American Prisoners of the RevolutionDandridge, Danske
History
American Prisoners of the Revolution
Dandridge, Danske
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
Mr. Crimmins in his “Irish-American Historical Miscellany,” says: “An
especially affecting incident is told regarding one prisoner who died
on the Jersey. Two young men, brothers, belonging to a rifle corps were
made prisoners, and sent on board the ship. The elder took the fever,
and in a few days became delirious. One night as his end was fast
approaching, he became calm and sensible, and lamenting his hard fate,
and the absence of his mother, begged for a little water. His brother
with tears, entreated the guard to give him some, but in vain. The sick
youth was soon in his last struggles, when his brother offered the guard
a guinea for an inch of candle, only that he might see him die. Even
this was denied.”
The young rifleman died in the dark.
“Now,” said his brother, drying his tears, “if it please God that I ever
regain my liberty, I’ll be a most bitter enemy!”
He was exchanged, rejoined the army, and when the war ended he is said
to have had eight large and one hundred and twenty-seven small notches
on his rifle stock. The inference is that he made a notch every time he
killed or wounded a British soldier, a large notch for an officer, and a
small one for a private.
Mr. Lecky, the English historian, thus speaks of American prisoners:
“The American prisoners who had been confined in New York after the
battle of Long Island were so emaciated and broken down by scandalous
neglect or ill usage that Washington refused to receive them in exchange
for an equal number of healthy British and Hessian troops. * * * It is
but justice to the Americans to add that their conduct during the war
appears to have been almost uniformly humane. No charges of neglect
of prisoners, like those which were brought, apparently with too good
reason, against the English, were substantiated against them. The
conduct of Washington was marked by a careful and steady humanity, and
Franklin, also, appears to have done much to mitigate the war.”
Our task is now concluded. We have concerned ourselves with the
prisoners themselves, not much with the history of the negotiations
carried on to effect exchange, but have left this part of the subject
to some abler hand. Only a very small part of the story has been told
in this volume, and there is much room for future investigations. It
is highly probable that if a systematic search is made many unpublished
accounts may be discovered, and a great deal of light shed upon the
horrors of the British prisons. If we have awakened interest in the sad
fate of so many of our brave countrymen, and aroused some readers to a
feeling of compassion for their misfortunes, and admiration for their
heroism, our task has not been in vain.
APPENDIX A
LIST OF 8000 MEN WHO WERE PRISONERS ON BOARD THE OLD JERSEY
PRINTED BY PERMISSION OF THE SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYNITES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account