Prince Romerson
Prince Romerson | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1840 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry 25th United States Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | American Civil War American Indian Wars |
Prince Romerson (c. 1840 – March 30, 1872) was a
Living in the American Northeast before the war, Romerson enlisted in the
Romerson's military career shows the diverse attitudes of officers to the Native Hawaiians and people of color who served on segregated units during and shortly after the Civil War. In 2010, the Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War were commemorated with a bronze plaque erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Context
After the outbreak of the
Life
Prince Romerson was born around 1840, but little is known about his life before the war. There is no indication that his first name denotes any royal status, and his surname was often listed as "Robinson". Different versions of his enlistment records noted his birthplace as "Owyhee, Sandwich Island" (the island of Hawaii[note 1]), or "India".[6][7] There is also disagreement over his ethnicity. Some Filipino historians have claimed him as one of their own, and he is included in lists of Filipino American Civil War combatants.[8][9][10]
Romerson worked as a barber before his enlistment in 1863. It is thought that he came to the United States as a sailor aboard a merchant or whaling ship in the Pacific; Hawaiian sailors were highly regarded in the 18th- and 19th-century maritime industry and sought out as crew members.[4] Regardless, it is known that Romerson was living in New York prior to joining the Navy. Probably helped by his experience at sea, he enlisted on January 22, 1863, as a landsman in the Union Navy. He served on USS Wamsutta and USS Mercedita as part of the Blockading Squadrons, responsible for maintaining the blockade of the ports of the Confederate States.[11]
After serving in the Navy for a year, Romerson joined as a private in Company M of the
Historian Ruthanne Lum McCunn noted, "The military records of Hawaii-born Prince Romerson reveal both his service [with] the US and the diverse attitudes of officers toward people of color."[18] Romerson was quickly promoted to sergeant on June 1, 1864, possibly because he was literate.[11] Romerson fought with his regiment at the Second Battle of Petersburg and took part in the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign, better-known as the siege of Petersburg. He also served as a guard for the Union prison camp for Confederates at Camp Lookout, Maryland. Between the Union victory at Appomattox and the 5th Regiment's reassignment to Clarksville, Texas, Romerson fell ill and was sent to the Corps d'Afrique USA General Hospital in New Orleans on July 8, 1865. Never recovering sufficiently to rejoin his regiment, he was transferred to De Camp USA General Hospital, Davids Island, New York, before being mustered out on October 9, 1865.[11][15][19]
In the post-war period, Romerson sought to rejoin the military, and in 1867 he enlisted in the 39th United States Infantry Regiment at the reduced rank of private. The 39th later consolidated with the 40th to create the 25th United States Infantry Regiment. A racially segregated unit of the United States Army, its personnel were dubbed "Buffalo Soldiers" and included many Civil War veterans from colored regiments such as the 5th USCC. Romerson served in the 25th for a full three-year term fighting in the American Indian Wars along the Texas frontier. He died on March 30, 1872, possibly at Fort Griffin, where he was initially buried. On May 11, 1872, he was re-interred at the San Antonio National Cemetery.[11]
Legacy
Prince Romerson's service in the war illustrated one of the many examples of Hawaiian recruits assigned to segregated regiments and the diverse attitude towards them. McCunn noted, "Indisputable is his commitment to honorable service."[11] After the war, the military service of Hawaiians, including Prince Romerson and many others, was largely forgotten, disappearing from the collective memories of the American Civil War and the history of Hawaii. In recent years, Hawaiian residents, historians, and descendants of Hawaiian combatants in the conflict have insisted on the need to remember "our boys from Hawaii". Renewed interest in the stories of these individuals and this particular period of Hawaiian-American history has inspired efforts to preserve the memories of the Hawaiians who served in the war.[20] On August 26, 2010, on the anniversary of the signing of the Hawaiian Neutrality Proclamation, a bronze plaque was erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu recognizing these Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War, the more than 100 documented Hawaiians who served during the American Civil War for both the Union and the Confederacy.[20][21] As of 2014, researchers have identified 119 documented Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants from historical records. The exact number still remains unclear because many Hawaiians enlisted and served under anglicized pseudonyms, and little is known about them due to the lack of detailed records.[22][23][24]
In 2015, the sesquicentennial of the end of the American Civil War, the National Park Service released a publication entitled Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. It concerned the service of the large number of combatants of Asian and Pacific Islander descent who fought during the war. The history of Hawaii's involvement and the biographies of Romerson and others were written by historians Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Anita Manning and Justin Vance.[25][26]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Kuykendall 1953, pp. 57–66.
- ^ Schmitt 1998, pp. 171–172.
- ^ Manning & Vance 2014, pp. 145–170.
- ^ a b c d Vance & Manning 2012
- ^ a b Smith 2013
- ^ a b Foenander & Milligan 2015a
- ^ a b Foenander & Milligan 2015b
- ^ a b Bautista 2002, p. 241.
