USA > New York > Kings County > Revolutionary incidents of Suffolk and Kings Counties; with an account of the Battle of Long Island and the British prisons and prison-ships at New York > Part 18
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Revolutionary incidents of Suffolk and Kings Counties; with an account of the Battle of Long Island and the British prisons and prison-ships at New York > Part 18
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ence of America.
ui bo With hearts full of duty and acknowledgment to the Su- preme Director of all human events, and with the most pro- found respect for your Excellency, we beg leave to" present onidohobod ods ai los frasu bludy oder you' our sincere" congratulations, on this glorious and ever Jos of staw oder bogandoxe ed, birgita atponto Inihm memorable era, of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America, sanctioned by the Definitive 01 DIon HI 000.99 Treaty, and the evacuation of the city of N. Y. your Ex- cellency's entry into which, with his Excellency Gov, Clin- ton, was with such dignity, order, and regulation, as will re- -dound to the lasting honorpof your Ekcellenbyy be revered by foreign powers, and certainly obtain the affection of many whose sentiments are averse to that liberty which with the divine assistance your Excellency has"so 1818 happily acquired "for ushin Dui unfeigned prayers will ever be for your health and happiness, whether you retire to the private paths of
I vod groede peace, or hereafter may be called to move in the busy scenes of war, in the defence of your country. With sincere af- fection, equal duty and respect, we humbly beg leave to
203
KINGS COUNTY.
subscribe ourselves, in behalf of the freeholders and inhabit- ants aforesaid.b giow af :Your Excellency's very obedient, !;
andevery humble servants; #:
Philip Nagel, Jeremias Vanderbelt, Cornelius Wykoff,
Johannes Bergen,
Barent Lefferts: fsil Abraham Luquer,
John Titus, Abraham Voorhies, Elias Hubbard,
min Ri Van Bruntpobun Stephen Van Voorhies, Adnan Van Brunt,
Johannes Covenhoven.
To which His Excellency was pleased to return the following answer : .IdmoesA lo oapoll edt .noHI ofT .8
ytradi [ to pane odt of sonod bon vinegary e. To the FREEHOLDERS, AND, INHABITANTS of Kings Co., on Nassau Island, in the State of New- York, who are .80102 190 0J 2001500I 1979 90 SOIT9MAI attached to the freedom and independence of America.
GENTLEMEN :-
to arWWhile you speak the language of my heart,in acknowledging the magnitude of our obligations to the Supreme Director ofall hu- man events suffer me to join you in the celebration of the present glorious and ever memorable i era, and to return my best thanks for your kind expressions in my;favor a I cannot but rejoicersincerely, that the national dignity, and glory will be greatly increased, in; conse- quence of the good order and regularity which has prevailed univer- sally, since the city of N. V. has been repossessed by usin This con- duct exhibits to the world a noble instance of magnanimity, and will doubtless convince any who, from ignorance or prejudice, may have been of a different sentiment, that the laws do govern, and that the civil magistrates are worthy of the highest respect and confidence. For my own part, Gentlemen, in whatever situation of life I shall be hereafter, my supplications will ever ascend to heaven for the pros- perity of my country in general, and for the individual happiness of those who are attached to the freedom and independence of America.
GEO. WASHINGTON.
N. Y., Dec. 1, '83.
Celebration of the Peace at Bushwick, Dec. 2, 1783.
The day was ushered in by hoisting the American flag, and fir- ing a salute : an ox was roasted, and an entertainment provided to welcome their brethren, who have suffered seven years' exile, and
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CELEBRATION OF PEACE.
who have sacrificed their all at the shrine of liberty. After they had all partook of the feast, the following toasts were drank, attended by a salute, huzzaing, and music.
1. The United States of America.
2. His most Christian Majesty.
3. The States of Holland.
4. May the State of N. Y. be entirely abandoned by her enemies.
5. His Excellency Gov. Clinton.
6. His Excellency Gen'l Washington.
7. The Hon. the Council.
8. The Hon. the House of Assembly.
9. Prosperity and honor to the sons of Liberty.
10. May the memory of those who have fallen in the cause of America, be ever precious to her sons.
11. A free and extensive trade.
12. Success to agriculture.
13. As the roaring of a lion is to animals, so may the frowns of America be to princes.
The day was spent in the greatest good humor, decency, and de- corum. Every countenance displayed in the most lively manner, the joy and gratitude of their hearts upon this most happy and important event ; and what added to the cheerfulness of the day, was the once more beholding the metropolis of this State, emerging from that scene of ruin and distress, which it has severely experienced, during the late contest, from a cruel, unrelenting, and insulting foe.
