American Prisoners of the RevolutionDandridge, Danske
History
American Prisoners of the Revolution
Dandridge, Danske
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Prisoners and prisons
Onderdonk says that women often brought food for the prisoners in little
baskets, which, after examination, were handed in. Now and then the
guard might intercept what was sent, or Cunningham, if the humor took
him, as he passed through the hall, might kick over vessels of soup,
placed there by the charitable for the poor and friendless prisoners.
EXTRACT FROM A BETTER FROM DR. SILAS HOLMES
“The wounded prisoners taken at the battle of Brooklyn were put in the
churches of Flatbush and New Utrecht, but being neglected and unattended
were wallowing in their own filth, and breathed an infected and impure
air. Ten days after the battle Dr. Richard Bailey was appointed to
superintend the sick. He was humane, and dressed the wounded daily; got
a sack bed, sheet, and blanket for each prisoner; and distributed the
prisoners into the adjacent barns. When Mrs. Woodhull offered to pay Dr.
Bailey for his care and attention to her husband, he said he had done no
more than his duty, and if there was anything due it was to me.”
Woodhull’s wounds were neglected nine days before Dr. Bailey was allowed
to attend them.
How long the churches were used as prisons cannot be ascertained, but
we have no account of prisoners confined in any of them after the year
1777. In the North Dutch Church in New York there were, at one time,
eight hundred prisoners huddled together. It was in this church that
bayonet marks were discernible on its pillars, many years after the war.
The provost and old City Hall were used as prisons until Evacuation Day,
when O’Keefe threw his ponderous bunch of keys on the floor and retired.
The prisoners are said to have asked him where they were to go.
“To hell, for what I care,” he replied.
“In the Middle Dutch Church,” says Mr. John Pintard, who was a nephew
of Commissary Pintard, “the prisoners taken on Long Island and at Fort
Washington, sick, wounded, and well, were all indiscriminately huddled
together, by hundreds and thousands, large numbers of whom died by
disease, and many undoubtedly poisoned by inhuman attendants for the
sake of their watches, or silver buckles.”
“What was called the Brick Church was at first used as a prison, but
soon it and the Presbyterian Church in Wall Street, the Scotch Church
in Cedar Street, and the Friends’ Meeting House were converted into
hospitals.”
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