That good water could have been as easily
obtained. That they were denied the benefit of a hospital; not
permitted to send for medicine, nor to have the services of a doctor,
even when in the greatest distress. That married men and others who
lay at the point of death were refused permission to have their wives
or other relations admitted to see them. And that these poor women,
for attempting to gain admittance, were often beaten from the prison
door. That commissioned officers, and others, persons of character and
reputation, were frequently, without a cause, thrown into a loathsome
dungeon, insulted in a gross manner, and vilely abused by a Provost
Marshal, who was allowed to be one of the basest characters in the
British Army, and whose power was so unlimited, that he had caned an
officer, on a trivial occasion; and frequently beaten the sick
privates when unable to stand, "many of whom are daily obliged to
enlist in the New Corps to prevent perishing for want of the
necessaries of life.
"Neither pen, ink, or paper allowed (to prevent their treatment being
made public) the consequence of which indeed, the prisoners themselves
dread, knowing the malignant disposition of their keeper."
The Board of War reported on the 21 of January, 1778, that there were
900 privates and 300 officers in New York, prisoners, and that "the
privates have been crowded all summer in sugar houses, and the
officers boarded on Long Island, except about thirty, who have been
confined in the Provost-Guard, and in most loathsome jails, and that
since Oct.
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