INCIDENTS
OF THE
BRITISH PRISONS AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
10
" Let the dark SCORPION's hulk narrate The dismal tale of English hate ; Her horrid scenes let JERSEY tell, And mock the shades where demons dwell: There shrieks of pain, and dying groan, Unheeded fell on ears of stone."
J. M. SCOTT.
BRITISH PRISONS AND PRISON-SHIPS.
British Prisons in New- York, during the Revolutionary War.
[The British took possession of New-York, Sept. 15, 1776; and the capture of Fort Washington, Nov. 16, threw nearly 2700 pris- oners in their power. To these must be added over 1000 taken at the battle of Brooklyn, and such private citizens as were arrested for their political principles in the vicinity of New-York city and on Long Island : and we may safely conclude that Sir William Howe had at least 5000 prisoners to provide for. The sudden influx of so many prisoners, the recent capture of the city, and the unlooked for conflagration of a fourth part of it, threw his affairs into such con- fusion, that, from those circumstances alone, the prisoners must have suffered much, from want of food and other bodily comforts; but there was superadded the studied cruelty of Capt. Cunningham, the Provost Marshal, and his deputies, and the criminal negligence of Sir Wm. Howe. To contain such a vast number of prisoners, the or- dinary places of confinement were insufficient. Accordingly the Brick Church, the Middle Dutch and the North Dutch Churches were appropriated to their use. Besides these, Columbia College, the Sugar House, the New Jail, the new Bridewell, and the Old City Hall, were filled to their utmost capacity.
Till within a few years, the Sugar House stood in Liberty-street, south of the Middle Dutch Church, a dark stone building, with small deep, port-hole looking windows, rising tier above tier, exhibiting a dungeon-like aspect. It was five stories high; and each story was divided into two dreary apartments. On the stones and bricks in the wall were to be seen initials and dates, as if done with a prisoner's penknife or nail. There was a strong, jail-like door opening on
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
Liberty-street, and another on the southeast, descending into a dis- mal cellar, also used as a prison. There was a walk nearly broad enough for a cart to travel around it, where, night aad day, two British or Hessian guards walked their weary rounds. The yard was surrounded by a close board fence, nine feet high. " In the suffo- cating heat of summer," says Wm. Dunlap, " I saw every narrow aperture of those stone walls filled with human heads, face above face, seeking a portion of the external air." While the jail-fever was raging, in the summer of 1777, the prisoners were let out, in com- panies of 20, for half an hour at a time, to breathe fresh air ; and in- side they were so crowded, that they divided their numbers into squads of 6 each. No. 1 stood ten minutes as close to the window as they could crowd, and then No. 2 took their places ; and so on. Seats there were none ; and their beds were but straw, intermixed with vermin. For many weeks the dead-cart visited the prison every morning, into which eight to twelve corpses were flung and piled up, like sticks of wood, and dumped into ditches in the outskirts of the city.
The North Dutch Church, corner of William and Fulton-streets, · was made to hold 800 prisoners ; its pews were ripped out, and used for fuel probably ; its mahogany pulpit was sent to London, and put in a chapel there, and a floor laid across from one gallery to the other. Bayonet marks are yet discernible on the pillars ; and those walls, that had reverberated with the praises of the Most High, now resounded with curses and blasphemy.
The Middle Dutch Church (now the Post Office) was at first used as a prison. Mr. John Pintard (an assistant to his uncle Lewis Pintard, who was appointed by Congress to look after the prisoners) says, "In the Middle Dutch Church the prisoners taken on Long Island and at Fort Washington, sick, wounded and well, were all indiscriminately huddled togother, by hundreds and thousands ; large numbers of whom died by disease-and many undoubtedly poisoned by inhuman attendants, for the sake of their watches or silver buckles." Soon afterwards it was turned into a riding-school, to train dragoon horses. The floor was taken up, and the ground covered with tan bark. A pole ran across the middle, for the horses to leap over. The glass was taken from the windows, and the shutters unhung. The church was left in this ruinous condition till 1790, when we read in Greenleaf's Paper of July 6th, that " On Sunday last, the new Dutch Church was re-dedicated to the King of kings. The Rev.
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
Dr. Livingston preached from Ex. xx. 24. It had been prostituted to horse-schooling while the British had possession of the city, thus turning the House of God into a den of thieves."
