Title: War Prisoner Money and Medals
Author: Guido Kisch
Release date: July 14, 2020 [eBook #62642]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
By
Guido Kisch
Reprinted from
THE NUMISMATIST
1963
The guarantee of humane treatment for prisoners of war is an achievement of modern international law. This interesting and important legal problem was discussed at great length at several international conferences at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. A kind of ethical and legal code resulted consisting of a comprehensive body of rules and regulations, both written and unwritten. The International Red Cross played an important part in the development and crystallization of those humanitarian ideals as they are embodied today in the provisions of the international law concerning prisoners of war. Its rules have been explicitly or tacitly accepted and to a great extent put into practice by most of the civilized nations of the world. Their disregard, as in the recently reported case of 115 helpless American military prisoners of war murdered in cold blood by the Germans near Malmedy, or in the notorious death camps of Oswiecim and Belsen-Bergen, is a relapse into barbarism, characteristic of the Hitlerite hordes. As a rule, however, the status of prisoners of war is universally respected and they receive a fair treatment from all nations, in accordance with the rules of international law. They may be employed by their captors for certain labors, but must be accorded fair living conditions.
Considerations of war economy and corresponding military precautions created the necessity of issuing special money for the use of prisoners of war. A shortage in currency is often an unavoidable result of national war conditions. It would be greatly increased, of course, if the actual use of national currency would be permitted also to the rising numbers of captives. The issuance of special currency for the exclusive use of war prisoners is therefore an act of national defense in wartime. The use of this special type of money, for which both paper and metal are employed, is restricted in a twofold way. Its circulation is limited to war prisoners, and—even more strictly—to definite internment camps. The prisoners’ specially made money, often easily distinguishable through a round or square hole in the center, is excluded from general monetary circulation. The prisoner is not able to buy articles in the ordinary channels of the national commerce. Moreover, he is left without means in case of escape.
These are the ideas and motives underlying the issuance of separate money for prisoners of war.
Austrian War-Prisoner Money
Used in the Officers Prison Camp Mühling
(Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society)
During the First World War such money was produced by the warring nations of Europe. In Germany, where 635,000 allied prisoners were confined at the end of the war, it was called Gefangenenlagergeld; in France, with the greatest number of German war prisoners (400,000), it was known as monnaies des camps de prisonniers. In Germany production reached tremendous amounts and resulted in almost unbelievable varieties, far surpassing the needs dictated by war economy and military policy. Röttinger’s catalogue of German internment camp money lists about 1360 different places of issue and authorities competent to issue such money. There were thousands of types and varieties. All kinds of material were used and all types of style imaginable were represented. From these facts another motif comes to light which prompted that mass production of war prisoner money. Apparently this new type of currency quickly attracted the attention of numismatists, first in the lands of its origin, then in the adjacent neutral countries, and later in the entire world. The interest of collectors and students once awakened was soon exploited by the German government through a mass export of complete sets of prisoner currency to foreign countries. Thus a means was provided of obtaining valuable and badly needed foreign exchange for a worthless kind of currency. In fact it was a practically worthless kind of money, worthless even from the numismatic point of view. For the almost innumerable varieties impaired the collector’s interest who could not entertain any hope ever to obtain a complete collection. While Germany continued this practice for the duration of the war, in line with 5 her general inflationary policy, Austria-Hungary seems to have kept the issuance of her war prisoner money within the limits of the actual war needs.
The hypothesis of the partly inflationary character of the German internment camp money during the First World War and of its doubtful numismatical value, as set forth here, is borne out by several other observations. There were very few complete or almost complete collections of “Gefangenenlagergeld” even in Germany, the most important ones being that of the Reichswirtschaftsmuseum in Leipzig, where one specimen of each type of Notgeld was officially deposited by the Reich as issued, and that of a private collector, Doctor Arnold Keller of Berlin, the publisher of Dr. Arnold Kellers Notgeldbücher. In Holland, there was also a collection outstanding because of its completeness, namely that of Mr. Paul Daub of Utrecht, a private collector. The American Numismatic Society, in due recognition of the given situation, rightfully did not care to acquire complete sets of this money, either during or after the war, but contented itself with a few specimens only. There have been a few private collectors in the United States none of whom seems to have attained great achievements in this field. None the less, the interest is still kept alive to some degree in collectors’ circles through the “International Emergency Money Club” of New York City, the only club of its kind in existence, founded in 1936 in New York City, with an active membership of thirty in 1942.
