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MARTYRS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
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MARTYRS 
 
 TO THE REVOLUTION 
 
 IN THE 
 
 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 WALLABOUT BAY. 
 
 r 
 
 ^" . .o. ' 
 
 i^ 
 
 N ENA^- Y O R K: 
 
 W. H. ARTHUR & CO., STATIONERS, 
 
 No. 39 NASSAU-STREET. 
 MjDCCCLV. 
 
 ' VvV ■ \\ 
 

INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The truth has recently found notice, that there has been 
 gathered beneath no monumental pile, the dust of those hundreds 
 upon hundreds of our fathers, who, by their heroic patriotism 
 and daring love of liberty, were impelled, in the great crisis in 
 our country's history, to serve in our then infant navy ; and 
 who, through British cruelty, were sacrificed to the sacred cause 
 of that Revolution, in prison-ships in the Wallabout Bay ! The 
 fact has come to engage attention, that, for seventy-five years, 
 Americans have reaped, in almost thoughtless joy, their harvests 
 of gold, from a soil, the producing vigor of which is in the 
 ashes of those martyrs, without the wonderful truths connected 
 with their inheritance adequately resting in their understandings, 
 and with no worthy degree of gratitude expressed, in written 
 record or enduring memorial, of those who thus, for the end set 
 before them — the good and glory of their country — counted not 
 their lives dear unto them ! 
 
 Upon the shores of the Wallabout, in the sands of which lie 
 whatever is unscattered of the remains of those worthies, a 
 movement has begun, designed to redeem the obligation, with 
 
{V INTRODUCTION. 
 
 respect to them, which neglect in the past has entailed upon this 
 generation. Americans associated, in the County of Kings, by 
 representation in a Convention, sought and obtained needed in- 
 formation in the premises, and have formed and organized a 
 Board of Direction, to act efficiently in this great interest. At 
 their instance, George Taylor, Esq., of the City of Brooklyn, 
 prepared, and furnished for such use as might be deemed best to 
 subserve the undertaking, the Address which these remarks are 
 intended by the Committee on Publication to introduce. 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 The story of the Prisons in the City of 
 New-York, and of the Prison-Ships in the 
 Whallabocht Bay, during the war for our In- 
 dependence, is the darkest in the history of 
 our Revolutionary struggle. War, at all 
 times dreadful, here assumed its most fearful 
 character. Occasional acts of inhumanity 
 and cowardly brutality, committed in the 
 heat of battle, when the thirst for blood is 
 whetted by its indulgence, may be excused, 
 as the temporary triumph of passion and 
 vengeance over reason and humanity; but 
 for the cold, calculating cruelty, regularly 
 adopted, and steadily pursued towards our 
 unfortunate countrymen, there was no ex- 
 cuse. The voice of civilization and human- 
 
6 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 ity crietl out against it ; and the results 
 proved that an insulted Providence frowned 
 upon it with fearful indignation. 
 
 Savage uations sometimes put their pris- 
 oners to death ; but this has never been 
 openly practiced by the civilized nations of 
 the earth. The custom of the cultivated 
 nations of antiquity, of selling their prison- 
 ers into slavery, met the most positive re- 
 probation in the beginning of the Feudal 
 Ages; and the system of ransom which was 
 then adopted, yielded, early in the Seven- 
 teenth Century, to the more liberal and hu- 
 mane policy of exchange of prisoners under 
 cartels. Until that exchange took place, 
 the law of nations, as well as the principles 
 of humanity, required the belligerent parties 
 to provide proper accommodations for tlieir 
 prisoners, and to supply them with healthy 
 food, and, in case of sickness, with proper 
 medical attendance. How England observ- 
 ed these rules, in the case of our imprisoned 
 countrymen, the civilized nations of the 
 world may judge. 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 7 
 
 The battle of Brooklyn, and the capture 
 of Fort Washington, in the fall of 1776, 
 put the British in possession of nearly four 
 thousand prisoners ; and by the arrest of 
 citizens supposed to sympathize with the 
 patriots, they soon increased the number to 
 five thousand. Our enemies were now com- 
 pelled to adopt the system of parole, or to 
 turn all the public and other large buildings 
 in New- York into prisons for their recep- 
 tion. Their feelings of humanity, as well 
 as their cowardly policy, led them to adopt 
 the latter course ! The churches, and sugar- 
 houses, and prisons, were crowded with the 
 unfortunate patriots to such an extent, in 
 some instances, that there was not space for 
 them to he down to rest. And among them, 
 they threw their own criminals, vile wretches 
 gathered from the purlieus of their large 
 cities, as if they were fit associates for 
 men whose only crime had been love of 
 country and of liberty. But this moral pes- 
 tilence did not suffice to gratify their 
 malice ; for into these crowded prisons they 
 
8 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 scattered the seeds of disease and death. 
 The prisoners were poorly fed, on worm-eaten 
 bread, and peas, and putrid beef, which, not 
 unfrequently, they were compelled to eat in 
 its raw state ; and the more surely to accom- 
 plish the objects contemplated, those sick 
 with small-pox and infectious fevers were left 
 among them unattended, without medicines 
 to relieve them, or water to cool their parch- 
 ed lips. Denied the light and air of heaven, 
 and starved by their inhuman keepers, and 
 broken-hearted by the supplications and 
 groans of their distressed kindred and coun- 
 trymen, they sickened and died, and were 
 thrown like dogs into their native soil, unless 
 it happened to be the good pleasure of Cun- 
 ningham, their infamous jailer, to march 
 them out under the cover of midnight dark- 
 ness, to the gallows and the grave. " The 
 mode of these private executions was thus 
 conducted," says the miserable wretch Cun- 
 ningham, in his confession, at his own ex- 
 ecution for crime soon after the close of the 
 war : " a guard was dispatched from the Pro- 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 9 
 
 vost, about half-past twelve at night, to the 
 Barrack-street and the neiohborhood of the 
 upper barracks, to order the people to shut 
 their window-shutters and put out their 
 lights, forbidding them at the same time to 
 presume to look out of their windows and 
 doors on pain of death ; after which the un- 
 fortunate prisoners were conducted, gagged, 
 just behind the upper barracks, and hung 
 without ceremony, and buried by the black 
 pioneer of the Provost." In this manner, 
 there were about two hundred and sixty 
 American prisoners murdered without cause, 
 and in violation of every law, human and 
 Divine. 
 
 While Cunningham was committing these 
 horrid deeds, as a matter of private specula- 
 tion or revenge, and by the orders of his 
 superiors, other monsters were preparing the 
 instruments of destruction on this side of the 
 river. The vessels which they had previous- 
 ly converted into prison-ships, at Gravesend 
 Bay, were now removed to the Hudson and 
 East Rivers, where they were anchored for 
 
10 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 the same purposes. The soldiers taken pris- 
 oners on Long Ishmd, and confined in these 
 vessels, were transferred to the prisons in 
 New- York, to make room for the marine 
 prisoners, now rapidly accumulating. 
 
 About the 20th day of October. 1776, the 
 
 Whitby, a large transport, was removed to 
 
 the Whallabocht Bay, and moored opposite 
 
 jowon's " Remsen's Mill," as shown on the map. She 
 
 Account. 
 
 was the first prison-ship moored in the Whal- 
 labocht, and was crowded with prisoners 
 when she arrived. Many prisoners from the 
 army, and citizens arrested on suspicion, 
 were confined in her, which was not the case 
 with the other prison-ships. The Whitby 
 was said to be the most sickly of all the 
 hulks. While this appears almost impossible, 
 facts justify the assertion. She was the only 
 prison-ship in the Bay until May, 1777; and 
 during two months in the spring of that year 
 the entire beach, between the ravine and 
 Remsen's Dock, was filled with graves; and 
 before the first day of May, the ravine itself 
 was filled with the remains of the hundreds 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 11 
 
 who died from pestilence, or were starved to 
 death in this dreadful prison. 
 
