What is the importance of Ship Island in the poetry collection, Native Guard?

Ship Island, located off the southern coast of Mississippi, was a prominent location during the Civil War and served as the home for Fort Massachusetts, a fort where the Union army held Confederate prisoners of war captive. It was primarily manned by members of the Native Guard, the Union’s legions of black soldiers, many of whom were former slaves. In the present, as described in “Elegy for the Native Guards” the island is a tourist destination commemorating the Confederate soldiers who were held there and offering no memorialization for the black soldiers who lived and died there.