Jersey captive: Or, A narrative of the captivity of Thomas Andros ... on board the old Jersey prison ship at New York, 1781. In a series of letters to a friend." W. Peirce. 1833.Lang, Patrick J.. "The horrors of the English prison ships, 1776 to 1783, and the barbarous treatment of the American patriots imprisoned on them." Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, 1939. Due to a combination of neglect, poor conditions on the ships and disease, thousands of American prisoners of war died onboard the prison ships and jails, more than in all the engagements of the American Revolutionary War combined. Prisoners of war who died were disposed of either by a quick interment on the shore or being thrown overboard. Following the end of the war in 1783, the remains of those who died on the prison ships were neglected, left to lie along the Brooklyn shore on Wallabout Bay, a rural area little visited by New Yorkers.McDonnell, Sharon. "Revolutionary Martyrs" American Spirit (March/April 2007)Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", p. 573. On January 21, 1877, the New York Times reported that the dead came from all parts of the nation and "every state of the Union was represented among them.""The Prison-Ship Martyrs" New York Times (January 21, 1877)

Officials of the local Dutch Reformed Church met with resistance from the property owner when they sought to remove the bones to their churchyard.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", p. 574. Nathaniel Scudder Prime reported on "skulls and feet, arms and legs sticking out of the crumbling bank in the wildest disorder". Edwin G. Burrows described the skulls on the coast "as thick as pumpkins in an autumn cornfield". During construction at the Naval Yards, workers were not sure what to do with the bones, and they started to fill casks and boxes. They were reburied on the grounds of the nearby John Jackson estate.

Eventually, "near twenty hogsheads full of bones were collected by the indefatigable industry of John Jackson, esq. the committee of Tammany Society, and other citizens, to be interred in the vault." The monument's dedication plaque estimates that 11,500 prisoners of war died in the prison ships, but others estimate the number to be as high as 18,000.

Political resolve The movement to commemorate the dead only took off when political differences between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans deepened in the last years of the eighteenth century and the latter took up the question of a memorial in response to the Federalist erection of a statue of George Washington in 1803.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", pp. 575–8. The Tammany Society, headed by Benjamin Romaine"Benjamin Romaine" on the New York Society Library website"Timeline of the Burial of the Prison Ship Martyrs and Benjamin Romaine" on the RootsWeb website was created and grew into a Republican organization. On February 10, 1803 Republican Congressman Samuel L. Mitchill asked the federal government to erect a monument to the fallen, but had no successCray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", pp. 578–9. They then turned their efforts to a grand ceremonial re-interment of the prisoners' remains, emphasizing less the construction of a monument than something more suited to the common man. Tammany formed the Wallabout Committee in January 1808. Their efforts took strength from renewed anti-British sentiment stemming from American disputes with Britain in 1806 and 1807. Finally, when President Thomas Jefferson enacted the Embargo Act of 1808, Tammany and the Republicans used their plans for a re-interment as part of their campaign to bolster anti-British sentiment in the United States.

Precursor vaults and monuments

First vault and monument On April 13, 1808, there was a ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a planned vault. A grand ceremony of re-interment followed on May 26, 1808.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", pp. 584–5. The state voted to provide the Tammany Society $1,000 to build a monument. The Society pocketed the money and the monument was never built. A small square building stood above the 1808 vault with an eagle mounted at the point of the roof. It was located on a triangular plot of land near the Brooklyn Navy Yard waterfront (Wallabout Bay) in what is now called Vinegar Hill."The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument" on the Fort Greene Park Conservancy website A wooden fence with thirteen posts and bars painted with the names of the original thirteen states was erected in front. At the entrance through the fence, an inscription said: "Portal to the tomb of 11,500 patriot prisoners, who died in dungeons and prison-ships, in and about the City of New-York, during the Revolution."McCulloch, J. R. A Dictionary, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical of the Countries, Places, and Principal Natural Objects in the World. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852, vol. 1, p. 474. Accessed January 17, 2012 The remains were put in long coffins made of bluestone. Extra space was provided in case more bones were discovered during continuing renovations in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Little was done to repair or maintain the vault and eventually the original monument was in a state of disrepair and neglect. In 1839, Benjamin Romaine purchased the land where the Martyrs were buried, in a tax sale from Henry Reed Stiles for $291.08. Later that year on July 4, 1839, Benjamin Romaine made an appeal for support (governmental or civic) to build a monument. In this appeal, Romaine talked about the monument and his intention to use his Revolutionary War pension for the monument.Childs, C.C. & Childs, E., Jr. "The tomb of the martyrs". Benjamin Romaine's Review (July 4, 1839) On January 31, 1844, Benjamin Romaine died and was also interred in the crypt as he had been a prisoner of war on the ships.