The Brick Church (Dr. Spring's] was at first a prison, but soon it, and the Presbyterian Church in Wall-street, the Scotch Church [Dr. Mason's], in Cedar-street, and the Friends' Meeting House, were converted into hospitals. At the Peace, in 1783, there was no Presbyterian church fit to preach in, so that Dr. Rogers delivered his famous Thanksgiving Sermon in St. Paul's Chapel. The French Church, in Pine-street, was a storehouse for ordnance stores.
Columbia College was used as a prison only a short time, proba- bly. One of Capt. Vandyke's grenadiers saw the great fire, Sept. 21, 1776, from its windows.
The New Bridewell, between the present City Hall and Broad- way, was for a time used as a prison for American soldiers. Oliver Woodruff, who recently died at the age of 90, was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, and has left the following record of his confine- ment here :- " We were marched to New-York, and went into differ- ent prisons-816 went into the New Bridewell, I among the rest ; some into the Sugar House; others into the Dutch Church. On Thursday morning they brought us a little provision, which was the first morsel we got to eat or drink after eating our breakfast on Sat- urday morning. We never drew as much provision for three days' allowance as a man would eat at a common meal. I was there three months during that inclement season, and never saw any fire, except what was in the lamps of the city. There was not a pane of glass in the windows, and nothing to keep out the cold except the iron grates."
The old City Hall stood on the site of the present Custom House, and was converted into a guard-house for the main guard of the city. It had dungeons and prisons below ; and a court-room on the second floor, where the refugee clergy preached during the latter part of the war. At first, civil offenders were confined here ; but subsequently whaleboatmen and robbers.
The New Jail, or "the Provost [now the Hall of Records] was destined," says Pintard, " for the more notorious rebels, civil, naval and military. An admission into this modern bastile, was enough to appal the stoutest heart. On the right hand of the main door was Capt. Cunningham's quarters ; opposite to which was the guard-room
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
Within the first barricade was Sergeant O'Keefe's apartment. At the entrance door two sentinels were always posted, by day and night. Two more at the 1st and 2d barricades, which were grated, barred and chained ; also, at the rear door, and on the platform at the grated door, at the foot of the second flight of steps, leading to the rooms and cells in the second and third stories. When a prisoner, escorted by soldiers, was led into the hall, the whole guard was paraded, and he was delivered over with all formality to Capt. Cunningham or his deputy, and questioned as to his name, rank, size, age, &c., all of which were entered in a record book. What with the bristling of arms, unbolting of bars and locks, clanking of enormous iron chains, and a vestibule dark as Erebus, the unfortunate captive might well shrink under this infernal sight and parade of tyrannical power, as he crossed the threshold of that door which possibly closed on him for life. The northeast chamber, turning to the left, on the second floor, was appropriated to officers, and characters of superior rank, and was called Congress Hall. So closely were they packed, that when they lay down at night to rest, when their bones ached on the hard oak planks, and they wished to turn, it was altogether by word of command, " right-left," being so wedged as to form almost a solid mass of human bodies. In the day-time the packs and blankets of the prisoners were suspended around the walls, every precaution be- ing used to keep the rooms ventilated, and the walls and floors clean, to prevent jail-fever, and as the Provost was generally crowded with American prisoners or British culprits of every description, it is really wonderful that infection never broke out within its walls. In this gloomy abode were incarcerated at different periods, many American officers and citizens of distinction, awaiting with sickening hope, the protracted period of their liberation. Could these dumb walls speak, what scenes of angush might they not disclose ! The Captain and his Deputy were enabled to fare sumptuously, by dint of curtailing the prisoners' rations, exchanging good for bad provisions, and other embezzlements. In the drunken orgies that usually terminated his dinners, Cunningham would order the rebel prisoners to turn out and parade for the amusement of his guests, pointing them out : " this is the d-d rebel, Col. Ethan Allen," "that is a rebel judge," &c.
The other prisons were cleared at or before the close of hostili- ties, but the Provost and Old City Hall were continued as prisons till Evacuation Day. "I was in New-York, Nov. 26th," says Gen.
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
Johnson, " and at the Provost about ten o'clock, A. M.,-a few British criminals were yet in custody, and O'Keefe threw his ponderous bunch of keys on the floor and retired,-when an American guard relieved the British guard, which joined a detachment of British troops, then on parade in Broadway, and marched down to the Battery, where they embarked for England."]-Ed.
