American Prisoners Of The Revolution Collections

X, Y, and Z Prisoners of The Old Jersey

The following is a list of men who were imprisoned upon the ship called “The Old Jersey” during the Revolutionary War. The tales the men told of their sufferings can be compared with those suffered by the North imprisoned at Camp Sumter (Andersonville Prison) during the War of the Rebellion. To find out more about the condition of life upon this ship during their incarceration, see the source listed below. X Surnames John Xmens Y Surnames Joseph Yalkington Joseph Yanger Joseph Yard Thomas Yates Francis Yduchare Adam Yeager Jacob Yeason Jacob Yeaston Pender Yedrab George Yoannet Edward Yorke Peter Yose … Read more

William Cunningham, The Provost Marshal

“His hatred of the Americans found vent in torture by searing irons and secret scourges to those who fell under the ban of his displeasure. The prisoners were crowded together so closely that many fell ill from partial asphyxiation, and starved to death for want of the food which he sold to enrich himself.” – The Old Martyrs’ Prison pamphlet We will condense all that we have to say of this man, whose cruelty and wickedness are almost inconceivable, into one chapter, and have done with the dreadful subject. As far as we have been able to learn, the facts … Read more

W Prisoners of The Old Jersey

The following is a list of men who were imprisoned upon the ship called “The Old Jersey” during the Revolutionary War. The tales the men told of their sufferings can be compared with those suffered by the North imprisoned at Camp Sumter (Andersonville Prison) during the War of the Rebellion. To find out more about the condition of life upon this ship during their incarceration, see the source listed below. W Surnames Christian Wadde Benjamin Wade Thomas Wade (2) Christopher Wadler Richard Wagstaff Joseph Wainwright Jacob Wainscott Matthew Wainscott Charles Waistcoott Ezekiel Waistcoat Jabez Waistcoat Jacob Waistcoat John Waistcoat Joseph … Read more

U and V Prisoners of The Old Jersey

The following is a list of men who were imprisoned upon the ship called “The Old Jersey” during the Revolutionary War. The tales the men told of their sufferings can be compared with those suffered by the North imprisoned at Camp Sumter (Andersonville Prison) during the War of the Rebellion. To find out more about the condition of life upon this ship during their incarceration, see the source listed below. U Surnames Urson Ullaby Thomas Umthank Benjamin Uncers Joseph Union Obadiah Upton John Usher Andre Utinett Abirnelech Uuncer V Surnames Peter Vaidel Pierre Valem Joseph Valentine George Vallance David Vallet … Read more

The Trumbull Papers And Other Sources Of Information

One Guinea Reward, ran away a black man named Richmond, being the common hangman, formerly the property of the rebel Colonel Patterson of Pa. – William Cunningham, published in Gaines “Mercury” on 4 Aug 1781. We will now quote from the Trumbull Papers and other productions, what is revealed to the public of the state of the prisoners in New York in 1776 and 1777. Some of our information we have obtained from a book published in 1866 called “Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Long Island, by Henry Onderdonk, Jr.” He gives an affecting account … Read more

The Supplies For The Prisoners

“As the disgust at swallowing any food which had been cooked in the Great Copper was universal, each person used every exertion to procure as much wood as possible.” – Captain Dring “After the death of Dame Grant, we were under the necessity of purchasing from the Sutler such small supplies as we needed. This man was one of the Mates of the ship, and occupied one of the apartments under the quarter-deck, through the bulkhead of which an opening had been cut, from which he delivered his goods. He here kept for sale a variety of articles, among which … Read more

The Riflemen Of The Revolution

“Our poor Soldiers fared most wretchedly different. They were crowded into sugar houses and Jails without blankets or covering; had Very little given to them to eat, and that little of the Very worst quality. So that in two months and four days about 1900 of the Fort Washington troops had died.” – Major Bedinger We will first endeavor to give the reader some idea of the men who were imprisoned in New York in the fall and winter of 1776, It was in the summer of that year that Congress ordered a regiment of riflemen to be raised in … Read more

The Prisons Of New York

“Out of over 2600 prisoners taken on that day, in two months & four days 1900 were killed in the infamous sugar houses and other prisons in the city.” – Benson J. Lossing in his Pictorial Field Book Of The Revolution We will now endeavor to describe the principal places of confinement used by the British in New York during the early years of the war. Lossing, in his Field Book of the Revolution, thus speaks of these dens of misery: “At the fight around Fort Washington,” he says, “only one hundred Americans were killed, while the British loss was … Read more

The Prison Ship Martyrs Of The Revolution

The Prison Ship Martyrs Of The Revolution, And An Unpublished Diary Of One Of Them, William Slade, New Canaan, Conn., Later Of Cornwall, Vt. The following extremely interesting article on the prisoners and prison ships of the Revolution was written by Dr. Longworthy of the United States Department of agriculture for a patriotic society. Through his courtesy I am allowed to publish it here. I am sorry I did not receive it in time to embody it in the first part of this book. D D Doubtless all of us are more or less familiar with the prison ship chapter … Read more