 In May, 1777, two more ships were an- 
 chored in the Whallabocht, and the prisoners 
 of the Whitby were transferred to them ; but 
 the same causes made them almost as sickly 
 as their predecessor. At this time, no ex- 
 chano^es took place, but death made room 
 
 * J h ' 
 
 for the daily arrivals* On a Sunday after- Account 
 noon, about the middle of October, 1777, one 
 of these vessels was burnt, and many prison- 
 ers perished in the flames. A second was 
 consumed in February, 1778. These were 
 succeeded by others — the Good Hope, Scor- 
 pion, Prince of Wales, John, Falmouth, Hun- 
 ter, Stromboli, and Old Jersey, all of which 
 were used in this disgraceful service. And| 
 in them thousands of our unfortunate coun-| 
 try men suffered and died from the inhuman 
 treatment received from the English. So 
 great was their suffering, that they were in- 
 duced to set fire to the ships, which were 
 burnt, hoping thus either to secure their 
 liberty, or hasten their death. 
 
12 BEITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 " Better the greedy wave should swallow all, 
 Better to meet the death-conducting ball, 
 Better to sleep on ocean's oozy bed, 
 At once destroyed and numbered with the dead, 
 Than thus to perish in the face of day, 
 Where twice ten thousand deaths one death delay." 
 
 Freneau. 
 
 While one of these ships was in flames, 
 the prisoners were seen letting each other 
 down from the port-holes and decks into the 
 water. How many perished in the hulks is 
 unknown, except to the All-knowing, who 
 witnessed their sufl'erings, and registered 
 their wrongs. 
 
 But of all these terrible prison-ships, the 
 Old Jeksey, the " Hell," as she was called, was 
 the most notorious. She was originally a 
 
 Andros'g 
 
 Account, gjxty.four gun-ship, which had become unfit 
 for actual service. After a battle with the 
 French fleet, in which she was much in- 
 jured, she was dismantled, her spars and rig- 
 ging removed, and her figure-head taken to 
 repair another ship. Thus, without orna- 
 ment, an old, unsightly hulk, whose dark and 
 filthy external appearance fitly represented 
 the death and despair that reigned within. 
 
BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 13 
 
 she was anchored in April, 1778, in the 
 Whallabocht Bay, for the reception of pris- 
 oners, and to hide between her decks crimes 
 too horrid for the eye of day — crimes which 
 must forever remain a black spot and a shame 
 on the pages of English history. 
 
 For the purposes of a prison-ship, she was 
 stripped of every thing warlike ; and the bow- 
 sprit, which was used as a derrick for taking 
 in supplies, was all that was left on deck. 
 Her port-holes were closed and fastened, and 
 four small holes, about twenty inches square, 
 were cut in her sides for the admission of air. 
 These holes, about ten feet apart, were 
 secured by strong iron bars, crossing each 
 other at rio^ht ano^les. While they " admit- ,?""f'" 
 
 o <5 J JNarrative. 
 
 ted the light by day, and served as breathing 
 holes at night," their arrangement did not 
 permit a free current of air between decks, 
 where the prisoners were confined from sun- 
 down to sun-rise, having little or no commu- 
 nication with the upper deck during these 
 dismal hours. 
 
 Her position was nearly opposite the 
 
14 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 mouth of the old mill-race, and about three 
 hundred yards from the shore. South-east 
 of her, at the distances of two and three 
 hundred yards, the Falconer, Good Hope, 
 and Hunter, were anchored. These were 
 called hospital-ships, but the sick were sel- 
 dom removed to them, until past all hope of 
 recovery, and then it was an ae^oravation, 
 Narrative. ^^^ ^ rclicf, to thc uufortunatc sufferers. In 
 
 Johnson's 
 
 Account, fact, the idea of a hospital-ship was a mockery ; 
 for the prisoners were suffered to sicken and 
 die without the least sympathy or attention. 
 The festering plague-spots, called hospital- 
 ships, were kept upon the Bay probably for 
 the sake of an historical record, but certain- 
 ly not for the purposes of humanity. The Old 
 Jersey was the receiving ship in this death- 
 recruiting station, and the hospital-ships 
 were the iplaces where they were sowed up 
 in blankets, preparatory to an honorable, but 
 not very humane, discharge from the service. 
 Sick or well, the prisoners were abandoned 
 
 Andres, 
 
 page 15. i^Q their fate. During the period of Andros's 
 confinement, no English physician was seen 
 
BEITISH PEISON-SHIPS. 15 
 
 on the hulks ; and others testify to the same 
 cruel Heglect. 
 
 "All the most deadly diseases were pressed 
 into the service of the king of terrors ; dys- 
 entery, small-pox, and yellow-fever, acting 
 as prime ministers. * * * The whole ship, 
 from her keel to the taffrail, was equally 
 affected, and contained pestilence sufficient 
 to desolate a world ; disease and death were 
 wrought into her very timbers." 
 
 The appearance of the Old Jeesey as she 
 lay in the Whallabocht, is graphically des- 
 cribed by Capt. Dring. Leaving New- York, 
 together with 130 prisoners, brought in by 
 the British ship Belisarius, he proceeded to 
 the place of their imprisonment under the 
 charge of the notorious David Sproat, Com- 
 missary of Prisoners. " We at length D^i^^^g 
 doubled the Point," he says, " and came in p.le.'^^' 
 view of the Wallabout, where lay before us 
 the black hulk of the Old Jeesey, with her 
 satellites, the three hospital ships, to which 
 Sproat pointed in an exulting manner, and 
 said, ' There, Rebels, there is the cage for 
 
16 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 you ! ' * * As he spoke, my eye was in- 
 stantly turned from the dreaded hulk ; but a 
 single glance had shown us a multitude of 
 human beings moving ujDon her upper deck. 
 It was then nearly sun-set, and before we 
 were alongside, every man, except the senti- 
 nels on the gangway, had disappeared. Pre- 
 vious to their being sent below, some of the 
 prisoners, seeing us approaching, waved their 
 hats, as if they would say, approach us not ; 
 and we soon found fearful reason for the 
 warning." While waiting along-side for or- 
 ders, some of the prisoners addressed them 
 through the air-holes, which we have des- 
 cribed. One of them said, " that it is a 
 lamentable thing to see so many young men 
 in full strength, with the flush of health upon 
 their countenances, about to enter that in- 
 fernal place of abode. Death, he said, had 
 no relish for such skeleton carcases as we 
 are ; but he will now have a feast upon you 
 fresh comers." The 130 new comers were 
 registered and sent below ; but they could 
 not sleep, the intolerable heat and foul air 
 
«• 
 
 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 17 
 
 was too much for endurance. They sought 
 the ail-holes, but these were occupied; and 
 the law of self-preservation appeared to 
 ^ justify the parties in keeping possession. 
 The crowded condition of the hulk prevented 
 them from moving about, so that they were 
 forced to sit down half suffocated and wait 
 the coming of the morning. Thus they 
 passed the first dreadful night, with sorrow- 
 ful forebodings of the approaching day, 
 which was destined to present new scenes 
 of wretchedness and woe, in the crowd of 
 strange and unknown forms, with the hnes 
 of death and famine upon their faces. 
 
