Historic Pelham: More on Nathaniel Henry Bouldin Who Died in Pelham's Confederate Prisoner of War Camp

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Though it seems hard to believe today, a Confederate prisoner of war camp once stood within the Town of Pelham during the final weeks of the Civil War. The POW camp opened the very month the war ended as Union troops overran the Confederacy and sent waves of captured Rebel troops northward during the final weeks of the war.

Pelham's prison opened in early April 1865 and operated until the last Confederate prisoners were released from the facility in July 1865. Although some records misplace the location of the camp, we know that it stood on the north end of Hart Island (also known as Hart's Island) which, at the time, was part of the Town of Pelham. The northern tip of the island was a lowland area. There, lightly-constructed prison "barracks" were built. The barracks were basically open to the elements with open windows and a door on only one side of the building (to reduce avenues of possible escape from its rear).

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog provides additional research regarding one of the Confederate prisoners in the camp who died and was buried on Hart Island. His name was Nathaniel Henry Bouldin. I have a special interest in him.

Nathaniel Henry Bouldin was a Great-Great Grandfather of my wife.

I have written before, briefly, about Nathaniel Henry Bouldin. See Mon., Mar. 29, 2010: Nathaniel H. Bouldin, a Poor Confederate Prisoner of War Who Died in Pelham in 1865. Private Nathaniel Henry Bouldin, who served in Company F of the 57th Regiment Virginia Volunteers during the entire Civil War, clearly was a brave man.

Bouldin fell wounded on the field at Gettysburg during Pickett’s Charge which many consider to be the "high-water-mark" of the Confederacy. He was taken prisoner as a wounded soldier, but lived to fight again. Indeed, after a prisoner exchange, he was wounded a second time. He lived to fight again. Subsequently, he was captured at the Battle of Five Forks near Petersburg, Virginia on April 1, 1865. He was sent north to a prisoner of war camp on Hart Island in Pelham, New York in the Long Island Sound. There, Bouldin was killed by a bigger foe: disease.

Bouldin suffered “chronic diarrhea” during a cholera outbreak on Hart Island and died in De Camp General Hospital on Davids Island, just northeast of Harts Island off the shore of Pelham and New Rochelle, New York. He left behind his 35 year-old wife, Sally Ann Hundley Bouldin, and their children: George William (my wife's Great-Grandfather), John Burrel, Mary Ann, and Martha Emerline. The oldest, George, was thirteen at the time of his father's death. The youngest, Mary Ann, was not yet eight years old.

Detail from 1884 United States Coast Guard Survey

Nautical Chart No. 361 Entitled "CITY ISLAND

HARBOR LONG ISLAND SOUND" Showing Hart

Island. Note the Many Buildings on the Island, Many

of Which Were Part of the Military Training Facility

During the Civil War. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

On November 19, 1864, a popular national publication, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, published an article on the "new" Union military facilities constructed on Hart Island. Significantly, the article included several important engravings of outdoor scenes (and one indoor scene) on the island. The engravings, according to the article that accompanied them, were based on photographs of Hart Island taken by "Mr. Tyler, the well-known photographer." I have written before of these engravings, a complete set of which may be found at: Tue., Dec. 13, 2016: Rare and Stunning Images of Civil War Pelham Engraved from Photographs Taken In 1864.

"VIEW OF HART'S ISLAND."

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The engraving immediately above shows the portion of Hart Island on which the military training facility was built. In the waters on the right, in the foreground of the engraving, is a steamboat. This likely depicts the steamboat John Romer. It was the principal means of transportation to and from Hart Island at the time. According to the article published with the engravings, passengers on the John Romer traveling to Hart Island typically were packed as thickly as sardines or figs in a "figdrum." Indeed, if you pay close attention to the steamboat in the image, it is packed with passengers.

Barracks and officers' quarters appear visible on the high ground of the island in the engraving above. The prisoner of war camp was built on lowlands on Hart Island. Close inspection of the image shows that in addition to the many buildings that appear to be painted white, there are many more that appear to be of unpainted wood that, though difficult to see in the image, are scattered all over the landscape.

"HART ISLAND, NEAR NEW YORK, A STATION FOR THE

DISBANDMENT OF THE FEDERAL ARMY." 1865 Engraving

Depicting the Military Facilities on Hart Island Only Months

After the Last Confederate Prisoners Left the Island in July.

Source: The Illustrated London News, Aug. 12, 1865, Vol.

47, No. 1328, p. 128. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The prison's monthly sick reports for April, May, and June, 1865 suggest that the mean number of prisoners held in the camp was 3,031 during that three-month period. The reports further indicate that conditions were horrendous and cases of diarrhea and dysentery were rampant. Cf. Woodward, Joseph Janvier, THE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, Part II, Vol. I, p. 39 (Washington, D.C.: Gov’t Printing Office, 1879).

The men were confined in such close quarters that each had the equivalent of 102 cubic feet of air space -- the equivalent of less than five feet by five feet by six feet high. Digital images of the orders and prisoners' registers for the Confederate prisoner of war camp on Hart Island are freely available online. See FamilySearch.com, United States Records of Prisoners of War, 1861-1865: NY, Hart Island, Prison Camp - Orders, Prisoner Registers, 1865, v. 265-69 (259 pages; visited on Feb. 20, 2016).

We know from an officer's memoir published well after the War that the prison, which was located at the northern end of Hart Island, was separated from the Union camp and military facilities on the remainder of the island by a "very strong twelve-foot fence." Entrance to the prison camp was through "a very strong and massive door or gate." The entire prison facility on the north end of the island was guarded by sentries stationed on land and guards in patrol boats that patrolled the island. See Roemer, Jacob, REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 1861-1865 BY BVT.-MAJ. JACOB ROEMER, BATTERY L. SECOND N.Y. ARTILLERY, AND THIRTY-FOURTH N.Y.V.V. IND. LT. BATTERY, pp. 304-06 (Flushing, N.Y.: Estate of Jacob Roemer, 1897).

In late April, 1865, only weeks after being admitted into the POW camp, Nathaniel Henry Bouldin became violently ill with "chronic diarrhea." On April 29, he was admitted to De Camp General Hospital on nearby Davids Island off the shores of New Rochelle and Pelham. There, on May 1, 1865, he died and was buried on Hart Island the same day. He was 33 years old at the time of his death. Immediately below is an image of the Union Army's "RECORD OF DEATH AND INTERMENT" of Nathaniel Henry Bouldin.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

During the 20th Century, the remains of Nathaniel Henry Bouldin and other Confederates who died in the POW camp on Hart Island were exhumed and moved to Cyprus Hills National Cemetery. His remains are marked and are located at Cypress Hills National Cemetery, 625 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11208, Section 1, Site 2677. Immediately below is a map of the section where Nathaniel Henry Bouldin's remains rest, followed by a photograph of his gravestone and an example of one of his many muster roll records reflecting his war service.