, LATER OF CORNWALL, VT.
The following extremely interesting article on the prisoners and
prison ships of the Revolution was written by Dr. Longworthy of the
United States Department of agriculture for a patriotic
society. Through his courtesy I am allowed to publish it here. I am
sorry I did not receive it in time to embody it in the first part of
this book.
D D
Doubtless all of us are more or less familiar with the prison ship
chapter of Revolutionary history, as this is one of the greatest, if
not the greatest, tragedies of the struggle for independence. At the
beginning of the hostilities the British had in New York Harbor a
number of transports on which cattle and stores had been brought over
in 1776. These vessels lay in Gravesend Bay and later were taken up
the East River and anchored in Wallabout Bay, and to their number were
added from time to time vessels in such condition that they were of no
use except as prisons for American troops The names of many of these
infamous ships have been preserved, the Whitby, the Good Hope, the
Hunter, Prince of Wales, and others, and worst of all, the Jersey.
It was proposed to confine captured American seamen in these ships,
but they also served as prisons for thousands of patriot soldiers
taken in the land engagements in and about New York. The men were
crowded in these small vessels under conditions which pass
belief.
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