 " On every side, dire objects met the sight, 
 And pallid forms, and murders of the night." 
 
 The prisoners were confined on the two 
 lower decks; the foreign prisoners generally 
 in the lower one. It appears that they were, 
 if possible, more cruelly treated than the 
 Americans. This cannot be accounted for, 
 unless through some local feeling, for it was 
 contrary to the course generally pursued by 
 the English. A marked distinction was 
 
 2 
 
18 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 made between the prisoners confined at 
 Plymouth, in England. The Americans 
 were treated with less humanity than the 
 French and Spanish, and were allowed only 
 half the quantity of bread per day. Their 
 
 p. 152. 
 
 British 
 Annual 
 
 iTsT, petitions for relief, offered by Mr. Fox, in 
 the House of Commons, and by the Duke 
 of Richmond, in the House of Lords, were 
 treated with contempt ; while the French 
 and Spanish had few or no complaints to 
 make. But in the Old Jeesey, they were 
 covered with rags and dirt, and appeared to be 
 past all feeling or expectation of escape. 
 Broken, crushed by the iron heel of despo- 
 tism, — neglected, forgotten, they had no 
 hope to cheer them. 
 
 There are few who could have avoid- 
 ed similar feelings of indifference to life, 
 under such appalling circumstances. It 
 was almost foolish to look forward for 
 relief, or escape. If they succeeded in 
 scaling the barricade which surrounded 
 the deck, they only exposed themselves 
 to the deadly fire of the guards, or to 
 the risk of being cut to pieces before reach- 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 19 
 
 ing the shore. Many poor fellows tried this 
 experiment, and paid the forfeiture of their 
 lives in the attempt. 
 
 The guards were forbidden, under pain of 
 severe punishment, to relieve the wants of 
 the distressed; and, in this particular, dis- 
 obedience was never known. Their's was 
 the law of the Medes and the Persians, 
 which knew no change, and admitted no 
 appeal. 
 
 The petitions of the suffering and sick 
 were frequently answered with the foot or 
 the bayonet. William Burke, from New- 
 port, Delaware, says, that he was confined 
 in the Old Jersey fourteen months, and that 
 he saw, among other cruelties, many Ameri- 
 can prisoners put to death by the bayonet. 
 This cruel treatment was never in the least 
 relaxed by the English or Scotch ; but, some- 
 times, the more humane Hessians evinced 
 pity for the unfortunate sufferers. During 
 the hot weather, the prisoners were admit- Hist of 
 ted, one at a time, oh deck through the night, p 
 When this great privilege was granted, they 
 
 the 
 
 Martyrs., 
 . 89 
 
20 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 assembled in a crowd around the grate at 
 the hatcliway, for the purpose of getting 
 fresh air, and to take their turn to go on 
 deck. Frequent!}^, when this was the case, 
 the sentinels would thrust their bayonets 
 down among them with the most wanton 
 cruelty. Twenty-five were thus butchered 
 in one night. Other witnesses speak of 
 four, six, eight, and ten victims thus mur- 
 Andross dercd at different times. The suffering from 
 
 Account, 
 
 P ^* thirst during the hot nights was intense, but 
 it was extremely dangerous to approach the 
 port-hole to ascend for water. " Provoked 
 by the continual cry for leave to ascend, 
 when there was already one on deck, the 
 sentry would push them back with the 
 bayonet." By one of those thrusts, which 
 was more spiteful and violent than common, 
 Andros barely escaped with his life. 
 
 On the 4th day of July, 1782, the prison- 
 ers suffered the most brutal treatment, be- 
 cause they presumed to remember the 
 Brings birth-day of our Independence. Their little 
 banners were torn down and trampled under 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 21 
 
 foot by the guard ; and, for the crime of sing- 
 ing a few patriotic songs, they were driven, at 
 the point of the bayonet, below deck, long 
 before the usual hour. Such music had no 
 charms for the Scotch guard on duty. The 
 spirit of liberty found no response in their 
 breasts. The heroes and heroism of their 
 native Highlands had been forgotten in the 
 trade of war. The voice of suffering, and 
 the eloquence of death, made no impression 
 on their hardened hearts. After they had 
 been sent below, and the hatches were clos- 
 ed, the prisoners thought that they might, 
 without giving further offence, cheer each 
 other up by a few songs of affection for their 
 bleeding country. But this privilege was re- 
 fused them ; and because they did not in- 
 stantly heed that refusal, the guards went 
 down among them, with lanterns in one 
 hand and cutlasses in the other, and, driving 
 the crowd of defenceless victims before them, 
 they cut and wounded all within their reach. 
 Then, to gratify their hellish feelings, they 
 closed the hatches and left the wounded 
 
22 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 and dying, in darkness, without the least 
 means of dressing their wounds, or stopping 
 the flow of blood. Still further to aggra- 
 vate the sufferings of this dreadful night, the 
 poor allowance of food and water was denied, 
 and their dying petitions were mocked by 
 those cruel monsters. Ten mangled and 
 lifeless bodies were turned out in the morn- 
 ing, a most gratifying evidence to the guards, 
 that their brave attack upon the unarmed 
 and the sick, had been successful. 
 
 This act of fiendish brutality was equalled, 
 if not surpassed, by the commander of the 
 Stromboli. The treatment of the prisoners 
 on this ship was so intolerable that it pro- 
 Taibot'sdiiced a revolt, in which many of the pris- 
 oners were either killed or wounded. But 
 order was soon restored, and the dead and 
 dying were thrown upon deck. One poor 
 fellow, lying almost exhausted by a mortal 
 wound, begged of the Captain, "for God's 
 sake to give him a little water, for he was 
 dying." The brave officer, placing a light 
 before him, exclaimed : " What ! is it you — 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 33 
 
 damn you ! take that, you damn'd rebel ras- 
 cal," and dashed his foot into the face of the 
 dying man ! And he took it, and, dying, bore 
 this insult to humanity, fresh to the throne 
 of a just and an avenging God. 
 
 During the imprisonment of Talbot, there 
 were eleven hundred prisoners in the Jersey, 
 which was the number usually confined in 
 her, without berths to lie down on, or 
 benches to sit upon, and many of them were 
 almost naked. The allowance of clothing 
 was scanty, and its quality outrageous, and 
 the conduct of the guards as brutal as it 
 was possible for it to be ; while dysentery, 
 fever, small-pox, and the recklessness of de- 
 spair, filled the hulk with filth of the most 
 disgusting character. In such a place, the 
 mingled sick, and dying, and dead, presented 
 a scene too horrible to contemplate, and 
 from which the coldest heart must have 
 turned away. 
 
 But every spark of humanity had fled 
 from the breasts of their guards. The. only 
 sympathy ever received, was from the Hes- 
 
24 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 sians when they were on duty, and that was 
 but Httle. The EngHsh and Scotch seemed 
 to vie with each other in their refined cruel- 
 ty, and were as httle moved by these scenes 
 of suffering and death, as the ship's timbers 
 which surrounded the prisoners, or the 
 bayonets by which they were so unneces- 
 sarily wounded. 
 
 " At every post some surly vagrant stands, 
 CuU'd from the English or the Scottish bands, 
 Dispensing death." 
 
