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 21
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 21
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New- York, September 1st, 1845.
JNO. MANLEY.
Wm. Burke says (N. Y., May, 1808) that he was a prisoner in the Jersey 14 months ; has known many American prisoners put to death by the bayonet. It was the custom for but one prisoner at a time to go on deck. One night while many prisoners were assem- bled at the grate at the hatchway to obtain fresh air, and waiting their turn to go on deck, a sentinel thrust his bayonet down among them, and 25 next morning were found to be dead. This was the case several mornings, when sometimes 5, sometimes 6, and some- times 8 or 10, were found dead by wounds thus received.
Ilist. of the Martyrs, p. 89.
11*
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
N. London, Jan. 30, '81. Thirty American prisoners came in a flag from N. Y. They left 170 in the prison-ship sick, and 200 in another ship ; 7 or 8 died every 24 hours.
The Scorpion, Hunter, Strombolo, and Jersey, were all prison- ships at the same time within 7 months. Feb. 4, '81. An old 64 gun ship is used for the reception of prisoners ; 2 or 3 of each rank allowed to go ashore to buy provisions. The Strombolo, from Aug. 21 to Dec. 10, '81, had never less than 150 prisoners on board ; oft- ener over 200.
Gaine, Feb. 12, '81.
Capt. Cahoon, with 4 others, escaped from the prison-ship to L. 1. in a boat, March 8, notwithstanding they were fired on from the prison and hospital ships, and pursued by guard-boats from three in the afternoon till seven in the evening. He left 200 prisoners in N. Y.
Conn. Jour., Mar. 22, '81.
Chatham, May 9, '81. Our prisoners are allowed only 6 oz. flour and same quantity of pork (often very bad) per day. They took 250 prisoners out of prison-ship and put them on board a man-of- war.
1100 French and American prisoners died last winter.
Conn. paper, May, '81.
Extract of a letter dated on board the Jersey (vulgarly called HELL) PRISON SHIP, New-York, Aug. 10, 1781.
" There is nothing but death or entering into the British service before me. Our ship's company is reduced to the small number (by death and entering into the British service) of 19. There is a par- tial cartel arrived and brought 11 prisoners, and the names of so many [American prisoners to be exchanged] as makes up that num- ber, sent from Boston by somebody ; and d-n the villain that trades that way, though there is many such in Boston, that are making widows and fatherless children ; a curse on them all. The Commis- sary told us one and all, to the number of 400 men, that the whole fault lays on Boston, and we might all be exchanged, but they never cared about us. I am not able to give you even the outlines of my exile ; but thus much I will inform you, that we bury 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 men every day: we have 200 more sick and falling sick every day ; the sickness is the yellow fever, small-pox, and in short every thing else that can be mentioned. I had almost forgotten to tell you that our morning's salutation is, ' Rebels! turn out your dead!' "
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
Chatham, N. J., Sep. 5,'81. There has been an entire exchange of all our prisoners. They received 1 lb. flesh, 2 lbs. bread, (often very bad,) and a pint of rice per man, for 3 days. The prison- ers taken at Ft. Griswold were confined in the Sugar House. See Barber's Conn., p. 287, 309 .- Sep. 11, '81. All our prisoners here left the Sugar House. Courant.
Fishkill, Nov. 1, '81. A number of officers returned on Mon- day from a tedious captivity on L. I., by way of N. Jersey.
N. London, Nov. 17, '81. A flag of truce returned here from N. Y. with 132 prisoners, with the rest of those carried off by Ar- nold. They are chiefly from the prison ships, and some from the Sugar House, and are mostly sick. (Names of sick and dead fol- low.)
Dec. 14, '81. A Flag from White Stone, waited 10 days, and re- turned without answer or prisoners. Conn. paper.
Alex. Coffin, jr., was put in the Jersey in '82, where he found 1100 prisoners in a most deplorable situation. Every spark of hu- manity had fled the breast of British officers. "You d-d rebellious Yankee rascals," was common language. In winter many prison- ers had scarcely clothes to cover their nakedness. To keep warm they stayed below, lay in their hammocks and kept in constant mo- tion-fed with putrid beef and pork and worm-eaten bread; the scent of the water would have discomposed the olfactory nerves of a Hotten- tot. Hogs were fed on deck, and the prisoners would scoop bran from the troughs with their tin pots. A second time he went in the Jersey, Feb. and March, '83, and though absent but a few months, he found more prisoners than he had left-but four of his former fellow-pri- soners ; some had got away, but most had died. There were so many prisoners in the Jersey, that 2 or 300 were sent aboard the John, Transport, converted into a prison-ship. Treatment here much worse ; for a month no fire to cook food ; thinks prisoners were poisoned. One Gavot of R. I. died, (as was supposed,) and being sewed up in his hammock, was carried on deck-the hammock moved. A seaman said that man is not dead, the officer replied, " in with him ; if he is not dead, he soon will be." The hammock was, however, ripped open, and the man alive! revived perhaps by a dash of rain during the night. Hist. of Martyrs, p. 28, 37.