Different Types of War Prisoner Money
Beginning as early as January 1917 the well known firm of J. Schulman of Amsterdam offered complete sets of such money in a series of consecutive catalogues on war money, entitled La Guerre Européenne 1914-1917. Here collectors could obtain almost all sets available which were probably secured from the official authorities of issuance in Germany. The international reputation of the firm of Schulman in Amsterdam is too well established to permit reflection on the ethics of its business transactions. Merely for the sake of clarity it should be stated that none is implied here.
Obviously, numismatic interest turned quickly to the items of this previously little known type of war emergency money. In the very beginning, most probably, everyone thought that it would be a quickly passing numismatic phenomenon. No one could at that time realize the dimensions that production of war prisoner money would finally reach. All this notwithstanding, the literature on this special kind of money is scarce, incomplete and widely scattered. The appended select bibliography might therefore be welcome to those interested in this field of 6 collecting which probably will be revived soon after the return of peace. It is needless to state that no claim is being made of completeness in the bibliographical data offered below.
No doubt, in the present war, too, internment camp money has been issued. Scanty news on such money issued in Great Britain, particularly in the Isle of Man internment camp for civilian and soldier prisoners of war, has already been brought to the attention of numismatists. A member of the Czechoslovak State Council in London, Mr. Ernest Frischer, recently informed the present writer that internment camp money is in use in the ill-famed concentration camp of Terezin (Theresienstadt) in Bohemia, where about 50,000 Jews are being held by their German “Protectors.” According to information received by the War Department in Washington, on the other hand, “no special type of money is issued for the use of prisoners of war held in this country. However, prisoners of war are issued 'canteen checks,’ a form of script which is given them in lieu of cash. This script is redeemable for merchandise at prison camp post exchanges. This script is not uniform, each of the several Service Commands procuring it and issuing it to camps within its jurisdiction. No photographs of the canteen checks are available.”
Naturally, more detailed and definite information will be available only after the termination of hostilities and the restoration of unimpeded research channels.
With regard to war prisoner medals, the numismatic situation is completely different from that outlined here for internment camp money. True, there may have been also a “mass production” of such medallic items in Europe during the war of 1914-1918. But it never could have paralleled that of the emergency money for internment camps.
Two motives, above all, caused the issuance of war prisoner medals: the raising of funds for the support of prisoners of war or the amelioration of their condition; and the creation of the commemorative tokens or medals for presentation to captives after their liberation. It is doubtful and highly improbable, that the “mass production” of such medals ever reached in quantity a volume equal to that of war prisoners money. The number issued may well run into hundreds, at most a few thousands, but certainly not many thousands. For, to the best of this author’s knowledge, no commemorative war medal in the form of an official decoration to be given to all war prisoners in general was issued by any of the states participating in the First World War. Nor did any of the European states that remained neutral and held members of the belligerents in internment camps, issue commemorative medals for internees. This suggestion may well deserve the attention of the United Nations’ military authorities. After the present war a special commemorative medal of honor should be issued, intended for those who had to endure the great hardships of captivity for their country, often suffering undescribable physical and mental restraint. Such a token of gratitude would show to these heroes that they, too, had not been forgotten and that their sacrifice is duly appreciated and will permanently be remembered.
It seems that in the last European war prisoner medals were issued privately only. The extensive search for such medals carried on by the author in numismatic literature and dealers’ catalogues as well as through interviewing of collectors and dealers, yielded only four items. Three are of German origin, only one is French. None of these medals has aroused as yet the attention or curiosity of numismatists in general or of collectors of medals in particular.
German Capture Medal by L. Gies
Because of its medallic representation a typically German “war medal” will be mentioned first. No specimen was available to this writer. None is found in the Museum of the American Numismatic Society in New York City. It is a unilateral bronze medal, measuring 64 millimeters in diameter, designed by the German artist. Ludwig Gies, whose initials L.G. appear on the obverse. It is one of the numerous “war medals” created by him in the beginning of the First World War. It depicts the act of capture. A German soldier is shown capturing and taking away a French, a Russian, an English, Belgian, Serbian, and a colonial native prisoner of war. A brief description, but no reproduction of this medal, is found in J. Schulman’s Catalogue LXV, of April 1916, p. 82, No. 809. It is pictured among the artist’s other war medals in Max Bernhart’s Die Muenchener Medaillenkunst der Gegenwart, Plate 15, No. 102, wherefrom the reproduction is made.