 Old Jersey " Thc lowcr lioM aud the orlop deck were 
 
 Captive. * 
 
 P ^® such a terror, that no man would venture 
 down into them. Humanity would have 
 dictated a more merciful treatment to a 
 band of pirates, who had been condemned 
 and were only awaiting the gibbet, than to 
 have sent them here." But, in the view of 
 the English, the prisoners were rebels and 
 traitors. They had risen against the mother 
 country in an unjust and wanton civil war, 
 and were receiving the just punishment of 
 their rebellion. 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 25 
 
 In 1782, when Alexander Coffin was sent^ilrtyrt' 
 a prisoner on board of the Old Jersey, he ''""'' 
 found about eleven Ai^/i^/rec? prisoners there, 
 many of whom, during the severity of the 
 winter, were without clothing to keep them 
 warm. To remedy this difficulty, they were 
 compelled to keep below, and either get into 
 their hammocks, or walk the deck, which 
 was almost impossible. In this way, they 
 could keep from freezing, by using great ef- 
 
 r» I-.. 4. • Sher- 
 
 torts, but It was not always done. We have ,^'"''' 
 
 •^ Memoirs, 
 
 an account of one poor fellow whose feet'''^'"' 
 and legs were frozen. Mr. Sherburne saw 
 the toes and flesh fall from his feet, while 
 the nurse was dressing them. 
 
 To cap the chmax of infamy, Coffin says, 
 they fed the prisoners on putrid beef and 
 pork, and worm-eaten bread, which had been 
 condemned on their ships of war. It was 
 full of vermin, but they had to eat it, worms 
 and all, or starve. On the upper gun-deck, capt-Ti^ 
 hogs were kept in pens for the use of the 
 officers. When they were fed with bran, 
 the prisoners would steal it from the trough, 
 
26 BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 
 
 and, after boiling it, would eat it with as good 
 an appetite as the hogs themselves. 
 
 They were sometimes denied the use of 
 fire, for several days in succession, and were 
 thus compelled to eat their meat raw. When 
 fire was allowed, it was confined to a large 
 copper boiler, which had been corroded by 
 the use of salt water. Into this poisonous 
 place, they were compelled to put their meat, 
 and to take it out again at a particular time, 
 whether cooked or not. To the use of this 
 corroded boiler, and the filthy bilge-water 
 which they drank in the absence of better, 
 Capt. Dring attributed much of their sick- 
 ness. Light was not permitted at night, 
 and the hulk was so crowded, that the pris- 
 oners could not move without treading upon 
 each other. Their rest was broken by the 
 groans of the sick and dying, and by the 
 curses poured out upon their inhuman keep- 
 ers by those who had been driven into deli- 
 rium by the suffocating heat and poisoned 
 air. The dying, in their last convulsive 
 agonies, frequently threw themselves across 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 27 
 
 their sick companions ; and, as the sick were 
 unable to remove the hfeless bodies, they 
 were compelled to wait until morning, with 
 their comrades stretched upon their own ex- 
 hausted frames. 
 
 Sher- 
 
 Andrew Sherburne was removed from the bumes 
 
 Memoirs, 
 
 Old Jersey to the hospital-ship Weymouth, v^s^^^^ 
 where he found the brothers, John and Abra- 
 ham Fall. The Falls were lying sick on the 
 same cot, not far from the one he occupied, 
 but they were not able to visit each other. 
 The sick in the hospital-ships were too feeble 
 to help themselves, and the nurses took more 
 interest in their death, than they did in re- 
 lieving their wants. Their clothing and 
 blankets, however poor, were a sufficient re- 
 ward for their neglect, and generally over- 
 came their feelings of humanity. When 
 present, they spent their time in playing 
 cards, while the suffering prisoners were im- 
 ploring them for water, or some other little 
 attention. But, generally, they were out of 
 the way, and left the sick to take care of them- 
 selves. One night, when thus left alone, 
 
28 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 Abraham Fall plead with his brother John 
 to get otlfroni hiin; and tlie sick around swore 
 at John for his cruelty in lying on his 
 brother ; but John made no reply, he was 
 deaf to the cries of his brother, and beyond 
 the curses of the sufferinoi^ crowd. In the 
 morning, he was found dead ; and his brother 
 Abraham, whose exhausted strength had 
 given way under the pressure of the corpse, 
 was in a dying state. The sick were unable 
 to relieve them, and the nurses were not 
 there. 
 NariaSve Captaiu DHug describes the case of a poor 
 ^""^^ boy, only twelve years old, confined with him 
 on the Old Jersey. The little fellow had 
 been inoculated for the small-pox, which 
 disease the English had adopted as an ally 
 in their humane care of the prisoners. 
 "The boy was a member of the same mess 
 with myself," Dring says, " and had always 
 looked upon me as a protector, and particu- 
 larly so during his sickness. The night of 
 his death was truly a wretched one to me ; 
 for I spent almost the whole of it in perfect 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 29 ^ 
 
 darkness, holding him during his convulsions ; 
 and it was heart-rending to hear the screams 
 of the dying boy, while calling and imploring, 
 in his delirium, for the assistance of his 
 mother and other members of his family. 
 For a long time, all persuasion or argument 
 was useless to silence his groans and suppli- 
 cations. But exhausted nature, at length, 
 sunk under its agonies ; his screams became 
 less piercing, and his struggles less violent. 
 In the midnight gloom of our dungeon,! could 
 not see him die, but knew, by placing my 
 hand over his mouth, that his breathings were 
 becoming shorter; and thus felt the last 
 breath as it quitted his frame. The first 
 glimmer of morning light through the iron 
 grate fell upon his pallid and lifeless corpse." 
 This was the end, the result contemplated, 
 by the British in their brutal conduct. Noth- 
 ing was left untried that could injure or de- 
 stroy. They warred on decrepid old age — ^.^^ j^.^ 
 on defenceless youth. They committed hos- Addre?s,^ 
 tilities against professors of literature and the 
 ministers of religion — against public records 
 
30 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 and private manuscripts, books of improve- 
 ment, and papers of curiosity. They butch- 
 ered the wounded, asking for quarter ; 
 mangled the dead, weltering in their blood, 
 and refused them the rites of sepulture ; 
 suffered prisoners to perish for want of sus- 
 tenance ; insulted the persons of females ; 
 and, in their barbarism, profaned edifices 
 dedicated to Almighty God. 
 
 The wife of a dying prisoner was not 
 permitted to see him expire ; and because 
 she wept in her distress, the infamous Cun- 
 ningham had her stripped and unmercifully 
 punished. But, Cunningham and David 
 Sproat were not the only monsters in the 
 British service. A sailor, more humane than 
 his Royal Captain who wore the insignia 
 of British military honor, discovering that 
 Gavot, of Rhode Island, who had been 
 sewed up in his hammock, and thrown out 
 among the dead, was still living, called the 
 attention of his commander to the fact. 
 The courageous and humane captain repli- 
 ed, " In with him ; if he is not dead, he soon 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 31 
 
 will be." But, honor to the noble tar, he 
 refused to bury the living, and with his knife 
 ripped open the hammock, and loosed him 
 from the shackles of the grave. Let the 
 name of that commander be ascertained and 
 erased from the roll of humanity* As he 
 was destitute of all principle and feehng, let 
 him be no longer called— Man. 
 
