They were therefore placed in rotten
hulks off the quiet shores of Long Island, where, secluded from the
public eye, they were allowed to perish by the thousands from cruel
and criminal neglect.
"The Old Jersey and the two hospital ships," says General J. Johnson,
"remained in the Wallabout until New York was evacuated by the
British. The Jersey was the receiving ship: the others, truly, the
ships of death!
"It has been generally thought that all the prisoners died on board
the Jersey. This is not true. Many may have died on board of her who
were not reported as sick, but all who were placed on the sick list
were removed to the hospital ships, from which they were usually
taken, sewed up in a blanket, to their graves.
"After the hospital ships were brought into the Wallabout, it was
reported that the sick were attended by physicians. Few indeed were
those who recovered, or came back to tell the tale of their sufferings
in those horrible places. It was no uncommon sight to see five or six
dead bodies brought on shore in a single morning, when a small
excavation would be dug at the foot of the hill, the bodies cast into
it, and then a man with a shovel would quickly cover them by
shovelling sand down the hill upon them.
"Many were buried in a ravine of this hill and many on Mr. Remsen's
farm. The whole shore, from Rennie's Point, to Mr.
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