The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn
Page 28
Information on Loring, Cunningham, and Sproat: Dring, Recollections, pp. 9–10.
Sproat’s blaming prisoners’ deaths on Washington: Amerman, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 269.
“Universally detested”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 15.
Sproat as a “refugee” and starting his job as commissary: Ranlet, “Tory David Sproat,” pp. 187, 189, 198; and Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, p. 11.
“A pritty little fortune”: Ranlet, “Tory David Sproat,” p. 187.
Refugees: Calhoon, Loyalist, pp. 393–394; and Skemp, William Franklin, pp. 233–234.
Sproat’s appointments: Ranlet, “Tory David Sproat,” p. 189.
Location of Jersey in Wallabout Bay: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, pp. 7–8.
“A lamentable thing,” “Death has no relish,” and other descriptions of capture by the Belisarius: Dring, Recollections, pp. 12–13; and Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 16.
“It was my hard fortune”: Dring, Recollections, p. 5. The cabin boy Palmer: Dring, p. 12.
“A large proportion”: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 107.
“Stripped of everything”: Quote by Stephen Buckland in Stiles, Letters from the Prisons, p. 20.
“Getting on quite” and “The yearning wish”: Hawkins, Life and Adventure, p. 7. “An opportunity,” “A fit of roaming,” “Prospect of a long,” and other quotes: Hawkins, pp. 7–8. Descriptions of and quotes about Jersey: Hawkins, pp. iv, 8–9.
“I found myself among” and other quotes about boarding Jersey: Dring, Recollections, p. 13.
Morning eating schedule on the ship: Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 17.
“From every direction”: Dring, Recollections, p. 14. “Scenes of wretchedness”: Dring, p. 15. “How different”: Dring, p. 18. “Motley crew of wretches”: Dring, pp. 16–17. Discussion of and quotes about inoculation: Dring, p. 20. Death of young Palmer: Dring, p. 66.
Death of Dring’s two crewmates: Dring, Recollections, p. 68.
Quotes by Andros when boarding Jersey: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, pp. 9–10. “I was so overwhelmed” and subsequent quotes from Andros about the ship: Andros, pp. 9–10. Describing the numbers of prisoners: Andros, p. 10. “The complete image and anticipation” and description of Hell: Andros, pp. 8–9. “Take heed”: Andros, p. 10.
CHAPTER 10. THE FINAL VOYAGE
Dring’s description of rations and “rancid”: Dring, Recollections, pp. 26–27.
Organization and size of mess: Lossing, Pictoral Field-Book, Dring, Recollections, p. 26; and “City of Prisons.”
Information on the menu and disease: West, “Prison Ships,” p. 123.
“Burgoo”: Dring, Recollections, p. 28.
Pigs on the ship: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 25.
“The prisoners received their mess”: Dandridge, American Prisoners, p. 294.
Butter was “so rancid”: Dring, Recollections, p. 27.
Bread full of “living vermin”: White, “Thomas Andros,” p. 519.
“I do not recollect”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 12.
“The bread had been”: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 107.
“There were never provisions”: Wertenbaker, Father Knickerbocker, p. 166.
Hawkins’s and others’ descriptions of food: Hawkins, Life and Adventure, p. 8.
The great copper: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 19.
Dring’s descriptions of the food and not eating from great copper: Dring, Recollections, p. 29. “The most scrupulous”: Dring, p. 82. Getting and cutting wood: Dring, pp. 80–83. Descriptions of “His Majesty the Cook”: Dring, p. 88. Dring’s getting burned by cook: Dring, pp. 31, 87–88. Cook’s constant insults: Dring, p. 30.
Old marines on board ship: Dring, Recollections, p. 71.
Bringing water on board: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 19.
Sherburne’s getting a ration of water: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 115.
“Where all the filth”: Hawkins, Life and Adventure, p. 8.
Descriptions of the foul water: Dring, Recollections, pp. 72–73; and Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 18.
“Little else could”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 8.
Description of the work parties: Dring, Recollections, pp. 45–46.
Description of the dead boat and burials: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 11; and Watson, Annals, p. 336. Dring’s going ashore to bury Carver: Dring, Recollections, pp. 60–63.