- ^ a b Mercene 2007, p. 47.
- ^ a b Burlingame 2008
- ^ a b c d e McCunn 2015, pp. 142–145.
- ^ Massachusetts 1933, p. 542.
- ^ "Soldier Details". National Park Service. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ^ Cox 2013, pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b Massachusetts 1933, p. 492.
- ^ Raphael-Hernandez & Steen 2006, p. 321.
- ^ Okihiro 2015, pp. 88–89.
- ^ McCunn 2015, p. 142.
- ^ Dyer 1908, p. 1240.
- ^ a b Vance & Manning 2015, pp. 161–163.
- ^ Cole 2010
- ^ Grzyb 2016, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Davis 2014.
- ^ Punaboy 2015.
- ^ Hawaiʻi Pacific University 2015.
- ^ Shively 2015, pp. 130–163.
Bibliography
- Bautista, Veltisezar B. (2002). The Filipino Americans (1763–present): Their History, Culture and Traditions. Naperville, IL: Bookhaus Publishers. OCLC 50325908.
- Cox, Christopher (2013). History of Massachusetts Civil War Regiments: Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishing. OCLC 897834743.
- OCLC 8697590.
- Grzyb, Frank L. (2016). The Last Civil War Veterans: The Lives of the Final Survivors, State by State. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. OCLC 934885367.
- OCLC 47010821.
- Manning, Anita; Vance, Justin W. (2014). "Hawaiʻi at Home During the American Civil War". Hawaiian Journal of History. 47. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 145–170. OCLC 60626541.
- Massachusetts. Adjutant General's Office (1933). Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War. Vol. VI. Norwood, MA: Norwood Press. OCLC 11485612.
- Mercene, Floro L. (2007). Manila Men in the New World: Filipino Migration to Mexico and the Americas from the Sixteenth Century. Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. OCLC 154714440.
- Okihiro, Gary (2015). American History Unbound: Asians and Pacific Islanders. Oakland: University of California Press. OCLC 914255697.
- Raphael-Hernandez, Heike; Steen, Shannon (2006). AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics. New York: New York University Press. p. 321. OCLC 181536004.
- Schmitt, Robert C. (1998). "Hawaiʻi's War Veterans and Battle Deaths". Hawaiian Journal of History. 32. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 171–174. OCLC 60626541.
- Shively, Carol A., ed. (2015). "Pacific Islanders and the Civil War". Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. Washington, DC: National Park Service. pp. 130–163. OCLC 904731668.
- McCunn, Ruthanne Lum. "Prince Romerson". In Shively (2015), pp. 142–145.
- Vance, Justin; Manning, Anita. "The Impact of the Civil War on the Kingdom of Hawaii". In Shively (2015), pp. 161–163.
- Vance, Justin W.; Manning, Anita (October 2012). "The Effects of the American Civil War on Hawai'i and the Pacific World". World History Connected. 9 (3). Champaign: University of Illinois.
- Newspapers and online sources
- Burlingame, Burl (August 26, 2008). "Reviving History". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu.
- Cole, William (May 31, 2010). "Native Hawaiians served on both sides during Civil War". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Honolulu. Archived from the original on February 17, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- Davis, Chelsea (October 26, 2014). "Hawaiian Civil War soldier finally recognized". Hawaii News Now.
- Foenander, Terry; Milligan, Edward; et al. (March 2015). "Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Civil War" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- Foenander, Terry; Milligan, Edward; et al. (March 2015). "Hawaiians in the Civil War" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- Hawaiʻi Pacific University (July 15, 2015). "HPU partners with National Park Service, Hawaii Civil War Round Table for July 17 talk". HPU News. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015.
- Punaboy (June 20, 2015). "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War". Aloha Valley. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- Smith, Jeffrey Allen (August 13, 2013). "The Civil War and Hawaii". The New York Times: Opinionator. New York.
Further reading
- Kam, Ralph Thomas (2009). "Commemorating the Grand Army of the Republic in Hawaiʻi: 1882–1930". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 43. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 125–151. OCLC 60626541.
- Moniz, Wayne (2014). Pukoko: A Hawaiian in the American Civil War. Wailuku, HI: Pūnāwai Press. ISBN 978-0-9791507-4-6.
- Rogers, Charles T., ed. (January 1884). "Hawaii's Contribution to the War for the Union". The Hawaiian Monthly. Vol. 1, no. 1. Honolulu: Printed at the Hawaiian Gazette Office. pp. 2–4. OCLC 616847011.
External links
- "Enlistment Records for Prince Romerson". Civil War Compiled Service Records. Washington, DC: The National Archives and Records Administration. 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- "Hawaiʻi Sons of The Civil War: A Documentary Film". Hawaiʻi Sons of The Civil War. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2016.