 At sun-down, the prisoners were ordered 
 below deck. "Down, rebels, down," was the 
 elegant language of their guards; and in 
 the morning, after the suffering's of the nieht, 
 its long, anxious and painful watches, its 
 untold agonies, and unnumbered deaths, the 
 "Rebels" were commanded, in tones of de- 
 rision, to "turn out their dead." And the 
 dead were turned out from the living, mo- 
 tion, not appearance, frequently determining 
 the selection, and were sewed up in their 
 blankets, and carried by their companions, 
 under a guard, to the shore, and there hastily 
 buried. This was done so carelessly and 
 hastily, that each succeeding tide washed 
 out some of their remains. The corpses 
 
32 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 Drings were laid in the trenches without ceremonVj 
 
 Narrative, 
 
 ■^^^ and the sand hastily and thinly thrown over! 
 them, while the remains of those previously 
 interred with the same mockery, were ex- 
 posed to view. More than half of the dead 
 buried on the outer side of the mill-pond, 
 were washed out by the waves at high tide, 
 and their bones were exposed along the 
 beach, bleaching in the sun and whitening 
 the shore. The whole shore, from Rennie's 
 Johnson's Point to Remscu's door-yard, and from his 
 
 Recollec- ^ 
 
 tions. barn to Rapelje's farm, and the slopes of 
 the hill, and the sand island, between the 
 flood-gates and the mill-dam, were filled with 
 the remains of these martyrs. 
 
 Thus were thousands of our countrymen 
 inhumanly and cowardly murdered. It is 
 believed that not less than eleven thousand 
 perished in the Old Jersey alone. How 
 many were added to this number from the 
 other ships, God only knows ! The story is 
 too dreadful to dwell upon. Were it not 
 for the undoubted evidence of witnesses but 
 recently deceased, and of historians, who 
 
BEITISH PEISON-SHIPS. 33 , 
 
 suffered in the hulks, "which things they 
 saw, and of them were a part," and wrote 
 from their own painful recollections and the 
 monument of mouldering hones which lie 
 here, cherished by us as the sacred " relics 
 of freedom's martyrs," we might doubt the 
 facts. Nay, it would be natural for us to 
 hesitate to believe that our enemies were so 
 unmanly and brutal. Without all this evi- 
 dence, we would not be authorized to 
 blacken the pages of the history of one of 
 the most enlightened nations of the earth, 
 with crimes, which, to relate in common 
 terms, are sufficient to crimson the cheeks 
 of her people for ages to come. In the 
 language of one of our own noble officers, 
 God grant that the record of such crimes 
 may be opened up in heaven Bgainst our 
 enemies, and not against us! 
 
 The knowledge of these things was not 
 confined to the petty officers and guards 5 
 their superiors knew it ; and the ministers Debate 
 
 r» 1 Ti • '" Parlia- 
 
 of the English Government had knowledge j^^'"f*ox"s 
 of them. They were not the results of"""'''" 
 
34 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 circumstances, nor the fruits of temporary 
 passion. Their cruelty was a part of their 
 policy, deliberately and remorselessly pur- 
 sued. This was the just punishment of their 
 rebelhon, the patriots were told, and it was 
 better than they deserved. You deserve to 
 be hanged. Gen. Howe said, to Lieut. Duns- 
 Thatchers ^*o nib and his fellow prisoners, for your re- 
 mote bellion ; and you shall all be hanged! 
 " Hang, and be d — d," was Dunscomb's 
 reply. 
 
 General Washington remonstrated against 
 their cruel treatment, in a letter to Admiral 
 Digby, which was filled with the most touch- 
 ing and noble sentiments. " If the fortune' 
 of war, sir, has thrown a number of these 
 miserable people into your hands, I am cer- 
 tain your excellency's feelings for the men 
 must induce you to proportion the ships, (if 
 they must be confined on board ships,) to 
 their accommodation and comfort, and not, 
 by crowding them together in a ^^w ships, 
 bring on diseases which consign them by the 
 half-dozen in a day to the grave." 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 35 
 
 Before this, on the 13th day of January, 
 1777, he wrote in the following terms to 
 Howe: "I am sorry that I am under the 
 disagreeable necessity to trouble your Lord- 
 ship with a letter, almost wholly on the suh 
 ject of the cruel treatment which our officers 
 and men, in the naval department, who are 
 unhappy enough to fall into your hands, re- 
 ceive on board the prison-ships in the harbour 
 of New- York. Without descending to par- 
 ticulars, I shall ground my complaint upon 
 the matter contained in the enclosed paper^ 
 which is an exact copy of an account of the 
 usage of the prisoners, delivered to Congress 
 by one Captain Gamble, lately a prisoner 
 himself in New- York. If this account be 
 true, of which I have no reason to doubt, 
 as Captain Gamble is said to be a man of 
 veracity, I call upon your Lordship to say, 
 whether any treatment of your officers and 
 seamen has merited so severe a retaliation. 
 1 am bold to say, it has not. * * * * ^nj 
 I hope upon making the proper inquiry, you 
 will have the matter so regulated, that the 
 
36 BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 
 
 unhappy persons, in captivity, may not in 
 the future have the miseries of cold, disease, 
 and famine, added to their other misfortunes. 
 You may call us rebels, and say that we de- 
 serve no better treatment ; but, remember, 
 my Lord, that supposing us rebels, we still 
 have feelings equally as keen and sensible as 
 loyalists, and will, if forced to it, most assur- 
 edly retaliate upon those, upon whom we 
 look as the unjust invaders of our rights, 
 liberties, and properties. I should not have 
 said thus much ; but my injured countrymen 
 have long called upon me to endeavor to 
 obtain redress of their grievances ; and I 
 should think myself as culpable as those who 
 inflict such severities upon them, were I to 
 continue silent." And, again, he writes : 
 "Those who have lately been sent out, give 
 the most shocking account of their barba- 
 rous usage, which their miserable, emaciated 
 countenances confirm. * * * I would 
 beg, that some certain rule of conduct to- 
 wards prisoners may be settled ; and, if you 
 are determined to make captivity as distress- 
 
 J 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 37 
 
 ing as possible, let me know it, that we may 
 be upon equal terms, for your conduct must 
 and shall regulate mine." In closing this 
 letter he says, " Most of the prisoners who 
 have returned home, (this was by an ex- 
 change which had been agreed upon,) have 
 informed me, that they were offered better 
 treatment, provided they would enlist into 
 your service. This, I believe, is unprece- 
 dented, and, if true, makes it still more un- 
 necessary for me to apologize for the freedom 
 of expression which I have used through- 
 out this letter." 
 
 In 1782, Commissioner Skinner wrote to 
 the infamous Sproat. After charging him 
 with the basest falsehoods, he says, " I was 
 refused permission to visit the prison-ships, 
 for which I can conceive no other reason 
 than your being ashamed to have these 
 graves of our seamen seen by one who dar- 
 ed to represent the horrors of them to his 
 countrymen." 
 
 During all this time, every attempt to re- 
 lieve the sufferings of the prisoners, either 
 
38 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 by their friends or on the part of the Gov- 
 ernment, was ingeniously defeated. If nioney 
 or siippHes was sent, they were appropriated 
 by their jailors. If an exchange was agreed 
 
 Washing- .■ . .. 
 
 on's Pro upon, the prisoners were not sent out, until 
 
 test to 
 
 Howe ti^gy jmj been reduced to skeletons by star- 
 vation and disease. Thus, rendered unfit 
 for future service, they returned, many of 
 them only to find graves at home. 
 
