American Prisoners of the RevolutionDandridge, Danske
History
American Prisoners of the Revolution
Dandridge, Danske
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
“And the petty tyrant did prepare it, and for forty-two weeks that
patriot, of almost threescore years of age, never saw the light of the
blessed sun, but lay incarcerated in the dungeon of the castle of St
Augustine. All the other prisoners accepted paroles, but they were
exposed to indignities more harrowing to the sensitive soul than close
confinement. When they were exchanged, in June, 1781, they were not
allowed even to touch at Charleston, but were sent to Philadelphia,
whither their families had been banished when the prisoners were taken
to the Sandwich. More than a thousand persons were thus exiled, and
husbands and wives, fathers and children, first met in a distant State
after a separation of ten months.
“Nearly all the soldiers taken prisoners at Charleston were confined in
prison ships in the harbor, where foul air, bad food, filth, and
disease killed hundreds of them. Those confined at Haddrell’s Point also
suffered terribly. Many of them had been nurtured in affluence; now
far from friends and entirely without means, they were reduced to the
greatest straits. They were not even allowed to fish for their support,
but were obliged to perform the most menial services. After thirteen
months captivity, Cornwallis ordered them to be sent to the West Indies,
and this cruel order would have been carried out, but for the general
exchange of prisoners which took place soon afterwards.
“Governor Rutledge, in speaking before the South Carolina Assembly at
Jacksonboro, thus eloquently referred to the rigorous and unjustifiable
conduct of the British authorities:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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