The medal reproduced here as No. 1, another German war prisoner medal, is a silver medal, of 37.67 grams, measuring forty-one millimeters in diameter. The obverse depicts the full figure of a German prisoner of war, dressed in his uniform, on which a sign PG (French: prisonnier de guerre) is visible. Standing on the shore of a river, being of course the Rhine, he holds his hands stretched out to express his fervent longing for his home country. Not only the mountains of the latter are visible on the opposite shore but also the home village with its little church in the foreground. The inscription in the left upper space of the medal, before the soldier’s eyes, reads: SEHNSUCHT (longing). The reverse bears the following inscription in a quadrangular space surrounded by ornaments: VOLKSBUND/ZUM SCHUTZE/DER DEUTSCHEN/KRIEGS 8 u. ZIVIL/GEFANGENEN, meaning, “National Society for the Protection of German Military and Civil Prisoners of War.” On the rim of the medal name and place of the producing firm are visible: C. Poellat, Schrobenhausen. The designer’s name does not appear on the medal. No year is given. In accordance with the aims of the issuing society the medal was probably destined to promote interest in and support of the German prisoners of war in enemy land. No records or accounts of the activities of this society were available in this country. Nevertheless it is safe to assume the following. Sending of food parcels from Germany was possible only in the first years of war. But even later, in the period of grave food shortage, funds were still needed and actually raised for clothing, and particularly for books, which were continuously sent to prisoner camps in great quantities. A specimen of this medal is in the collection of Dr. Bruno Kisch, New York City.
No. 1
German Volksbund for Prisoners Medal
There is a French counterpart to this medal. A small medal, 26 millimeters in diameter, similar to No. 1 in its motives, but apparently more artistically designed, is known to have been struck in France. No specimen is available in this country. According to the brief description in J. Schulman’s Catalogue LXXIII it was designed by O. Yencesse and executed in a silvery white metal. The obverse shows a French soldier seated in an attitude of despondency. The inscription reads: POUR NOS—PRISONNIERS. that is: “For Our Prisoners.” On the reverse a dove is visible bearing in its bill an olive branch. Below is the date 1916. The motive of the issuance of this medal was patently fund raising.
No. 2 is a medal made of hard white metal, and struck for the German prisoners of war interned at Douglas, Isle of Man, to commemorate their detention there. Its diameter measures 46 millimeters. On the top there is a rectangular vertical loophole. The obverse shows the Douglas prison camp, in the foreground its barracks and huts, also an unfolded banner is visible; in the background a fortress at the left of the beholder, and a lighthouse at the right. Between the fortress and the lighthouse is the Manx triskelion or triquerta, occupying a prominent place in the upper center. The entire picture on the obverse is enclosed by a surrounding wreath of barbed wire. The reverse has a wreath of 9 leaves with a panel in the middle. The inscription reads, in the upper segment: WELTKRIEG 1914-1915 (“World War 1914-1915”); in the lower: DOUGLAS ISLE OF MAN; in the middle: ERINNERUNG AN DIE KRIEGSHAFT (“In commemoration of war detention”). No artist’s name is given. Specimens of this medal are found in the museum of the American Numismatic Society, New York City, and in this writer’s collection. The first mentioned specimen is in an (original) plain wooden case with no ornament. Other wooden cases are known, on the cover of which an inlaid design is visible representing an open-jawed snake as the symbol of war. The words Weltkrieg 1914/15 are added on the case. This medal was pictured and briefly, though not exactly, described in The New York Times of August 26, 1916. In The Numismatist of March 1916, a reproduction with a few explanatory lines was also published, the medal having been exhibited at the January meeting of the New York Numismatic Club.
No. 2
German Camp Douglas Medal
Douglas, Peel and Knockaloe had been chosen as sites for the detention camps on the Isle of Man. Here many an alien who for years had followed some profession or trade in Great Britain was interned in 1914 for the duration of the war. The English and German Relief Committees with the active cooperation of the American Young Men’s Christian Association succeeded in performing what seemed to the New York Times correspondent at that time to have been an unheard-of feat under the existing conditions: the establishment of an art school for prisoners of war at Camp Douglas. Beside wooden boxes done in chip carving and in wood intaglio, the commemorative medals for German war prisoners were certainly the most artistic objects produced there. Through a strange irony of fate, they were strictly “made in England.” “Some day they will be of historic value,” said the New York Times correspondent in concluding his article. The art school was established in 1915. From the inscription on the medals “1914-1915” it is clear that they must have been designed and executed in the latter year, three years before the war came to an end.