“Not so much from”: Dring, Recollections, p. 58. “Visit to the land”: Dring, p. 65.
Isaac Gibbs and others freezing during burial detail and James Little’s description: Revolutionary War Pension Application, file W8256, Records of the Veterans Administration, Record Group 15, National Archives.
“If he is not dead”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, pp. 30–31.
Andros’s description of shallow graves: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 11.
Description of cleaning ship: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 12.
“The privilege alone”: Dring, Recollections, p. 46. “For a few hours”: Dring, p. 48.
Sherburne’s story of catching pneumonia during transfer: Sherburne, Memoirs, pp. 114–115. Everyone’s getting wet and sick on the transport ship: Sherburne, p. 117.
Description of cleaning the latrines: Dring, Recollections, p. 48.
CHAPTER 11. TEMPEST
Crew of Jersey: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 17.
“The crew had no”: Dring, Recollections, p. 38.
“Rebels and traitors”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 12.
“The soldiers in charge”: Ostrander, History of Brooklyn, vol. II, p. 11.
Descriptions of the guards: Lossing, Pictoral Field-Book; Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 19; and Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, pp. 25–26.
“Always preferred”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 24.
“Removed, and moored”: Dring, Recollections, pp. xiii–xiv.
“Were hurled promiscuously”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 8.
“Self preservation appeared”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 19.
“Pointed to their uniforms”: Dring, Recollections, p. 24. “What? You alive yet?”: Dring, pp. 59–60.
Quotes and descriptions of the violent “refugees”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 19; and Dring, Recollections, pp. 61–62, 67–71.
“Rebels! Turn out your dead!”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 31.
“Down, Rebels, down!”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 20.
“All’s well!”: Dring, Recollections, p. 49.
“The King of Terrors”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 10.
“The whole ship”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 12; and Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 15.
“Putrid fevers”: Dring, Recollections, p. 18.
“Mingled” together: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 12.
“He kill’d as many”: Freneau, British Prison-Ship, p. xxxx.
“The small pox”: Hawkins, Life and Adventure, pp. 8–9.
Crew and guards getting diseases: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 19.
Description of the nurses: Dring, Recollections, p. 53.
“When the weather”: Dring, Recollections, p. 54.
Men who were not inoculated: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 11.
Problems of overcrowding: Dring, Recollections, p. 51.
Dring’s describing physical appearance and “their long hair and beards”: Dring, Recollections, p. 40. “Though conducive to cleanliness” and “ordinary cleanliness was impossible”: Dring, p. 41.
Description of and quotes about physicians: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 116; and Freneau, British Prison-Ships.
Numbers aboard the Jersey: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 23; Stiles, Letters from the Prisons, p. 20; “letter from Capt. Stephen Buckland,” April 9, 1782, letters from April 26, 1782, p. 29, and November 9,
1782, p. 33.
“Cramped up with hundreds”: Hawkins, Life and Adventure, p. 8.
Estimates of prisoners who died per day: Ranlet, “Tory David Sproat,” p. 200.
Deaths during winter: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 25.
Gen. Heath’s report: Heath, Heath’s Memoirs, pp. 388–389.
Gen. Washington’s letter about overcrowded condition: “George Washington to the officer commanding His Britannic Majesty’s ships of war,” August 21, 1781, Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), vol. XXIII, p. 24; “Captain Edmund Affleck to George Washington,” August 30, 1781, Washington, Writings (ed. Sparks), vol. VIII, pp. 523–524.
“Keep from freezing”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 25.
“No fires warmed”: “City of Prisons,” p. 416.
Hospital ships: Dring, Recollections, pp. 51–52.
“The sick were seldome”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 14.
Dring’s account that only three men returned: Dring, Recollections, p. 52.
“Terrible” hospitals: Dring, Recollections, p. 52.
Nurses’ stealing prisoners’ possessions: Sherburne, Memoirs, pp. 111–114. “The nurses took more”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 27. Sickness and death of Robert Carver: Dring, Recollections, p. 54. Fresh air and other conditions on hospital ships: Dring, Recollections, pp. 52–53; and Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 17.
