Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - A shekara ta 1861, a farkon yakin basasa, kwamandan New York National Guard, Brigadier Janar John F. Rathbone, ya nada shi a matsayin babban jami'in likita a tashar Albany. A watan Yunin 1862, bayan yakin Savage Station
, kamar yadda Sojojin Potomac, tare da likitocinsa, suka ja da baya, Swinburne ya kasance don kula da dubban fursunonin da suka ji rauni, duka Union da Confederate. Da yake girmama matsayinsa na ƙa'ida, kwamandan Confederate Stonewall Jackson ya ba shi izinin wucewa, tare da bayanin kula na sirri, yana ba da izinin ziyarar fursunonin Union. A shekara ta 1864, Gwamna Horatio Seymour ya zabi shi a matsayin Jami'in Kiwon Lafiya na Port of New York kuma, a 1867, Gwamna Reuben Fenton ya sake zabar shi, yana aiki har tsawon shekaru shida, har zuwa 1870. A lokacin gwamnatinsa, duk da rashin son majalisar dokoki ta jihar ta ba da kudade, ya kula da gina wuraren keɓewa na zamani a kan tsibiran da aka kira Swinburne da Hoffman.