No other war prisoners medals dating back to the First World War have come to the attention of the present author. Yet, there may be 10 some that eluded him. He therefore would appreciate any additional information that readers should be kind enough to send him (address: 415 West 115th Street, New York 25, N. Y.)
The study of European money and medals issued for prisoners of war in 1914-1918, aroused—little wonder—the curiosity as to whether similar items came into existence in this country too. No war prisoners money or medal originating in the last war is known to the author. In his collection, however, five related items are found, four small tokens and one large medal, which are deserving the historian’s and medallist’s attention. All of them picture war prisons of ill fame. Four pertain to the Revolutionary War, the fifth to the Civil War. Thus it is pertinent to consider them all in this connection.
No. 3A
The Old Provoost, New York
Nos. 3 A, 3 B, 4 and 5 are copper tokens, each 31 millimeters in diameter. They are not “historical” items in that they have come down to us as immediate witnesses from the period of the Revolutionary War. They are rather medallic creations of an outspoken commercial character, but nevertheless “historical” tokens. Nos. 3 A and 3 B are identical with No. 1 of a series of fourteen “Historical Tokens” issued by August B. Sage, a well-known New York coin dealer, in 1859. No. 4 in the present numbering is identical with No. 2, and No. 5 with No. 5 of the same series. On the first page of his Catalogue of Coins, Medals and Tokens, No. 1, of February 1859, Mr. Sage announced that “this series will consist of about 25 tokens, each one giving a correct representation of some public building around which there is anything of an historical interest.” No more than fourteen tokens were actually issued of this series. All of 11 them were advertised in Mr. Sage’s later catalogue of June 1859. They were executed in copper plain edge and in copper and brass with reeded edges. In 1859, the set was offered for sale for $4.00. Mules in copper, brass, and tin are known. Of No. 1 and No. 6 two dies were made: in both cases the original die showed some mistakes in picture or legend which were corrected in the second die. In Chapman’s catalogue of the Bushnell collection a specimen of No. 1 in silver is listed as No. 462. It was described as of “weak impression, but very rare.”
No. 3 A shows on its obverse a three-story building. On top a fourth-story attic is added with four dormer windows. Above the roof rises an octagon-shaped tower surrounded by a balustrade and surmounted by a cupola ending in a cross. On the front side of the building at the level of the main floor an empty space is visible. It was probably designated in the draft for a gate or entrance door which is, however, missing. The building is surrounded by a fence. In the lowest part of the obverse, a large asterisk is placed between two smaller ones. The top space contains the inscription: THE OLD PROVOOST, N. Y. The reverse has the following legend arranged in five lines A/ BRITISH/ BRISON/ DURING THE/ REVOLUTION. The third word reads Brison, and not Prison. This inscription is placed within the chain of shackles in a wreath-like arrangement. The endings converge but do not meet, in the lower part of the obverse. Between the open ends one reads: NO. 1, and underneath in smaller letters parallel to the rim: AUG. B. SAGE’S HISTORICAL TOKENS.
No. 3B
The Old Provoost, New York
(Revised Edition)
No. 3 B, of the same type and make looking almost identical with, but differing in details from No. 3 A, must be considered as a “revised edition” of the latter. The obverse is identical with that of No. 3 A with only one deviation: No. 3 B has an entrance door instead of the empty space in the front wall of the building. The reverse shows more divergencies. The wording and arrangement of the main inscription are identical with that of No. 3 A. But the mistake in the word PRISON is here corrected, the B having been replaced by a P. In 3 B the surrounding 12 open chain occupies only the upper half of the margin, while the title of the token series takes its place in the corresponding space in the lower half: “AUG. B. SAGE’S HISTORICAL TOKENS.” The half-circles of the chain in the upper part and of the series title in the lower part thus form a kind of wreath surrounding the main inscription of five lines. The numeral, No. 1, appears here in the lower part and is separated from the last line of the inscription, REVOLUTION, by a small asterisk between two brief exergual lines. Asterisk and lines are missing in No. 3 A.