Crowding on the hospital ships: Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, p. 22; Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 13; and Dring, Recollections, p. 50.
“Exceedingly fast”: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 112.
“I verily believe”: Dandridge, American Prisoners, p. 318.
“Wretchedly unsanitary”: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 113.
Andros’s describing death on hospital ship: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 10.
“Relieve myself” and other quotes about hospital ships: Sherburne, Memoirs, pp. 114–115.
Ordeal of John and Abraham Fall: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, pp. 25, 28.
“Mockery” and other quotes about hospital ships: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 14.
“The depravity of the heart”: Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 114.
The affliction aboard the ship was “sickness of the heart”: Dring, Recollections, p. 44. Dring’s also describing that young sailors “became dismayed” and “died that most awful” and the poem he remembered: Dring, p. 44. Dring’s struggles and “These loathsome creatures”: Dring, p. 19.
The men had “been through the furnace”: Dring, Recollections, p. 43. Wishing for death to “not long delay”: Dring, p. 18.
Andros wishing for a preacher: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 8.
Dring recalling another poem (“Night and day”): Dring, Recollections, p. 43.
CHAPTER 12. NEGOTIATIONS
The regiment of refugees “with green uniforms”: Dring, Recollections, p. 71.
Dring’s boast that “During my whole period”: Dring, Recollections, p. 71.
Andros’s also saying “no one [was] seduced”: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 13.
Ethan Allen’s capture and details of arrest: Allen, Narrative, p. 32. Allen aboard the ship, “Those will be good”: Jellison, Ethan Allen, p. 162; and Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 24. Allen’s detainment in castle and “you shall grace”: Allen, Narrative, pp. 24, 37–38.
Howe and Washington’s expressing interest in Allen’s imprisonment: Haffner, “The Treatment of Prisoners,” pp. 63–68, Jellison; Ethan Allen, pp. 171–172; and Huguenin, “Allen, Parolee on Long Island,” p. 120.
Ben Franklin’s interest in prisoners: Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. 2, pp. 409–410; see also vol. 6, p. 375.
Prescott’s capture and cruelty: Diman, The Capture of General Richard Prescott.
British viewed the Continental Army as rebels: Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 23.
“Captured Americans created”: Anderson, “Treatment of Prisoners of War,” p. 66.
“Flour exhausted”: Stiles, History of the City of Brooklyn, vol. I, p. 341.
Problem of feeding an army and “The known shortage”: Jones, New York During the Revolutionary War, Vol. II, p. 425; and Force, Archives, 5th Series, vol. II, p. 838.
Prevailing practices of prisoner exchanges in Europe: Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 24.
Prisoners taken to castles in England and the Jersey: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 12; and Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 5.
American prisoners did not have “claims” and “Every American soldier”: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 18.
Gen. Washington’s writing to Gen. Gage in August 1775: Burrows, Forgotten Patriots, p. 37; letter “William Eden to Germain,” September 18, 1775. Additional letters from Washington to Gage and Howe written in 1775: Force, Archives, 4th Series, vol. 3, pp. 245–246; Ranlet, “Tory David Sproat,” p. 188; Jordan, “Colonel Elias Boudinot,” pp. 460–461; Sterling, “American Prisoners of War,” pp. 376–378; and Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), vol. VII, pp. 4–5, “George Washington to Lord Richard Howe,” January 13, 1777.
Gage’s responses, “The Britons”: Force, Archives, vol. 3, pp. 246, 328.
Gen. Washington’s reaction to prisoners being murdered in 1775: Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 8; Force, Archives, 4th Series, vol. 3, p. 712; and Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), vol. 7, p. 246.
Letter to Gen. Howe, “It is hoped that the possession”: Force, Archives, 4th Series, vol. 4, p. 903; “Lord George Germain to Sir William Howe,” February 1, 1776. Additional Howe letters: Letter, “William Howe to Lord Dartmouth,” December 14, 1775, in Public Record Office, London, CO 5/93-f, pp. 14–15; see also “George Washington to Thomas Jefferson,” November 23, 1779, in Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), vol. XVII, pp. 166–167; and Ranlet, New York Loyalists, pp. 108–110.
Estimates that one of every three Americans taken prisoner perished: Amerman, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 257.
