American Prisoners of the RevolutionDandridge, Danske
History
American Prisoners of the Revolution
Dandridge, Danske
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
A very singular fact about this record is that no less than _seventeen_
of the prisoners of this company died on the same day, which was the
fifteenth of February, 1777. Why this was so we cannot tell. We can
only leave the cause of their death to the imagination of our readers.
Whether they were poisoned by wholesale; whether they were murdered in
attempting to escape; whether the night being extraordinarily severe,
they froze to death; whether they were butchered by British bayonets, we
are totally unable to tell. The record gives their names and the date of
death and says that all seventeen were prisoners. That is all.
The names of these men are Jacob Wine, William Waller, Peter Snyder,
Conrad Rush, David Harmon, William Moredock, William Wilson, James
Wilson, Thomas Beatty, Samuel Davis, John Cassody, Peter Good, John
Nixon, Christopher Peninger, Benjamin McKnight, John McSwaine, James
Griffith, and Patrick Murphy.
Two or three others are mentioned as dying the day after. Is it possible
that these men were on board one of the prison ships which was set on
fire? If so we have been able to discover no account of such a disaster
on that date.
Many of the papers of Major Henry Bedinger were destroyed. It is
possible that he may have left some clue to the fate of these men, but
if so it is probably not now in existence. But among the letters and
memoranda written by him which have been submitted to us for inspection,
is a list, written on a scrap of paper, of the men that he recruited for
Captain Shepherd’s Company in the summer of 1776. This paper gives the
names of the men and the date on which each one died in prison. It is as
follows:
LIST OF MEN RAISED BY LIEUTENANT HENRY BEDINGER, AND THAT HE BROUGHT
FROM NEW TOWN, BERKELEY COUNTY, VA., AUGUST FIRST, 1776
Dennis Bush, Fourth Sergeant. (He was taken prisoner at Fort Washington,
but lived to be exchanged, and was paid up to October 1st, 1778, at the
end of the term for which the company enlisted.)
Conrad Cabbage, Prisoner, Died, Jan. 7th, 1777. John Cummins, Prisoner,
Died, Jan. 27th, 1777. Gabriel Stevens, Prisoner, Died, March 1st,
1777. William Donally, Prisoner, Died, Jan. 10th, 1777. David Gilmer,
Prisoner, Died, Jan. 26th, 1777. John Cassady, Prisoner, Died, Feb.
15th, 1777. Samuel Brown, Prisoner, Died, Feb. 26th, 1777. Peter Good,
Prisoner, Died, Feb. 13th, 1777. William Boyle, Prisoner, Died, Feb.
25th, 1777. John Nixon, Prisoner, Died, Feb. 18th, 1777. Anthony
Blackhead, deserted, Nov. 15th, 1776. William Case, Prisoner, Died,
March 15th, 1777. Caspar Myres, Prisoner, Died, Feb. 16th, 1777. William
Seaman, Prisoner, Died, July 8th, 1777. Isaac Price, Prisoner, Died,
Feb. 5th, 1777. Samuel Davis, Prisoner, Died, Feb. 15th, 1777.
William Seaman was the son of Jonah Seaman, living near Darkesville.
Isaac Price was an orphan, living with James’ Campbell’s father. Samuel
Davis came from near Charlestown.
Henry Bedinger.
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