All the Colonial News That's Fit to Print
1776-1781
"It Takes Thousands Of Casualties To Make A Great Military General"
By James Rice
Prison
Ships found on Wallabout Bay
in New York Harbor
were some of the most
gru
esome sights
anyone had ever seen. Almost 13,000 colonists died on
these prison ships. That's triple the amount of the American
casualties in any battle of the Revolution. The bodies of the
prisoners
found on these ships were so frail that the bones were sticking out due
to the little food given to them when they were alive. The smell
of feces, vomit, rotting
bodies, and urine was all over the ship due to
the fact that
the British barely cleaned these ships to make conditions even
harsher
for the prisoners. The colonists that found these bodies were
both sickened and infuriated at the British
for being this merciless to
American prisoners. George
Washington would
quote: "The
savageness of the British King will not go unanswered, I promise you
that."After the Battle Of Long Island in August of 1776, the British had captured a great number of colonists, and needed a place to keep them because their available prisons were already overflowing with American prisoners. As they thought about places to keep these prisoners, they remembered the aging vessels that were no longer useful for sea warfare. The commanding officers decided to use turn these vessels into maritime prison ships,and transported all Americans that weren't imprisoned onto these ships. Living on these ships would become the most tra
gic
experience anybody had ever
witnessed. Once the colonists were b
rought onto
these ships, they
weren't chained, but
were forced to stay below deck by the ship's
guards. During harsh weather
conditions the shutters letting
fresh air into this lower deck were closed, so
the prisoners had barely
enough air to breathe, and the terrible smells only made
these moments
twice as difficult. The "Jersey" was the worst of
these ships, and is said to have contributed
about 8,000 of the
near
13,000 American
casualties. There were only 2 men fortunate and
intelligent enough to figure out a way to escape from these
ships.
These two men were Christopher
Vail & Robert
Sheffield, and they have
supplied nearly all the information used to
conclude our description of these terrible tragedies. I consider
these men heroes
of this time period because they were able to do something no one else
could. However, a tremendous disappointment is the fact that no
Americans were able to successfully mutiny and kill any of the British
commanders of
these boats.Finding these ships was a tremendous blow to the heart of the colonial army. After grieving over all of their lost men, the colonists used their rage to continue fighting against the British until there was no breath left in their bodies, and they were able to fly their flag with dignity. They achieved their goal, and now these fallen prisoners are honored by the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park.
| Number
Of Prison Ship
Escapes: |
2 |
| Number Of Prison
Ship Deaths: |
12,867 |