American Prisoners of the RevolutionDandridge, Danske
History
American Prisoners of the Revolution
Dandridge, Danske
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
Whether the John Cooper who signed his name to this address is the Mr.
Cooper mentioned by Dring as the orator of the Jersey we do not know,
but it is not improbable. Nine Coopers are included in the list, given
in the appendix to this volume, of prisoners on the Jersey, but no John
Cooper is among them. The list is exceedingly imperfect. Of the other
signers of the address only two, George Wanton and John Sheffield, can
be found within its pages. It is very certain that it is incomplete, and
it probably does not contain more than half the names of the prisoners
who suffered on board that dreadful place. David Sproat won the hatred
and contempt of all the American prisoners who had anything to do with
him. One of his most dastardly acts was the paper which he drew up in
June, 1782, and submitted to a number of American sea captains for their
signature, which he obtained from them by threats of taking away their
parole in case of their refusal, and sending them back to a captivity
worse than death. This paper, _which they signed without reading_ was to
the following effect:
LETTER PURPORTING TO BE FROM A COMMITTEE OF CAPTAINS, NAVAL PRISONERS
OF WAR TO J. RIVINGTON, WITH A REPRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE ON THE
CONDITION OF THE PRISONERS ON BOARD THE JERSEY
New York, June 22, 1782.
Sir:
We beg you will be pleased to give the inclosed Report and Resolve of a
number of Masters of American Vessels, a place in your next Newspaper,
for the information of the public. In order to undeceive numbers of our
countrymen without the British lines, who have not had an opportunity of
seeing the state and situation of the prisoners of New York as we have
done. We are, Sir,
yr most obdt, hble srvts,
Robert Harris, Captain of the sloop Industry John Chace Charles Collins,
Captain of the Sword-fish Philemon Haskell Jonathan Carnes
REPORT
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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