Washington’s complaining to Howe in March 1777, “Those who have lately”: O’Malley, “Fortune of War”; and Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 36.
“Washington to Howe,” January 13, 1777, and “I am sorry”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, pp. 35–36. Washington ended his letter of October 13, 1777, with the warning “You may call us”: DeWan, “Wretched Prison Ships.” “I would beg”: Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, pp. 36–37.
Gen. Montgomery also complained about prisoners: Force, Archives, 4th Series, p. 1138.
Washington believed British cruelty was to promote enlistments, “It is preposterously”: Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), vol. 10, p. 65, November 14, 1777. Other letters: Washington, Writings (ed. Fitzpatrick), “Washington to de Grasse,” October 13, 1781, “to oblige them,” vol. 23, p. 255, and “Washington to Laurens,” July 10, 1782, vol. 24, p. 421.
Washington’s letter to Howe complaining about prisoners (“Similarly”): Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 37.
Washington’s letter to Digby (“if the fortune of war”): Taylor, Martyrs to the Revolution, p. 34.
Robert Morris’s complaints: “To the Board of War,” September 29, 1781, in Morris, Papers, vol. 2, p. 374.
“Jefferson to Demeunier,” June 26, 1786, and “so long without”: Jefferson, Memoirs, vol. 1, p. 428.
Washington’s response to Howe’s request for an exchange (“I shall redeem”): Force, Archives, 5th Series, vol. 2, p. 438; see also Howe’s letter to Washington, p. 464.
Washington’s meeting with Patterson, “Col. Patterson then proceeded”: O’Malley, “July 20, 1776.”
Howe’s realization the war would be long and the details of the first large prisoner exchange in 1777: Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, p. 29.
“Exchanging seamen for soldiers”: Armbruster, Wallabout Prison Ships, p. 11.
“The su
ffering of seamen”: Onderdonk, Revolutionary Incidents, p. 233.
The British kept taking more prisoners: Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, p. 32.
“Unfit for exchange”: Allen, Naval History, vol. 2, p. 263.
Loring and “deplorable condition”: White, “Thomas Andros,” p. 519; and Andros, Old Jersey Captive, pp. 20, 23.
One of the earliest exchanges: Stone, “Experiences of a Prisoner,” p. 529.
Connecticut prisoners who died after their release: Caulkins, History of New London, p. 527.
Lt. Oliver Babcock story: Lindsey, “Treatment of American Prisoners,” p. 11.
Congress gives Washington the right to retaliate: United States Continental Congress, Journals, vol. XIV, pp. 27–28.
CHAPTER 13. JULY 4
A “very corpulent old woman”: Dring, Recollections, p. 75. Descriptions of the woman and prisoners, including “distress,” “famished wretches,” and “Whenever I bought”: Dring, p. 76. The prisoners’ awaiting Dame Grant “always faithfully” and “awaited with extreme”: Dring, pp. 76–77.
The “sutler”: Dring, Recollections, p. 79. Items brought aboard the ship: Dring, p. 79; and Sherburne, Memoirs, p. 113.
Andros quotes on religion: Andros, Old Jersey Captive, p. 13. Andros’s remembering poems: Andros, p. 14.
Dring’s descriptions of Cooper: Dring, Recollections, pp. 89–90. Cooper’s sermons and the warning to him: Dring, pp. 90–92. Cooper’s criticism of Sproat and quotes: Dring, pp. 90–92. Disappearance of Cooper: Dring, p. 95.
Impressment of sailors and new recruits: Watson, America’s First Crisis, pp. 5, 15–17. Use of press gangs: P. Allen, History of the American Revolution, vol. II, p. 257.
Amherst plan: Letter, “Gen. James Robertson to Lord Amherst,” January 25, 1782, in Klein and Howard, Twilight of British Rule, p. 236.
Admiral Arbuthnot and press gangs: Lowenthal, Hell on the East River, p. 49.
Fox’s crewmates being conscripted: Fox, Adventures, p. 94. “The idea”: Fox, pp. 94–95. “Conceived the design”: Fox, p. 95. Fox quotes “A British officer” and “almost envied”: Dandridge, American Prisoners, p. 271.