Both types of the token, 3 A as well as 3 B, have on the obverse below the left corner of the fence, the initial L, representing the name of the engraver, George H. Lovett, who is listed in the New York City Directory of 1859 as die-sinker at 131 Fulton Street. He executed all the Sage tokens and several very pretty Washington medals.
The medallic picture of the “Old Provoost” is undoubtedly based on Alexander J. Davis’s (1803-1892) drawing that was engraved by Alexander Anderson (1775-1870) and reproduced in The New York Mirror of September 10, 1831, in John Pintard’s article, “The Old Jail.”
The site of this “modern bastille” was City Hall Park. It was built as the second jail, in succession, in the City of New York in 1757 and completed in 1759. In the revolutionary period it was memorable during the occupation of the City by the British forces, from 1776 to 1783, as a British military prison, known as “Provost” and later as “Martyr’s Prison”, still later as “Debtor’s Prison”. In 1830 it was reconstructed and fitted to receive public records, henceforth known as “Register’s Office” or “Hall of Records”. It was finally demolished in 1903 to make way for the Subway. Coins, buttons, and human bones were found in the excavation. A tablet, erected in 1907, on a granite monument in the Park still marks the site of the “Old Provost.”
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, 13 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.
No. 4
The Old Jersey Prison Ship
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 14 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.
No. 5
City Hall, Wall Street, New York
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.
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 15 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.
No. 6
Old Sugar House, Rose Street, New York
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 16 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
Libby Prison Medal
(Obverse)
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 17 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.
No. 7
Libby Prison Medal
(Reverse)
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 19 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 20 1864. The size is twenty-four millimeters. Specimens were struck in silver, copper, brass, nickel, and tin.
No. 8
“Sanitary Fair” Token
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
A. B. Sage, Catalogue of Coins, Medals, and Tokens, New York: June, 1859.
On inner front-cover advertisement and description of the series of Sage’s “Historical Tokens,” nos. 1-14, and of another token series, “Odds and Ends.” These data, though of general numismatic interest, are not reproduced in L. Forrer’s Biographical Dictionary of Medalists. Hence they are given here in full.
No. 1. The Old Provoost Prison, 2 dies.
No. 2. The Old City Hall, Wall Street.
No. 3. Faneuil Hall, Boston.
No. 4. Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia.
No. 5. Old Jersey Prison Ship.
No. 6. State House, Philadelphia, 2 dies.
No. 7. Mount Vernon, Washington’s Residence.
No. 8. Old Hasbrook House, Newburgh.
No. 9. Richmond Hill House, N. Y.
No. 10. Washington’s Head Quarters, Tappan.
No. 11. Washington’s Head Quarters, Valley Forge.
No. 12. Sir Henry Clinton’s House, N. Y.
No. 13. The Old Swamp Church.
No. 14. The Charter Oak.
“Upon receipt of $4.00, we will send a complete set of the above tokens to any place in the United States. The series will be continued from time to time.“
No. 1. Crystal Palace.
No. 2. Old Sugar House.
No. 3. Paul Morphy.
“The above series will be continued from time to time. Struck in good copper, and sold at the low price of 25 cents each.”
S. H. and H. Chapman, Catalogue of the Celebrated and Valuable Collection of American Coins and Medals of the Late Charles I. Bushnell. Philadelphia: Chapman, 1882, p. 31, nos. 459-462: “Sage’s Historical Tokens.”
L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Vol. V. London: Spink and Son, 1912, p. 296.
Forrer’s pertinent account on Sage’s “Historical Tokens” must be corrected in accordance with the data given in the present essay.
I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island: 1498-1909. Vol. III, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1918. p. 972, s. v. New Gaol (“Goal”).
John Pintard, “The Old Jail.” The New York Mirror: A Weekly Journal, Devoted to Literature and the Fine Arts, Vol. IX, No. 10 (New York, September 10, 1831), p. 73.
With a reproduction of “The Old Provoost,” drawn by Alexander J. Davis and engraved by Alexander Anderson.
Frank Bergen Kelley, Historical Guide to the City of New York. Revised Edition. New York: The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission, 1913, p. 55.
Albert G. Greene (editor), Recollections of the Jersey Prison-Ship: Taken, and Prepared for Publication, from the Original Manuscript of the Late Captain Thomas Dring, of Providence, R. I., One of the Prisoners. New York: P. M. Davis, 1831. Re-edited by Henry B. Dawson. Morrisania, N. Y.: H. B. Dawson, 1865.