Robt. Troup, late Lt. in Col. Lasher's battalion, says he, Lt. Ed. Dunscomb, Adj. Hoogland, and two volunteers were made prisoners by a detachment of British troops, 3 o'clock A. M., Aug. 27, "76. They were carried before the Generals, interrogated and threatened to be hung. Thence they were led to a house near Flatbush. At 9 A. M., they were led in rear of the army to Bedford. 18 officers taken that morning were confined in a small soldiers' tent for two nights and near three days-it raining most of the time ; 60 privates also had but one tent, while at Bedford the Provost Marshall, Cun- ningham, brought with him a negro with a halter, telling them the negro had already hung several, and he imagined he would hang some more. . The negro & C., also insulted the prisoners, showing them the halter, and with the officers and soldiers calling them rebels, scoundrels, robbers, murderers, &c. From Bedford they were led to Flatbush, and confined a week in Mr. Leffert's house, on short allowance of biscuit and salt pork. Several Hessian soldiers took pity on them, and gave them apples, and once fresh beef. From Flatbush, after a week, he with 70 or 80 officers, was put on board a snow lying between Gravesend and the Hook, without bedding or blankets, afflicted with lice and other vermin, soap and fresh water for washing, being refused them. They drank and cooked with filthy water brought from England. The Captain charged a very large commission for purchasing necessaries for them with the money they procured from their friends. From the snow, after 6 weeks, (Oct. 17,) they were carried to N. Y., and confined in a house near Bridewell. At first, they were not allowed any fuel, and afterwards, only a little coal for 3 days in the week. Provisions dealt out very negligently, scanty and of bad quality ; and from the bad health of the prisoners, most would have died had they not been supported by poor people and common prostitutes, who took pity on them. Shortly after the capture of Fort Washington, the above prisoners were al- lowed to walk about the city .- Nearly one half of the prisoners taken on L. I., have died. The privates being treated with great
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
inhumanity, without fuel or the common necessaries of life, and were obliged to obey the calls of nature in their places of confinement.
Cor. 411.
The British hung no one of the prisoners of Aug. 27, but played the fool by making them ride with a rope around their necks, seated on coffins, to the gallows. Otho H. Williams, was treated so.
Thatcher, p. 77.
Adolph Myer, late of Col. Lasher's bat., says he was taken by the British, at Montresor's Island .- They threatened twice to hang him, and had a rope fixed to a tree. He was led to Gen. Howe's quarters, (Jas. Beekman's) near Turtle Bay, who ordered him pin- ioned. He was confined 4 days on bread and water, in the condemned hole of the New Jail, without bedding or straw. He was next put in the College, and then in the New Dutch Church, whence he es- caped, Jan. 24, '77. He was treated with great inhumanity, and would have died, had he not been supported by his friends. The allowance was one loaf for 6 days, of the bread left on the evacua- tion of N. Y., (and which had been made for an allowance of 3 days), one quart of pease, half a pint of rice, and one and a half pounds of pork, for 6 days. Many prisoners died from want, and others were reduced to such wretchedness as to attract the compassion of com- mon prostitutes, from whom they received considerable assistance. No care was taken of the sick, and if any died, they were thrown at the door of the prison, and lay there till next day, when they were put on a cart and drawn out to the intrenchments, beyond the Jews' burial ground, when they were interred by their fellow-prisoners, conducted thither for that purpose. The dead were thrown into a hole promiscuously, without the usual rites of sepulture. Myer was frequently enticed to enlist. Cor. 412.
Gaine, Nov. 25, '76. There are now 5,000 prisoners in town, many of them half naked. Congress desert the poor wretches- have sent them neither provisions nor clothing, nor paid attention to their distress, or that of their families. Their situation must have been doubly deplorable, but for the humanity of the King's officers. Every possible attention has been given, considering their great numbers and necessary confinement, to alleviate their distress arising from guilt, sickness and poverty.
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
Sergeant Hubert offers a reward for three prisoners who broke from New Jail.
N. London, Nov, 8, "76. Yesterday arrived E. Thomas, captured Sep. 1, carried to N. Y., and put on board the Chatham. He es- caped Wednesday se'nnight.
Nov. 20, '76. American officers (prisoners on parole) were walking about the streets, but soldiers were closely confined and had but half allowance, sickly and died fast.
N. London, Nov. 29, "76. A cartel arrived here for exchange of seamen only. Prisoners had miserable confinement in store-ships and transports, suffering for want of the common necessaries of life.
Whitby Prison ship, N. Y., Dec. 9, "76. Our present situation is most wretched ; more than 250 prisoners, some sick, and without the least assistance from physician, drug or medicine, and fed on two- thirds allowance of salt provisions, and crowded promiscuously with- out regard to color, person or office, in the small room of a ship be- tween decks, allowed to walk the main deck only from sunrise to sunset. Only 2 at a time allowed to come on deck to do what na- ture requires, and sometimes denied even that, and use tubs and buckets between decks, to the great offence of every delicate cleanly person, and prejudice of all our healths. Lord Howe has liberated all in the merchant service, but refuses to exchange those taken in arms but for like prisoners. Trumbull Papers, p. 76.