The Old Sugar House–Trinity Churchyard

“Old shoes were bought and eaten with as much relish as a pig or a turkey; a beef bone of four or five ounces, after it was picked clean, was sold by the British guard for as many coppers.” – Thomas Stone as published in Journal of American History We will now take our readers with us to the Sugar House on Liberty Street, long called the Old Sugar House, and the only one of the three Sugar Houses which appear to have been used as a place of confinement for American prisoners of war after the year 1777. We … Read more

The Newspapers Of The Revolution

“There are now 5,000 prisoners in town, many of them half naked. Congress deserts the poor wretches” – Published in Gaines “Mercury” a Tory Paper, 25 Nov. 1776 What we have been able to glean from the periodicals of the day about the state of the prisons in New York during the years 1776 and 1777 we will condense into one short chapter. We will also give an abstract taken from a note book written by General Jeremiah Johnson, who as a boy, lived near Wallabout Bay during the Revolution and who thus describes one of the first prison ships … Read more

The Narrative Of Captain Dring

“Memory still brings before me those emaciated beings, moving from the Galley with their wretched pittance of meat; each creeping to the spot where his mess was assembled, to divide it with a group of haggard and sickly creatures, their garments hanging in tatters round their meagre limbs, and the hue of death upon their careworn faces.” – Captain Dring By far the most complete account of life on board the Old Jersey is contained in Captain Dring’s Recollections. His nature was hopeful, and his constitution strong and enduring. He attempted to make the best of his situation, and succeeded … Read more

The Narrative Of Captain Alexander Coffin

“There were two or three hospital-ships near the prison-ships; and so soon as any of the prisoners complained of being sick, they were sent on board of one of them; and I verily believe that not one out of a hundred ever returned or recovered.” – Captain Alexander Coffin In 1807 Dr. Mitchell, of New York published a small volume entitled: “The Destructive Operation of Foul Air, Tainted Provisions, Bad Water, and Personal Filthiness, Upon Human Constitutions, Exemplified in the Unparallelled Cruelty of the British to the American Captives at New York During the Revolutionary War, on Board their Prison … Read more

The Memorial To General Washington

“The body maddened by the spirit’s pain; The wild, wild working of the breast and brain; The haggard eye, that, horror widened, sees Death take the start of hunger and disease. Here, such were seen and heard;–so close at hand, A cable’s length had reached them from the land; Yet farther off than ocean ever bore;–Eternity between them and the shore!” –W. Read. “Notwithstanding the destroying pestilence which was now raging to a degree hitherto unknown on board, new companies of victims were continually arriving; so that, although the mortality was very great, our numbers were increasing daily. Thus situated, … Read more

The Journal Of Dr. Elias Cornelius

“Go to your dungeons in the prison ships, where you shall perish and rot, but first let me tell you that the rations which have been hitherto allowed for your wives and children shall, from this moment, cease forever; and you shall die assured that they are starving in the public streets, and that you are the authors of their fate.” – A British Officer Named Fraser We must now conduct our readers back to the Provost Prison in New York, where, for some time, Colonel Ethan Allen was incarcerated. Dr. Elias Cornelius, a surgeon’s mate, was taken prisoner by … Read more

The Interment Of The Dead

“The first of the crew of the Chance to die was a lad named Palmer, about twelve years of age, and the youngest of our crew.” – Captain Dring Captain Dring continues his narrative by describing the manner in which the dead were interred in the sand of the Wallabout. Every morning, he says, the dead bodies were carried to the upper deck and there laid upon the gratings. Any person who could procure, and chose to furnish, a blanket, was allowed to sew it around the remains of his departed companion. “The signal being made, a boat was soon … Read more

The Experience Of Ebenezer Fox

“It had been a common practice of the British to keep their prisoners four or five days without a morsel of meat and thus tempt them to enlist to save their lives.” – Ebenezer Fox Ebenezer Fox, a prisoner on board the Jersey, wrote a little book about his dreadful experiences when he was a very old man. The book was written in 1838, and published by Charles Fox in Boston in 1848. Ebenezer Fox was born in the East Parish of Roxbury, Mass., in 1763. In the spring of 1775 he and another boy named Kelly ran away to … Read more

The Exchange

“Soon after Captain Aborn had been permitted to go to Long Island on his parole, he sent a message on board the Jersey, informing us that his parole had been extended so far as to allow him to return home, but that he should visit us previous to his departure. He requested our First Lieutenant, Mr. John Tillinghast, to provide a list of the names of those captured in the Chance who had died, and also a list of the survivors, noting where each survivor was then confined, whether on board the Jersey, or one of the Hospital ships. “He … Read more

The Case of Jonathan Gillett of West Harford

This man with seven others was captured on Long Island on the 27th of August, 1776, before they could take to their boats. He was at first confined in a prison ship, but a Masonic brother named John Archer procured him the liberty of the city on parole. His rank, we believe, was that of a lieutenant. He was a prisoner two years, then was allowed to go home to die. He exhibited every symptom of poison as well as starvation.

The Case Of John Blatchford

“But one American prisoner escaped from the Island of Sumatra, where he had been employed in the pepperfields belonging to the East India Company.” In our attempt to describe the sufferings of American prisoners taken during the Revolution, we have, for the most part, confined ourselves to New York, only because we have been unable to make extensive research into the records of the British prisons in other places. But what little we have been able to gather on the subject of the prisoners sent out of America we will also lay before our readers. We have already stated the … Read more