Britons tremble, lest the vengeance of Heaven fall on your
isle, for the blood of these unfortunate victims!
"An American"
"They died, the young, the loved, the brave,
The death barge came for them,
And where the seas yon black rocks lave
Is heard their requiem
They buried them and threw the sand
Unhallowed o'er that patriot band
The black ship like a demon sate
Upon the prowling deep,
From her came fearful sounds of hate,
Till pain stilled all in sleep
It was the sleep that victims take,
Tied, tortured, dying, at the stake.
Yet some the deep has now updug,
Their bones are in the sun,
Whether by sword or deadly drug
They perished, one by one,
Was it not dread for mortal eye
To see them all so strangely die?
Are there those murdered men who died
For freedom and for me?
They seem to point, in martyred pride
To that spot upon the sea
From whence came once the frenzied yell,
From out that wreck, that prison hell"
This rough but strong old poem was written many years ago by a
Mr. Whitman We have taken the liberty of retouching it to a slight
degree.
It is well known that _twenty hogsheads_ of bones were collected
in 1808 from the shores of the Wallabout, and buried under the
auspices of the Tammany Society in a vault prepared for the
purpose. These were but a small part of the remains of the victims of
the prison ships.
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