Lt. Catlin, taken Sep. 15, '76, confined with no sustenance, for 48 hours ; for 11 days, had only 2 days' allowance, pork offensive to the smell, bread hard, mouldy and wormy, made of canail and dregs of flax seed ; water brackish, I have seen $1,50 given for a com- mon pail full ; 3 or 4 lbs. of poor Irish pork were given to 3 men for 3 days. In one church were 850 prisoners, for near 3 months. About Dec. 25, he with 225 men put on board the Glasgow, at N. Y., to be carried to Con't, for exchange. They were aboard 11 days, and kept on coarse broken bread and less pork than before, and had no fire for sick or well, crowded between decks, and 28 died through ill usage and cold. Hist. Litchfield, p. 39.
N. Y., Dec. 26, '76. " The distress of the prisoners cannot be communicated by words, 20 or 30 die every day, they lie in heaps unburied ; what numbers of my countrymen have died by cold and
10*
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
hunger, perished for want of the common necessaries of life! I have seen it. This, sir, is the boasted British clemency ! I myself had well nigh perished under it. The New England people can have no idea of such barbarous policy, nothing can stop such treat- ment but retaliation. I ever despised private revenge, but that of the public must be in this case both just and necessary ; it is due to the manes of our murdered countrymen, and that alone can protect the survivors in the like situation. Rather than experience again their barbarity and insults, may I fall by the sword of the Hessians."
S. Young says, Dec. 15, '76, he was taken at Fort Washington, and with 500 was kept in a stable, and had no provisions till Monday night, when the enemy threw in the stable, in a confused manner, as if to so many hogs, a quantity of biscuit in crumbs, mostly mouldy, and some crawling with maggots, which the prisoners were obliged to scramble for without any division. Next day they had a little pork, which they were obliged to eat raw. Afterwards they got sometimes a bit of pork, at other times biscuit, peas and rice. They were confined two weeks in a church, where they suffered greatly with cold, not being allowed fire. Insulted by soldiers, women, and even negroes. Great numbers died, three, four or more sometimes a day. Afterwards they were carried on board a ship, where 500 were confined below deck. Hinman, p. 134.
W. D. says the prisoners were roughly used at Harlem, on their way from Ft. Washington to N. York, where 800 were stowed in the New Bridewell, which was a cold open house, the windows not glazed. They had not one mouthful from early Saturday morning, till Monday, rations for three days were a half pound of biscuit, half pound pork, half pint peas, half gill rice, half ounce of butter,-the whole enough for one good meal-and defrauded in this petty al- lowance ;- no straw or hay to lie on-no fuel but one cartload per week for the 800 men. At9 o'clock in the evening the Hessian guards would come in and put out the fire, and lay on the poor prisoners with heavy clubs, for sitting round the fire ; water very bad as well as bread except once, good biscuit, and once good baker's bread. Prisoners died like rotten sheep, with cold, hunger and dirt, and those who had good apparel, such as buckskin breeches, or good coats, were necessitated to sell them to purchase bread to keep themselves alive.
Lt. Col. Selah Hart. presented to the Assembly of Connecticut
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
the petition of 38 Continental officers, prisoners on parole on L. I., for hard money. They had been there from Sep., "76, to May, "77. Hinman, p. 277.
This may inform those who have friends in N. Y., prisoners of war, that Maj. Wells, a prisoner, has come thence to Conn. on parole, to collect hard money for the much distressed and suffering officers and soldiers there, and desires the money may be left at landlord Bett's, Norwalk; Capt. Benjamin's, Stratford ; landlord Beer's, N. Haven ; Hezekiah Wylly's, Hartford; and at said Wells's, Colchester, with proper accounts from whom received, and to whom to be delivered. N. B .- The letters must not be sealed, nor contain any thing of a political nature.
Conn. Paper, Dec. 6, "76.
John Rapalje and Miles Sherbrook, prisoners in Conn., (who had been sent there by Washington, Aug. "76, as disaffected persons) drew a letter of credit for £500, in favor of Maj. Levi Wells, for the use of the Continental troops, then in captivity in N. Y., Dec. 13, '76. [They owed this money probably for board. John Ra- palje, with Jas. Coggswell, had been seized while on his way with sheep for Howe's army.]
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