 And in order to increase their misery, and 
 drive them to desperation, the prisoners were 
 told by the English officers, that they were 
 neglected by their Government — that ex- 
 change, except in a few instances, was re- 
 fused ; and that their sufferings resulted from 
 their own stubbornness; and, if they persist- 
 ed in it, they should suffer and die in their 
 filth. This stubbornness, which so much 
 excited the English, was evinced in their 
 refusal to enlist in the service of the king, 
 against their own country. If they would 
 commit this vile act, they were informed that 
 they could avoid the torture of the prison- 
 ships, the insults, and starvation, and sick- 
 
BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 39 
 
 ness, and ail the stages of their slow but 
 certain death. "You are treated too well waf,* 
 
 p. 76. 
 
 for rebels; you have not received half you 
 deserve, and half you shall receive ; but if 
 you will enlist in His Majesty's service, you 
 shall have victuals and clothing enough." 
 This was the language used to our unfortu- 
 nate seameti and soldiers. And to prove 
 the assertion that there was still worse treat- 
 ment in reserve for them, they put four of 
 our wounded officers into a dirt cart, and 
 drove them through the City of New- York, 
 " as objects of derision, reviled as rebels, and 
 treated with the utmost contempt ;" while 
 some were seated upon coffins, with ropes 
 around their necks, and driven to the gal- 
 lows, where they were derided and abused, 
 and then driven back to prison. The British ^7^;^;^*^ 
 officer, Fraser, told others, if they did not 
 join the English army, they should go to the 
 dungeons and prison-ships, to perish and to 
 rot, and their wives and children should be 
 forced to starve in the public streets, and to 
 curse them as the authors of their miserable 
 
40 BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 
 
 fate. Ill this instance, the souls of the 
 listening heroes were touched, and they 
 momentarily trembled under the terrible 
 sentence; but love of country triumphed 
 over love of family, and, as if moved by one 
 impulse, this glorious band of patriots thun- 
 dered in the astonished ears of their perse- 
 cutors, "the prison-ships and death, orj/ 
 Washington and our country." Death, orlj 
 the British service were the only alterna- 
 tives ; and the former, in almost every in- 
 stance, was preferred. Coffin, and Dring, 
 and others who suffered with them, say that 
 the prisoners resolved to bear everything 
 that their enemies might inffict, but never 
 to desert their country for a service which 
 their hearts detested. 
 
 It was this forced enlistment, that Wash- 
 ington characterized as " unprecedented,'^ 
 and he might have added, '^a violation of the 
 laws of nations." But it was as useless as 
 it was contemptible. With an eye of proud 
 disdain, and souls burning with the eternal 
 fire of liberty, the prisoners spurned the in- 
 
BRITISH PRISON. SHIPS. 41 
 
 suiting offer, as the reward of treason. 
 " Our country's liberty is dear to our souls," ^orltion^ 
 they could say, "it deserves a nnighty sacri-^;*^°f^*J^^ 
 fice ; let it be free, and our blood shall be ^^^^ 
 avenged ; it is for this we suffer, and for it we 
 are willing to die." 
 
 " Bodies fall by wild sword-law ; 
 
 But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw 
 Against a Champion cased in adamant." 
 
 This was the true nobility of patriotism — 
 the mighty spirit of liberty triumphing over 
 death — calm, resolute, unconquerable brave- 
 ry, defying torture, and starvation, and loath- 
 some disease, and the prospect of a neglected 
 and forgotten grave. There was no pros- 
 pect of glory to sustain them in their fearful 
 trials — no excitement of battle, in which 
 they might forget their danger and earn their 
 death. Such men could not be conquered. 
 Taken, imprisoned they might be; but con- 
 quered, never. Wounded, neglected, starved, 
 hurled without mercy into these nauseous 
 tombs of living victims, to die unhonored and 
 unknown ; and to be thrown upon the sand- 
 
42 BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 banks, a horrid repast for the birds of 
 prey, — this, all this they saw, and felt to be 
 impending ; but, with prophetic eyes they 
 also saw, beyond and above their individual 
 sufferings, the image of their country's liber- 
 ty rising triumphantly above their graves. 
 Death might seal their career, but victory 
 would crown their standard with eternal 
 freedom. For this they had fought, and for 
 it they were ready to die. Like the accom- 
 plished,the noble-hearted, and self-sacrificing^ 
 
 Washing- ' O 
 
 tonPa- Hale, whose life was so freely offered, and 
 
 7 Vol.. 11 11, 
 
 page 549. wlio lamcutcd only, that he had but one life 
 to lose for his country, they had considered 
 their position, — had weighed the objects of 
 the Revolution against the perils it involved, 
 and were ready to meet its results ; if not 
 on the field of battle in deadly conflict, 
 cheered by the shouts of victory ; then and 
 there, and in any way, so the principles of 
 self-government were established, and the 
 arm of tyranny was paralyzed. 
 
 Pericles, in his eloquent oration over the 
 bones of the Grecian heroes, said, the misery 
 
BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 43 
 
 which accompanies cowardice is far more 
 grievous to a man of high spirit, than the 
 unfelt death which comes upon him at once, 
 in the time of his strength and of his hope 
 for the common welfare. But these, our 
 countrymen, died amidst starvation and pov- 
 erty, where their strength was reduced by a 
 slow and cruel death, wasted by degrees, in 
 scenes of the most heart-rending character^ 
 If Grecian patriots merited a distinguished 
 tomb, and inscriptive columns rearing their 
 lofty heads to heaven, to tell of their glory, 
 as well as that unwritten memorial of the 
 heart, which all good men keep of their fel- 
 lows ; w hat, I ask, is due to the unnumbered 
 heroes and martyrs, whose bones lie mould- 
 ering here, unhonored even by the slightest 
 memorial ! 
 
 Our free institutions — this great and pros- 
 perous Republic, with its social, political and 
 religious liberties — are monuments to their 
 memory ; and God grant that they may con- 
 tinue so forever ! But here, on the spot 
 consecrated to liberty by the life of the im- 
 
44 BEITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 
 
 mortal Hale, and nurtured by the blood of 
 the unnumbered and unnamed victims of 
 barbarity, who " died in vindication of the 
 rights of man,'' there is no material Monu- 
 ment, the evidence of their country's remem- 
 brance and gratitude — no stone, bearing 
 the records of their patriotic devotion to 
 principle, and of their more than heroic 
 deaths ! 
 
 ^p" On page 23, eleventh line from the top. in part of the edition, clothing is 
 erroneously printed for the word food. 
 
 ^%. 
 
CONSTITUTION. 
 
 ARTICLE L 
 
 This Association shall be called " The Martyrs' Monument 
 Association." 
 
 ARTICLE IL 
 
 The object of this Association is, to erect a suitable Monu- 
 ment to the memory of those who died martyrs to the Revolu- 
 tion, in the British Prison-Ships in the Wallabout Bay. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 The affairs, assets, property and powers of this Association 
 shall be managed and exercised by a Board of Directors, con- 
 sisting of one from each State and Territory in the Union, one 
 from each Senatorial District in the State of New- York, and not 
 less than thirty from the County of Kings, in the State of New- 
 York, who shall continue in office one year, or until others are du- 
 ly elected ; and, whenever a vacancy in the Board shall occur, 
 the directors shall fill the same by electing a Director from the 
 State or District to which the member causing such vacancy 
 belonged. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 The Board of Directors shall have power to appoint a Presi- 
 dent, a Vice-President, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding 
 
 4 
 
46 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Secretary, and a Treasurer, from their own number, to hold their 
 respective offices for one year, or until others are appointed in 
 their stead ; and to appoint such other officers and agents as from 
 time to time may become necessary to aid them in the perform- 
 ance of their trust ; to remove them at pleasure ; to prescribe 
 their respective duties ; and to make such By-Laws, Rules and 
 Regulations, for the government of their own Board, the man- 
 agement and direction of their business, the erection, mainte- 
 nance, preservation, regulation and custody of the said Monu- 
 ment, as they ma}'', from time to time, judge necessary and 
 expedient ; and the said Board shall take from the Treasurer a 
 bond, with one or more sureties, such as shall be approved by 
 them, by resolution of said Board, for the faithful performance 
 of his duties ; and from other officers and agents, such security 
 as the said Board may think proper. 
 
