History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

Documentary History 55
The treatment of the American prisoners by the British
authorities in New York during the Revolutionary War forms
the saddest chapter of its history. Th^ prison house, the prison
ship, and the hospital ship revealed a loftier and purer patriotism
than did any battle field.
The authors of school histories and other histories have
rung the changes—and rightly—on the heroism and bravery
of the men who fought at Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Princeton,
Yorktown and at other places in the war of the Revolution;
they have depicted in vivid colors the terrible sufferings of the
soldiers at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-8 ; but strange
to say in not many instances has any extended reference been
made to the prison ship martyrs. Truly the omissions and
mistakes of history are remarkable. A certain writer said,
"history is an approximation to the truth." This definition
has many illustrations. A veteran statesman is reported to
have said that most histories are false, save in name and dates,
while a good novel is generally a truthful picture of real life,
false only in name and dates. There is often in this statement
more than a shadow of truth.
As the Jersey, which embodies many of the worst features
of the prison and hospital ships, was the scene of such tragedies,
a brief description of her may be given.
*'
John Quincy Adams says : Posterity delights in details.
The Jersey was a sixty-four gun English frigate was dismantled
because unfit for use ; was anchored in the Wallabout
in 1780, possibly at an earlier date. The port holes were closed
and secured.
Two tiers of holes were cut through about two feet square
and about ten feet apart, strongly guarded by a grating of iron
bars. Her only spar was a bowsprit; she had a derrick for
hoisting supplies on board—^it looked like a gallows—nothing
more save a flagstaff at the stern and a barricade.
The barricade was about ten feet high, pierced with loop
holes for musketry, in order that the prisoners might be fired
on from behind it if occasion should require. The appearance
of the Jersey was forbidding, gloomy and dismal. The prisoners
when approaching her were horror stricken, knowing the
treatment they were to receive. No wonder the name "hell
afloat" was appHed to her. There were two main decks, the
lower was occupied by prisoners of foreign birth; the upper by
natives who numbered a very large majority of all the prisoners
; they were mainly from the North and probably not less
than a third of them from Massachusetts. The cooking
apparatus for the prisoners consisted of a large copper kettle
which would contain between two and three hogsheads of water;
"