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A journal, of a young man of Massachusetts, late a surgeon on board an American privateer, who was captured at sea by the British in May, eighteen hundred and thirteen and was confined first, at Melville Island, Halifax, then at Chatham, in England, and last at Dartmoor prison : $b Interspersed with observations, anecdotes and remarks, tending to illustrate the moral and political characters of three nations. To which is added, a correct engraving of Dartmoor prison, representing the massacre ofWaterhouse, Benjamin

History

A journal, of a young man of Massachusetts, late a surgeon on board an American privateer, who was captured at sea by the British in May, eighteen hundred and thirteen and was confined first, at Melville Island, Halifax, then at Chatham, in England, and last at Dartmoor prison : $b Interspersed with observations, anecdotes and remarks, tending to illustrate the moral and political characters of three nations. To which is added, a correct engraving of Dartmoor prison, representing the massacre of

Waterhouse, Benjamin

Dartmoor Prison; United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Prisoners and prisons

The next thing we have to notice in the report is, that very
    singular paragraph, which says, "from the fact of the crowd being
    so close, and the firing at _first_ being attended with _very
    little injury_, it appears probable, that a large proportion of
    the muskets were, as stated by one or two of the witnesses,
    levelled over the heads of the prisoners, a circumstance, in some
    respects, to be _lamented_." Is it, then, to be _lamented_, that
    the soldiers did not level their pieces, on the _first_ fire,
    directly into the crowd, which they have stated to be so great and
    so close that a soldier declared he could not come fairly down to
    a charge? or is it to be _lamented_, that one or two hundred were
    not killed at the first discharge, and a thousand or two wounded?
    If so, we think it much to be _lamented_, that the reporters were
    not there, and placed foremost in the crowd.

    The circumstance of so few being hurt at the first discharge is
    not strange to those who are acquainted with the situation; and
    this occurrence alone corroborates the American evidence, and
    ought to have been sufficient proof to the commissioners, that the
    prisoners upon being charged upon, retreated through the gates,
    and shut them after them, before the firing commenced; and which
    circumstance, alone, should have shut the door of justification
    against Shortland for commencing a fire upon them, as they were in
    their own yards. As this was the actual situation of the prisoners
    on the first discharge, and the soldiers having to fire through
    the iron paling, and the prisoners retreating on a descending
    ground, of course brought the muskets, when down to a level, over
    the heads of the prisoners--it was owing to this _fortunate_
    circumstance that so few were injured on the first discharge of
    the musketry; and it seems the inhuman Shortland was aware of this
    circumstance, when he was distinctly heard to order his soldiers
    to fire low. This does not appear to correspond with that part of
    their report which says, "Captain Shortland was in the market
    square, exerting himself in giving orders to stop the firing."

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