' They were as much
gratified by the idea of leaving us as we were at seeing them depart.
"Many provoking gestures were made by the prisoners as they left the
ship, and our curses followed them as far as we could make ourselves
heard.
"A regiment of Refugees, with a green uniform, were then quartered at
Brooklyn. We were invited to join this Royal band, and to partake of
his Majesty's pardon and bounty. But the prisoners, in the midst of
their unbounded sufferings, of their dreadful privations, and
consuming anguish, spurned the insulting offer. They preferred to
linger and to die rather than desert their country's cause. During the
whole period of my confinement I never knew a single instance of
enlistment among the prisoners of the Jersey.
"The only duty, to my knowledge, ever performed by the old Marines was
to guard the water-butt, near which one of them was stationed with a
drawn cutlass. They were ordered to allow no prisoner to carry away
more than one pint at once, but we were allowed to drink at the butt
as much as we pleased, for which purpose two or three copper ladles
were chained to the cask. Having been long on board and regular in
performance of this duty, they had become familiar with the faces of
the prisoners, and could, in many instances, detect the frauds which
we practiced upon them in order to obtain more fresh water for our
cooking than was allowed us by the regulations of the ship.
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