The writer of this book has been interested for many years in the subject of the sufferings of the American prisoners of the Revolution. Finding the information she sought widely scattered, she has, for her own use, and for that of all students of the subject, gathered all the facts she could obtain within the covers of this volume. There is little that is original in the compilation. The reader will find that extensive use has been made of such narratives as that Captain Dring has left us. The accounts could have been given in the compiler’s own words, but they would only, thereby, have lost in strength. The original narratives are all out of print, very scarce and hard to obtain, and the writer feels justified in reprinting them in this collection, for the sake of the general reader interested in the subject, and not able to search for himself through the mass of original material, some of which she has only discovered after months of research. Her work has mainly consisted in abridging these records, collected from so many different sources.
The writer desires to express her thanks to the courteous librarians of the Library of Congress and of the War and Navy Departments; to Dr. Langworthy for permission to publish his able and interesting paper on the subject of the prisons in New York, and to many others who have helped her in her task.
DANSKE DANDRIDGE.
December 6th, 1910.
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
PREFACE
CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER II. — THE RIFLEMEN OF THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER III. — NAMES OF SOME OF THE PRISONERS OF 1776
CHAPTER IV. — THE PRISONS OF NEW YORK—JONATHAN GILLETT
CHAPTER V. — WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, THE PROVOST MARSHAL
CHAPTER VI. — THE CASE OF JABEZ FITCH
CHAPTER VII. — THE HOSPITAL DOCTOR—A TORY’S ACCOUNT OF NEW YORK IN 1777—ETHAN ALLEN’S
CHAPTER VIII. — THE ACCOUNT OF ALEXANDER GRAYDON
CHAPTER IX. — A FOUL PAGE OF ENGLISH HISTORY
CHAPTER X. — A BOY IN PRISON
CHAPTER XI. — THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER XII. — THE TRUMBULL PAPERS AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
CHAPTER XIII. — A JOURNAL KEPT IN THE PROVOST
CHAPTER XIV. — FURTHER TESTIMONY OF CRUELTIES ENDURED BY AMERICAN PRISONERS
CHAPTER XV. — THE OLD SUGAR HOUSE—TRINTY CHURCHYARD
CHAPTER XVI. — THE CASE OF JOHN BLATCHFORD
CHAPTER XVII. — BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS ON THE SUBJECT OF AMERICAN PRISONERS
CHAPTER XVIII. — THE ADVENTURES OF ANDREW SHERBURNE
CHAPTER XIX. — MORE ABOUT THE ENGLISH PRISONS—MEMOIR OF ELI BICKFORD—CAPTAIN FANNING
CHAPTER XX. — SOME SOUTHERN NAVAL PRISONERS
CHAPTER XXI. — EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS—SOME OF THE PRISON SHIPS—CASE OF CAPTAIN
CHAPTER XXII. — THE JOURNAL OF DR. ELIAS CORNELIUS—BRITISH PRISONS IN THE SOUTH
CHAPTER XXIII. — A POET ON A PRISON SHIP
CHAPTER XXIV. — “THERE WAS A SHIP”
CHAPTER XXV. — A DESCRIPTION OF THE JERSEY
CHAPTER XXVI. — THE EXPERIENCE OF EBENEZER FOX. —
CHAPTER XXVII. — THE EXPERIENCE OF EBENEZER FOX (CONTINUED)
CHAPTER XXVIII. — THE CASE OF CHRISTOPHER HAWKINS
CHAPTER XXIX. — TESTIMONY OF PRISONERS ON BOARD THE JERSEY
CHAPTER XXX. — RECOLLECTIONS OF ANDREW SHERBURNE
CHAPTER XXXI. — CAPTAIN ROSWELL PALMER
CHAPTER XXXII. — THE NARRATIVE OF CAPTAIN ALEXANDER COFFIN
CHAPTER XXXIII. — A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE
CHAPTER XXXIV. — THE NARRATIVE OF CAPTAIN DRING
CHAPTER XXXV. — THE NARRATIVE OF CAPTAIN DRING (CONTINUED)
CHAPTER XXXVI. — THE INTERMENT OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER XXXVII. — DAME GRANT AND HER BOAT
CHAPTER XXXVIII. — THE SUPPLIES FOR THE PRISONERS
CHAPTER XXXIX. — FOURTH OF JULY ON THE JERSEY
CHAPTER XL. — AN ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE
CHAPTER XLI. — THE MEMORIAL TO GENERAL WASHINGTON
CHAPTER XLII. — THE EXCHANGE
CHAPTER XLIII. — THE CARTEL—CAPTAIN DRING’S NARRATIVE (CONTINUED)
CHAPTER XLIV. — CORRESPONDENCE OF WASHINGTON AND OTHERS
CHAPTER XLV. — GENERAL WASHINGTON AND REAR ADMIRAL DIGBY—COMMISSARIES SPROAT AND
CHAPTER XLVI. — SOME OF THE PRISONERS ON BOARD THE JERSEY
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX A
LIST OF 8000 MEN WHO WERE PRISONERS ON BOARD THE OLD JERSEY
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
BIBLIOGRAPHY