 ARTICLE V.' 
 
 So soon as the said Board may deem it expedient, it shall be 
 competent to purchase, or otherwise acquire, ground, and com- 
 mence the erection of the said Monument, and to make contracts 
 therefor: Provided,^ however, that no contract shall be made, or 
 liability contracted, for an amount exceeding the sum at such 
 time in the hands of the Treasurer, and not otherwise appro- 
 priated. And the President of the said Board is hereby desig- 
 nated as the officer and agent of the Association to whom con- 
 veyances of Real Estate shall be made ; and to hold the same in 
 trust, and to convey the same, on behalf of the Association, in 
 such manner and for such purposes as the said Board of Di- 
 rectors shall determine. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 The Board of Directors shall cause all their proceedings to 
 be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose ; which book 
 shall be open at all reasonable hours for the inspection of all 
 persons who may have contributed to the funds or property of 
 the Association. 
 
CONSTITUTION. 47 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 No amendment to this Constitution shall be made, unless 
 proposed by fifteen Directors ; nor unless notice of such pro- 
 posed amendment shall have been given in a meeting of the 
 Board at least one month previous to its adoption being 
 moved ; nor unless adopted by the concurrence of twenty-five 
 members of the Board, duly convened. 
 
BY-LAWS. 
 
 I. 
 
 A STATED Meeting of the Board of Directors shall be ^^i^^^- 
 held on the first Tuesday in September of each year;^^«'-« ^eid. 
 and on the second Monday of every month during the 
 year, at such hour as the Board shall from time to time 
 determine. Occasional meetings may be held at any time, 
 at the call of the President, or request of any five mem- 
 bers of the Board. 
 
 II. 
 
 At all meetings of the Directors, the President shall pre- ^officer"^ 
 side, if he be present ; but, if he be absent, the chair shall 
 be taken by the Vice-President. If neither of those 
 officers be present, a Chairman, pro tempore, shall be ap- 
 pointed from the Directors present. 
 
 III. 
 
 Twelve Directors, duly assembled, shall constitute a Quorum. 
 quorum for- the transaction of ordinary business ; but a 
 vote of eighteen Directors shall be necessary to elect a 
 Director to fill a vacancy in the Board. 
 
50 
 
 BY-LAWS. 
 
 Order of 
 Business. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Order of Business shall be as follows : 
 
 1. Calling the Roll of Members. 
 
 2. Reading and approval of Minutes. 
 
 3. Communications from the President. 
 
 4. Do. do. Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 5. Report of Recording Secretary. 
 
 6. Do. Treasurer. 
 
 7. Do. Finance Committee. 
 
 8. Do. Building 
 
 9. Reports of Special Committees. 
 10. Miscellaneous Business. 
 
 Motions to 
 be in writ- 
 ing. 
 
 V. 
 
 No motion shall be considered as before the Board, 
 unless seconded, and, when required by any Director pres- 
 ent, reduced to writing. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Limitation No Director may speak more than twice on the same 
 
 of Debate. . i r. i -r. i 
 
 question, without leave of the Board ; nor more than once, 
 in any case, until every member choosing to speak shall 
 have spoken. 
 
 Questions 
 how de- 
 cided. 
 
 VII. 
 
 ; All questions shall be put by the Chairman, and decided 
 viva voce. On the request of any Director, the ayes and 
 noes shall be called upon any question, and shall be entered 
 on the Minutes. 
 
 Commit- 
 tees ; liow 
 appointed. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 All Committees shall be appointed by the Chair, except 
 as herein otherwise directed ; or, unless otherwise ordered 
 by the Board, at the time. 
 
Rules of 
 Order 
 
 BY-LAWS. 51 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Rules of Order at -all Meetings of the Board, except 
 as herein otherwise provided, shall be, as nearly as practi- 
 cable, those of the Senate of the United States. 
 
 Elections of Directors shall be, in all cases, by ballot, ^^o^^g/fed' 
 No person shall be elected to fill a vacancy in the Board 
 of Directors, who shall not have been nominated at a pre- 
 vious meeting of the Board — such nomination being en- 
 ' tered on the Minutes. 
 
 The notice of every meeting, at which an election of a 
 Director, or of Directors, is to be held, shall specify such 
 fact. 
 
 XI 
 
 thr^ 
 from among the Directors, at least once in each year. 
 
 A Finance Committee of three members shall be chosen committee 
 
 XII. 
 
 A Buildinff Committee, consistino; of three members, Building 
 
 a ' o ' Committee ; 
 
 shall be chosen from among the Directors, at least once in 
 each year. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The Finance and the Building Committees, (after the co^m^ftiefs- 
 first,) shall each, in all cases, be chosen by ballot, on the ^""'^ chosen. 
 second Tuesday in September ; or, in case of no quorum at- 
 tending on that day, at the first meeting thereafter. Va- , 
 cancies occurring in either of these committees, may be 
 filled at any subsequent meeting. Any member of either 
 of these committees may be removed before the expiration 
 of the year for which he was chosen, by a vote of eighteen 
 Directors, taken by ayes and noes, and entered upon the 
 Minutes. 
 
52 BY-LAWS. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Fiscal year. The fiscal year of the Association shall commence on 
 the second Tuesday in September ; on which day the term 
 of all officers shall expire ; but they shall continue to per- 
 ioral the duties of their respective offices until others are 
 elected, 
 
 XV. 
 
 Directors No Dircctor or officer of this Association shall, directly 
 
 not to be in- . 
 
 terestedin or indirectlv, be interested in the loan of, or be security 
 
 loans or con- •' •' 
 
 tracts, [qy^ any money borrowed from the Association, or for the 
 performance of any contract made with the same, or inter- 
 ested in any contract with it, or in the sale of any mate- 
 rials to the Association, or in services rendered to the same, 
 other than the discharge of the duties of their respective 
 offices. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Finance The Finance Committee shall speciallv attend to the 
 
 Committfes' _ , . . 
 
 duties, raising of funds for the objects of the Association; devis- 
 ing the various modes by which such funds shall be raised ; 
 appointing collectors, if necessary; determining the amount 
 and the mode oi their compensation, (subject, however, to 
 the control of the Board of Directors ;) drafting and ad- 
 dressing; the various letters and circulars asking aid ; coun- 
 selling and advising with the Treasurer as to the safe keep- 
 ing and making productive all unexpended sums; devising 
 the necessary checks to insure the faithful conduct and 
 honest co-operation of all subordinate agents. They shall 
 audit all bills and charges for the current and incidental 
 expenses of the Association, and for salaries. They shall 
 determine upon the sufficiency of all sureties that may be 
 taken or required in behalf of the Association, (except the 
 sureties of the Treasurer, which shall be determined by the 
 Board of Directors.) They shall, from time to time, ex- 
 amine, and shall report, at least once a year, to the Board 
 