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
N. London, Jan. 4, '82. 130 prisoners landed here from N. Y., Dec. 3d, in most deplorable condition ; great part since dead, and the survivors so debilitated, that they will drag out a miserable exist- ence. It is enough to melt the most obdurate heart to see these miserable objects landed at our wharves, sick and dying, and the few rags they have on, covered with vermin and their own excrements.
Philadelphia, Feb. 20, '82. Many of our unfortunate prisoners on board the prison-ships in the East River, have perished during the late extreme weather, for want of fuel and other necessaries.
N. London, May 3, '82. 1000 of our countrymen remain in prison-ships at N. Y., a great part in close confinement for 6 months past, and in a most deplorable condition. 500 have died during the past five or six months, 300 sick ; many seeing no prospect of re- lease, are entering the British service to elude the contagion with which the prison-ships are fraught.
The sloop Chance was taken to N. Y., May 15, '82. Of 57 men, 17 died in 7 weeks ; 8 in the hospital ; 25 arrived sick at Pro- vidence-only 3 or 4 could walk. Fishkill, Nov. 2, '80.
New-York, June 1, '82.
To ABM. SKINNER :-
SIR-His Excellency Rear Admiral Digby, has ordered me to in- form you that the very great increase of prisoners, and heat of the wea- ther, now baffles all our care and attention to keep them healthy. Five ships have been taken up for their reception, to prevent their being crowded, and a great number permitted to go on parole. In winter and during cold weather, they lived comfortably, being fully supplied with warm clothing, blankets, &c., purchased with the money I collected from the charitable of the city ; but now the weather requires a fresh supply, something light and suitable for the season, for which you will be pleased to make the necessary provision, as it is impossible for them to be healthy in the rags they now wear, without a single shift of cloth- ing to keep them clean. DAVID SPROAT.
To David Sproat.
New York, June 9, 1782.
SIR :- From the present situation of the American naval prison- ers on board your prison-ships, I am induced to propose to you the exchange of as many of them as I can give you British naval prisoners for, leaving the balance already due you to be paid when in our
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
power. (Upwards of 1300 naval prisoners have been sent more than we have received.) We are unable, at present, to give you seamen for seamen, and thereby relieve the prison-ships of their ·
dreadful burden ; but it ought to be remembered, that there is a large balance [Sproat says only 245 .- Ed.] of British soldiers due the U. S. since February last, and we may be disposed to place the British soldiers in our possession, in as disagreeable a situation as these men are, on board the prison-ships.
ABM. SKINNER.
[Sproat replies, June 9, and refuses a partial exchange .- Ed.]
Skinner to Sproat, respecting published Letters.
Camp Highlands, Ju. 24, '82.
SIR : * * The design of the British is, by misrepresenting the state of facts with regard to exchanges, to excite jealousy in the minds of our unfortunate seamen, that they are neglected by their countrymen, that all the miseries they are now suffering, arise from want of inclination in Gen. W. to exchange them when he has the power ; in hopes by this insinuation and by the severity you make use of in confining them in the contaminated holds of prison- ships, to compel them (to avoid the dreadful alternative of almost inevitable death) to enter into the service of the King of Great Britain. I was present when Capt. Aborn and Dr. Bowen waited on Gen. Washington. He told them that exchanging seamen for soldiers, was contrary to the original agreement, which specified that officers should be exchanged for officers, soldiers for sol- diers, citizens for citizens, and seamen for seamen ; as it was con- trary to the practice of other nations, and would be contrary to the soundest policy, by giving the enemy a great and permanent strength, for which we could receive no compensation, or at best, but a partial and temporary one, he did not think it would be admissible ; but as the misery and mortality which prevailed among the naval prisoners was produced almost entirely by the mode of confinement, being closely crowded in infectious ships, (which had not been cleaned for many years,) he would write to Ad. Digby, in whose power it was to remedy the evil, by confining them on shore, or having a sufficient number of ships provided ; for it was as preposterously cruel, he said, to confine 800 men in one ship, at this sultry season, as it would be to shut up the whole army of Lord Cornwallis to perish in the new
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
jail of Philadelphia ; we had the means of retaliation in our hands, which he should not hesitate to use, by confining the land prisoners with as much severity as our seamen were held. His Ex. (W.) suffered me to go to N. Y., (see my letter, June 9th,) to examine into the ground of the suffering of the prisoners and devise some way for their liberation or relief. A balance of 495 land prisoners has been due us since Feb. '82, besides which, I believe 400 had been sent in, (not 250, as you falsely state in a note to my letter.) Not- withstanding this balance, I was then about sending in your lines, a number of land prisoners, as an equivalent for ours confined in the Sugar-house, without which I could not make interest to have them liberated. I was refused permission to visit the prison-ships, for which I can conceive no other reason than your being ashamed to have these graves of our seamen seen by one who dared to repre- sent the horrors of them to his countrymen.