Second vault and monument Later in the nineteenth century, the idea of erecting of a monument on the vault site attracted only occasional interest until 1873 when an appropriation of $6,500"Revolutionary Martyrs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (January 18, 1873) and (January 8, 1888) was established for a new mausoleum. The new brick mausoleum in Fort Greene Park, then known as Washington Park, was constructed.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead", p. 588. The new mausoleum was constructed of Portland granite embellished with pillars and fret work of polished Aberdeen stone. The front of the tomb had the following inscription: "SACRED TO THE MEMORY, OF OUR SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS, WHO SUFFERED AND DIED ON BOARD BRITISH PRISON SHIPS IN THE WALLABOUT DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION". On June 18, 1873, the first tomb was emptied of bones and they were moved to this tomb. The bones remained here until interest was again built and a new monument could be constructed.

Current monument

Planning and construction The Fort Greene chapter of the DAR was founded by Eliza M. Chandler White and formed in 1896 in Brooklyn to foster the construction of a "suitable memorial to the memory of martyrs, civilian, military and naval, who perished in the noisome prison ships anchored in the Wallabout Bay during the Revolutionary War". The group quickly partnered with the Old Brooklynites to increase focus on the memorial.

Following the discovery of additional bones in the Brooklyn Naval Yard in 1899, interest in establishing a significant monument was again renewed."Fort Greene Historic District Designation Report"C.B.B. "The Prison Ship Martyrs" (letter to the editor) New York Times (May 23, 1903) On June 16, 1900, the bones found during additional excavations in the Brooklyn Navy Yard were interred in the crypt with full military honors. The boxes were reported to be oak, long and wide."Prison Ship Martyrs Buried in Fort Greene New York Times (June 17, 1900) On June 19, 1900, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that a committee had been appointed to build a larger memorial to replace the current one. Due to the work of this committee, funds for a new monument were finally considered and raised.

Funding for a larger monument came from all levels of government. On June 28, 1902, a joint resolution of the House and Senate appropriated $100,000 for the memorial construction under the provision that an additional $100,000 be raised from other sources."For Monument toPrison Ship Martyrs" New York Times (June 28, 1902)"To Prison Ship Martyrs" New York Times (June 17, 1902) In the following months, New York State provided $25,000, and New York City $50,000, while private contributions provided another $25,000.Cray, "Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead," 589"Gleanings from American Art Centers," Brush and Pencil, vol. 12, no. 4 (July 1903), 291–2 Following funds being established, the Prison Ship Martyrs Association was incorporated in Albany on May 9, 1903"For Prison Ship Martyrs" New York Times (May 10, 1903) to oversee the work and the renowned architect Stanford White (1853–1906) of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White was commissioned to design it. The contract for construction of the monument was awarded to Carlin Construction Company under the project supervision of Lieut. Col. W. L. Marshall."Monument Contract Let. Carlin Construction Company to Build Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument" New York Times (March 12, 1907) In 1776, Fort Greene Park was the site of Fort Putnam, one of a series of defenses built on the high land in Brooklyn. The construction was supervised by Colonel Rufus Putnam and the purpose was to protect New York from the British.

Dedication