It is recorded
that the cold was so excessive that one man was frozen to death, that
the British pursued the party and brought a few of them back, but that
a number succeeded in making their escape to New Jersey. Who these
men were we have been unable to discover. Tradition also states that
while Wallabout Bay was thus frozen over the Long Island market women
skated across it, with supplies of vegetables in large hampers
attached to their backs, and that some of them came near enough to
throw some of their supplies to the half-famished prisoners on board
the Jersey.
It would appear that these poor sufferers had warm friends in the
farmers who lived on the shores of the Wallabout. Of these
Mr. A. Remsen, who owned a mill at the mouth of a creek which empties
into the Bay, was one of the most benevolent, and it was his daughter
who is said to have kept a list of the number of bodies that were
interred in the sand in the neighborhood of the mill and house. In
1780 Mr Remsen hid an escaped prisoner, Major H. Wyckoff, for several
days in one of his upper rooms, while at the same time the young
lieutenant of the guard of the Jersey was quartered in the
house. Remsen also lent Captain Wyckoff as much money as he needed,
and finally, one dark night, safely conveyed him in a sleigh to Cow
Neck. From thence he crossed to Poughkeepsie.
Although little mention is made by those prisoners who have left
accounts of their experiences while on board the Jersey, of any aid
received by them from the American government the following passage
from a Connecticut paper would seem to indicate that such aid was
tendered them at least for a time.
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