Gaine, July 8, '82.
Sprout to Skinner, N. Y., June 30, '82.
When the Commissioners met at Elizabethtown, April 1st, Admiral Digby offered to exchange American scamen for British soldiers, man for man, because you had not a sufficient number of British seamen to give in exchange for your own, and because he foresaw the impossibility of keeping them healthy when the hot season came on ; but this gener- ous proposal was rejected by Washington's Commissioners. Call to mind the British sailors and soldiers cooped up in the jail at Philadel- phia, as much crowded as the prison-ships are, fed on a scanty allow- ance of dry, stinking clams, and bread and water only, to compel them to enter on board your privateers.
Six masters of vessels, captured by British cruisers, were paroled, and requested to visit the prison-ships in company with Sproat and the Surgeon, who report : That they found the prisoners as comfortable as is possible for them to be on board of ships, this season of the year, (June 22, '82), and much more so than they had any idea of ; and found all the provisions good : which survey -being made before the prisoners, they acknowledged the same, and declared they had no complaint to make, but the want of clothes and a speedy exchange : We therefore, from this Report, and from what we have all seen and know, do declare that great commendation is due His Ex. Rear Ad. Digby for his humane disposition and indulgence to the prisoners ; and to the officers and Capt. of His Majesty's prison-ship Jersey, for their attention in preserving
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
good order, having the ship kept clean and awnings spread over the whole of her, fore and aft ; to Dr. Rutherford and his mates, for their constant care and attendance on the sick, whom we found in wholesome clean ships, also covered with awnings fore and aft, every man furnished with a cradle, bed, and sheets, to lay in ; the best of fresh provisions, vegeta- bles, wine rice, barley, &c., served out to them ; and we further declare, that Mr. Sproat and the gentlemen acting under him, conscientiously do their duty with great humanity and indulgence : which testimony we freely give without constraint.
Gaine, July 1,'82.
[This Report, doubtless drawn up by Sproat, was signed merely to gratify the British authorities and with a view of obtaining liberty, for when once out of the reach of the enemy, the captains told a different story .- Ed.]
Washington to Ad. Digby.
Head-Quarters, Ju. 5, '82.
SIR :- By a parole granted to two gentlemen, Messrs. Aborn and Bowen, I perceive your excellency has granted them permission to come to me with a representation of the sufferings of the naval prisoners at N. Y. As I have no agency on naval matters, this ap- plication is made to me on mistaken grounds. But curiosity leading me to inquire into the nature and cause of their sufferings, I am in- formed that the principal complaint is, that of their being crowded, especially at this season, in great numbers, on board of foul and in- fectious prison-ships, where disease and death are almost inevitable. This circumstance, I am persuaded needs only to be mentioned to your excellency, to obtain that redress which is in your power only to afford, and which humanity so strongly prompts. If the fortune of war, sir, has thrown a number of these miserable people into your hands, I am certain your excellency's feelings for your fellow men, must induce you to proportion the ships (if they must be con- fined on board ships) to their accommodation and comfort, and not by crowding them together in a few ships, bring on disorders which consign them by half-dozens in a day to the grave. The soldiers of his Britannic Majesty, prisoners with us, were they to be equally crowded together in close and confined prisons, at this season, would be exposed to equal loss and misery.
Digby replies, (N. Y., Ju. 8,) that if Washington's feelings are like his, he will not hesitate one moment relieving both the British and Americans suffering under confinement. Gaine, July 8, '82.
