Andrew S. Norwood, who was a boy during
the Revolution, deposed that he used to carry food to John Van Dyke,
in this prison. The other prisoners would try to wrest away the food,
as they were driven mad by hunger. They were frequently fed with bread
made from old, worm-eaten ship biscuits, reground into meal and
offensive to the smell. Many of the prisoners died, and some were put
into oblong boxes, sometimes two in a box, and buried in Trinity
church-yard, and the boy, himself, witnessed some of the interments. A
part of Trinity church-yard was used as a common burying-ground,--as
was also the yard of St. George's Church, and what was called the
Swamp Burying-Ground.
This boy also deposed that his uncle Clifford was murdered during the
Revolution, it was supposed by foreign soldiers, and he was buried in
Trinity church-yard.
Jacob Freeman, also a boy during the Revolution, deposed that his
father and several other inhabitants of Woodbridge were arrested and
sent to New York. His grandfather was sixty years old, and when he
was arrested, his son, who was concealed and could have escaped, came
out of his hiding-place and surrendered himself for the purpose of
accompanying his father to prison. The son was a Lieutenant. They were
confined in the Sugar House several months. Every day some of the
prisoners died and were buried in Old Trinity church-yard.
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