Lossing, in his Field Book of the Revolution, thus speaks of these
dens of misery: "At the fight around Fort Washington," he says, "only
one hundred Americans were killed, while the British loss was one
thousand, chiefly Hessians, But the British took a most cruel
revenge. Out of over 2600 prisoners taken on that day, in two months &
four days 1900 were killed in the infamous sugar houses and other
prisons in the city.
"Association of intense horror are linked with the records of the
prisons and prison ships of New York. Thousands of captives perished
miserably of hunger, cold, infection, and in some cases, actual
poison.
"All the prisoners taken in the battle near Brooklyn in August, 1776
and at Fort Washington in November of the same year, were confined in
New York, nearly 4000 in all. The New Jail and the New Bridewell were
the only prisons. The former is the present Hall of Records. Three
sugar houses, some dissenting churches, Columbia College, and the
Hospital were all used as prisons. The great fire in September; the
scarcity of provisions; and the cruel conduct of the Provost Marshal
all combined to produce intense sufferings among the men, most of whom
entered into captivity, strong, healthy, young, able-bodied, the
flower of the American youth of the day.
"Van Cortlandt's Sugar House was a famous (or infamous) prison.
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