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
N. London, June 21, '82. Sir Guy Carlton has visited all the prison-ships at N. Y., minutely examined into the situation of the prisoners, and expressed his intention of having them better provided for. They were to be landed on Blackwell's Island in the daytime, during the hot season.
A Cartel returned to Stonington with 40 naval prisoners from N. Y. Many are sick with the prison fever and small-pox.
N. London, July 26, '82.
Aug. 15, '82. We are now prisoners with the British, some in the New Jail or Provost, some in the Jersey ship, some in the Fal- mouth, others in the brig Lord Dunluce, and others on Blackwell's Island. Though Mr. Sproat furnishes us with the King's allow- ance of choice beef, pork and bread, yet we suffer for many things [not in the province of the Commissary] such as money and clothing, but most of all, our dear liberty. Let us urge our friends to think seriously of our situation and get us exchanged. We are well supplied with medicines and good doctors, yet so many of us are to- gether this season, we are sickly, and many die. We must first look to our parents, and connections, then to our employers, Captains and friends, urging their doing every thing to get our releasement-do not mind the expense .- (100 signers.) Conn. Gaz.
Letter from a Privateer Officer on board the Jersey.
Nov. 9, '82. The deplorable condition I am in, cannot be ex- pressed. The Capts., Lts. and sailing-masters are gone to the Pro- vost, but they have only got out of the frying pan into the fire. I am left here with about 700 miserable objects, eaten up with lice, and daily taking fevers which carry them off fast.
Jan. 29, '83. Carlton, in his great clemency, has paroled near 100 marine prisoners, 60 of whom came to Elizabethtown.
Boston, March 17, '83. By cartel from N. Y. we learn the ene- my have burnt their prison-ship and set the prisoners on shore.
Soldiers' cribs, boards, &c., for sale at the Brick Meeting, and Friend's Meeting, Queen-St. Gaine, Nov. 12, '83.
Riv., Aug. 16, '83. For sale, the Hulls of the " Perseverance and Bristol Packet," Prison Hospital Ships, as they now lie at the Wallebocht.
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
Fishkill, May 8, '83. To all Printers of public Newspapers.
Tell it to the world, and let it be published in every Newspaper throughout America, Europe, Asia and Africa, to the everlasting dis- grace and infamy of the British King's commanders at New-York : That during the late war, it is said, 11,644 American prisoners have suffered death by their inhuman, cruel, savage and barbarous usage on board the filthy and malignant British prison-ship, called the Jer- sey, lying at N. Y. Britons tremble, lest the vengeance of Heaven fall on your isle, for the blood of these unfortunate victims !
AN AMERICAN.
[The above paragraph is the original source of all the reports of the vast numbers who perished in the prison ships. What number died, cannot be even guessed at ; all is rumor and conjecture, wheth- er it was 11,500, or half that number .- Ed.]
David Sproat, Esq., formerly merchant at Philadelphia, and ap- pointed Oct. '79, Commissary of naval prisoners, died Oct. 1, 1799, at his house in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, aged 64.
Joshua Loring, formerly Com. Gen. of prisoners in North Amer- ica, died at Englefield, 1789, aged 45.
The Life, Confession, and last dying Words of Capt. Cunningham, formerly British Provost-Marshal in the City of New-York, who was executed in London, the 10th August, 1791.
I, WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, was born in Dublin Barracks, in the year 1738. My father was Trumpeter in the Blue Dragoons; and at the age of eight years I was placed with an officer as his servant, in which station I continued until I was sixteen, and being a great proficient in horsemanship, was taken as an assistant to the riding master of the troop, and in 1761, was made sergeant of dragoons ; but the peace* coming the year following, I was disbanded. Being bred to no profession, I took up with a woman who kept a gin shop, in a blind alley, near the Cole Quay, but the house being searched for stolen goods, and my doxy taken to Newgate, I thought it pru- dent to decamp ; accordingly I set off for the North, and arrived at Drogheda, where, in a few months after, I married the daughter of an exciseman, by whom I had three sons. About the year 1772, we removed to Newry, where I commenced the profession of scaw-
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INCICENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
banker, which is that of enticing mechanics and country people to ship themselves for America, on promise of great advantage, and then artfully getting an indenture upon them, in consequence of which on their arrival in America, they were sold, or obliged to serve a term of years for their passage. I embarked at Newry, in the ship Need- ham, for New-York, and arrived at that port the 4th day of August, 1774, with some indented servants I had kidnapped in Ireland ; but they were liberated in New-York, on account of the bad usage they had received from me during the passage. In that city I used the profession of breaking horses and teaching ladies and gentlemen to ride ; but, rendering myself obnoxioust to the citizens in their infant struggle for freedom, I was obliged to fly on board the Asia man-of- war, and from thence to Boston, where my own opposition to the measures pursued by the Americans in support of their rights, was the first thing that recommended me to the notice of Gen. Gage ; and when the war commenced, I was appointed Provost-Marshalį to the Royal army, which placed me in a situation to wreak my ven- geance on the Americans. I shudder to think of the murders I have been accessory to, both with and without orders from Government, es- pecially while in New- York, during which time there were more than 2000 prisoners starved in the different churches, by stopping their ra- tions, which I sold.|| There were also 275 American prisoners and obnoxious persons executed, out of all which number there were only about one dozen public executions, which chiefly consisted of British and Hessian deserters. The mode for private executions was thus conducted : a guard was dispatched from the Provost, about half past twelve at night, to the Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the upper barracks, to order the people to shut their window shutters, and put out their lights, forbidding them at the same time to presume to look out of their windows and doors on pain of death, T after which the unfortu- nate prisoners were conducted, gagged, just behind the upper barracks, and hung without ceremony, and there buried by the black pioneer of the Provost. At the end of the war, I returned to England with the army, and settled in Wales, as being a cheaper place of living than in any of the populous cities ; but being at length persuaded to go to London, I entered so warmly into the dissipations of that capital, that I soon found my circumstances much embarrassed, to relieve which I mortgaged my half pay to an army agent ; but that being soon ex-
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AND PRISON-SHIPS AT NEW-YORK.
pended, I forged a draft for £300 sterling, on the Board of Ordnance, but being detected in presenting it for acceptance, I was apprehended, tried and convicted, and for that offence am here to suffer an igno- minious death. I beg the prayers of all good Christians, and also pardon and forgiveness of God for the many horrid murders I have been accessory to.
WM. CUNNINGHAM.
[* The war against Spain began 1762, and ended the same or next year.
t Riv., Aug. 4, '74. Yesterday arrived the Needham, Capt. Chee- vers, with 300 passengers, from Newry. The times of servants of both sexes to be disposed of [to pay for their passage.]
# Riv., March 9, '75. Cunningham and John Hill went among the " Liberty boys," who seized and dragged him to the Liberty-pole, and would have forced him to go down on his knees and d-n his popish King George, had he not been rescued by the police. He had ample opportunity of avenging this affront after he was appointed Provost Marshal.
§ Wm. Jones was Gage's Provost Marshal till 1775, when his name no longer appears.
|| Common fame charges Cunningham with selling, and even poison- ing prisoners' food, exchanging good for bad provisions, and drawing their rations after death, or as they worded it : " He fed the dead and starved the living." It was not till the spring of 1783, that a monthly list of prisoners was printed in Rivington's Gazette.
T In Watson's Annals of New-York, it is stated that Cunningham hung five or six of a night, and that the women of the neighborhood, pained by the prisoners' cries for mercy, petitioned Howe to have this practice discontinued.
All the dates, historical and local allusions, in this confession, as far as I know, are correct ; which would almost incline any one to put faith in the startling disclosures it makes of the secret murdering of American prisoners. The question of its genuineness can be put at rest only by referring to the London newspapers or the records of Newgate. It was printed in a Philadelphia paper towards the close of 1791, (about the time it would probably reach there from England,) and is spoken of as just received from London, and " is authentic." Thence it was copied into the Boston papers, but does not appear to have attracted much at- tention .- Ed.]
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INCIDENTS OF THE BRITISH PRISONS
Ritter, a Quaker preacher, says Cunningham, when visiting the prisons, carried his large key, and knocked any one on the head he was offended with. Ritter was often beat and bruised severely with the butt-end of his whip. Cunningham acted with peculiar bursts of passion when he had heard bad news.
There appears to have been no systematic plan of the citizens of N. Y., for relieving the prisoners. We have scattering notices of a few charitable individuals, such as the following: Mrs. Deborah Franklin was banished from N. Y., Nov. 21, '80, by the British com- mandant, for her unbounded liberality to American prisoners ; Mrs. Ann Mott was associated with Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Whilten in re- lieving the suffering of American prisoners in N. Y., during the revo- lution ; John Fillis died at Halifax, 1792, aged 68. He was kind to American prisoners in N. Y .; Jacob Watson, Penelope Hull, &c., are also mentioned.
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