Especially p. 14, note 3; p. 196; reproduction of an engraving of the “exterior view of the ship,” facing p. 16.
[Anonymous], 1888. A Christmas Reminder: Being the Names of about Eight Thousand Persons, A Small Portion of the Number Confined on Board the British Prison Ships during the War of the Revolution. Brooklyn, N. Y.: Society of Old Brooklynites. 1888.
Containing the names of the “prisoners confined on board the British ship Jersey.”
Henry R. Stiles, Letters from the Prisons and Prison-Ships of the Revolution. (The Wallabout Prison-Ship Series, No. 1). New York: Privately printed, 1865.
Includes letters written on the Jersey.
I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island: 1498-1909. Vol. V, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1926, pp. 1042 (1777); 1234 (1789).
Thomas E. V. Smith, The City of New York in the Year of Washington’s Inauguration, 1789. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph and Co., 1889, pp. 36-37.
James Grant Wilson, The Memorial History of the City of New York from Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Vol. II, New York: New York History Company, 1892, p. 452 and note 1.
With a good picture of the Rhinelander Sugar House. A picture of Livingston’s Sugar House is found, ibidem, p. 457.
I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island: 1498-1909, Vol. IV, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1922, p. 790 (anno 1769); cf. Vol. V, 1926, pp. 1234 (1789); 1699 (Febr. 4, 1831).
Henry Collins Brown, Book of Old New York. New York: Privately printed, 1913.
Opposite p. 308, a good photograph of the Rhinelander Sugar House.
Will Parmiter Kent, The Story of Libby Prison: Also Some Perils and Sufferings of Certain of Its Inmates. Second edition. Chicago, Ill.: The Libby Prison War Museum Association [1890].
Profusely illustrated. On the cover pictures of Libby Prison “as it was” and “as it is.”
[Anonymous], Libby Prison War Museum: Catalogue and Program. Chicago: Libby Prison War Museum Association, [no year given]; reprinted several times.
[Anonymous], A Trip through the Libby Prison War Museum. Chicago: Libby Prison National War Museum Association, 189?.
Frank E. Moran, A Thrilling History of the Famous Underground Tunnel of Libby Prison. New York: Reprinted from the Century Magazine, 1889-1893.
F. F. Cavada, Libby Life: Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Richmond, Va., 1863-64. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1865.
Most comprehensive description with contemporary illustrations, among them a reproduction of the best contemporary engraving of Libby Prison in Richmond, Va.
Louis Palma di Cesnola, Ten Months in Libby Prison. [Pamphlet, no place, no date]. [New York, 1865].
Description of prison life in Libby prison, 1863-1864.
Isaac N. Johnston, Four Months in Libby, and the Campaign against Atlanta. Cincinnati: J. N. Johnston, 1864.
A. O. Abbott, Prison Life in the South at Richmond, Macon, Savannah, during the Years 1864 and 1865. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1865.
Description of the life in Libby Prison by a former prisoner, on pp. 22-41.
Cullen B. (“Doc”) Aubery, Recollections of a Newsboy in the Army of the Potomac, 1861-1865; His Capture and Confinement in Libby Prison. [Milwaukee, Wisc.: Doc Aubery, 1904].
Memoirs of Libby Prison and its commanders by a former prisoner of war.
United States Sanitary Commission, Narrative of Privations and Sufferings of United States Officers and Soldiers While Prisoners of War in the Hands of the Rebel Authorities. Boston: “Little’s Living Age,” 1865.
Official report of a commission of inquiry, with an appendix containing the testimony. See also Arthur C. Cole, The Irrepressible Conflict, 1850-1865 (A History of American Life, Vol. VII) (New York, 1934), pp. 322 f., 331 f.
W. S. Baker, Medallic Portraits of Washington with Historical and Critical Notes. Philadelphia: Robert M. Lindsay, 1885, pp. 150 ff., especially No. 364, p. 154.
The present bibliography has been completed on April 1, 1945.
The author wishes gratefully to acknowledge the courtesy of the American Numismatic Society (Mr. Sawyer Mc. A. Mosser, Librarian) and of the New York Historical Society (Mr. John T. Washburn, Chief of the Reading Room) in permitting him use of their collections, without which this study could never have been completed.