BY-LAWS. 53 
 
 of Directors, their opinion upon the sufficiency of all sure- 
 ties (as well of the Treasurer as of others) taken in behalf 
 of the Association, specifying in such report the names of 
 all sureties, the amount and object for which bound, and 
 such other particulars as they may think proper. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 After the adoption of the plan by the Board of Directors, co^mUtels' 
 (which shall require a vote of eighteen Directors,) the ^^^^^^' 
 Building Committee shall have the immediate charge and 
 supervision of all that relates to the actual erection of the 
 monument; subject, however, in all respects, to the control 
 and approval of the Board of Directors. They shall pre- 
 pare and attend to the proper execution of all contracts au- 
 thorized by the Boar.d of Directors to be made with the 
 builders, mechanics, artists and artizans that may be em- 
 ployed, or for any materials to be furnished. They shall, 
 when thereunto required by a vote of the Board, make de- 
 tailed and specific reports of tlie progress of the work to 
 the Board of Directors. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 No contract for labor, matei-ials, or any other obiect, *^°"tracts ; 
 
 ' , ■ -' _ J ' how to be 
 
 (except the compensation to the collectors,) that may involve "i^'^^- 
 an expenditure of over one hundred dollars, shall be made, 
 except in pursuance of a vote of the Board of Directors. 
 The Building Committee may, however, make contracts 
 for labor, or materials, for a less amount than one hundred 
 dollars, (without a previous vote of the Board,) provided 
 that the aggregate of all such contracts by the Committee, 
 without a previous vote of the Board, shall not exceed the 
 sum of three hundred dollars in any one month ; and all 
 such contracts shall be reported to the Board at its next 
 meeting after their being made, and shall be noted on the 
 Minutes. 
 
 All contracts made by or in behalf of this Association, 
 
Treasurer's 
 duties. 
 
 54 BY-LAWS. 
 
 shall be in writing, under the .Seal of the Association, 
 signed by the President, or, in case of his absence or ina- 
 bility to act, or of a vacancy in that office, by the Vice- 
 President, attested by the Recording Secretary, and endorsed 
 "approved," and signed by the Chairman and one other 
 member of the Building Committee. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The Treasurer shall have the custody of all moneys be- 
 longing to the Association, which moneys he shall keep 
 deposited in such Bank or Trust Company in the County 
 of Kings, as shall be selected by the Finance Committee, 
 in the name of " The Martyrs' Monument Association,'' 
 subject to draft by the Treasurer of the said Association for 
 the time being. He shall pay no money, and sbaJl draw 
 no draft upon any Bank or Trust Company in which the 
 moneys of the Association shall be deposited, except upon 
 a warrant or requisition drawn to the order of the party to 
 whom said payment is intended to be made, specifying in 
 general terms the object of the appropriation, and signed 
 by the President, (or, in case of his absence or inability to 
 act, or of a vacancy in that office, by the Vice President,) 
 and by the Recording Secretary, and countersigned by the 
 Chairman and one other member of the Building Commit- 
 tee ; or, in case the payment be intended for the compen- 
 sation of any collector, agent, or officer of the Association, 
 or for the current or incidental expenses of the Associa- 
 tion, then such warrant or requisition shall specify such 
 fact, and be countersigned by the Chairman and one other 
 member of the Finance Committee. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Treasurer to The Treasurer shall keep accurate accounts of all his 
 ports, receipts and disbursements, and shall preserve all vouchers 
 relating to such receipts and disbursements, and shall pre- 
 sent to the Board of Directors, at each monthly meeting, 
 
BY-LAWS. 55 
 
 a statement of the amount in the Treasury ; and shall, on 
 the first Tuesday of September, in each year, and as often as 
 required by a vote of the Board, present a full and de- 
 tailed statement, in writing, of all receipts and disburse- 
 ments, and of all the monied transactions of the Associa- 
 tion, since the preceding annual report, exhibiting the actual 
 condition of the Treasury, with a particular statement of 
 all the money, property and efiects of the Association in 
 his hands, or under his custody. 
 
 XXL 
 
 The Recording Secretary shall keep the minutes of the Recording 
 
 '' . Secretary's 
 
 proceedings of the Board of Directors, causing them to be duties. 
 fairly engrossed in a book kept for that purpose, signed or 
 certified by the President, Vice-President,- or Chairman 
 pro tempore. He shall, in writing, noti-fy the Directoi-s of 
 all meetings of the Board, at least two days before such 
 meetings, and shall issue notices for all extraordinary 
 meetings when required, in v/riting, to do so by the Presi- 
 dent, or any five Directors. He shall have the custody 
 and charge of the Seal, and of all the books, papers, cor- 
 respondence, contracts, deeds, and documents belonging to 
 the Association ; and he shall assist all the committees, and 
 shall attend and act as Secretary of the Finance Commit- 
 tee, and (generally) perform all such duties as shall from 
 time to time be charged upon him by an order ,or resolution 
 of the Board. He shall keep a book, in which h§ shall en- 
 ter, in alphabetical order, the names of all contributors to 
 the Association, specifying the amount of the contribution, 
 the name of the Agent, Collector, or Director through 
 whom received, and the date when actually received into 
 the Treasury — which book shall, at all times, be open to 
 the inspedtion of any Director or officer, and also of any 
 contributor to the Association. He shall, also, keep general 
 books of account of all the monied transactions of the As- 
 
66 BY-LAWS. 
 
 sociation, which shall, at all reasonable hours, be open to the 
 inspection of any Director. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 in°"secrTta- '^'■'^ Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the corres- 
 ry's duties, pondence of the Board, under the inspection of the President. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 and'Agent'ri The Collectors or Agents of the Association, (if any,) 
 '^'^'"^®' shall keep regular accounts, in such form and manner as 
 the Finance Committee shall, from time to time, direct, of 
 all moneys collected by them, with the names of the con- 
 tributors ; and shall give receipts in such form as the said 
 Committee shall in like manner direct, to all such contri- 
 butors ; and, generally, shall be under the direction of the 
 Finance Committee. 
 
 Seal of the 
 Association. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The Seal of the Association shall not be affixed to any 
 document whatever, on behalf of the Association, except by 
 special resolution of the Board. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 '^Bv^-i^aws'*^ No repeal, alteration, or amendment of these By-laws 
 shall be made, except at a meeting at which twenty Direc- 
 tors shall be present, nor unless at least eighteen Directors 
 vote in favor thereof. 
 
 All propositions for the repeal, alteration, or amendment- 
 of the By-laws, shall be submitted in writing, and entered 
 upon the minutes ; and shall lie over for consideration until 
 the then next stated meeting of the Board, unless, by an 
 unanimous vote, (there being eighteen Directors present,) 
 the Board shall determine to proceed immediately to the 
 consideration thereof. The vote upon every question for a 
 repeal, alteration or amendment of the By-laws, shall be 
 taken by ayes and noes, and entered upon the minutes. 
 
CIRCULAR. 
 
 Monument to the Martyrs of the Prison-Ships of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Notwithstanding the frequent repetition of a common senti- 
 ment, that " Republics are always ungrateful," the undersigned 
 hold the belief that there is a patriotic spirit in the land, to build 
 monuments to commemorate such deeds of fortitude, heroism 
 and devotion of our sires as are without a parallel, and which 
 constitute the best inheritance of the Republic. 
 
 Bunker Hill has her shaft reaching toward the skies to do honor 
 to those sons of freedom who fell early in the revolutionary 
 struggle. This is right and noble ; but, still more than those 
 patriots, do the martyrs of the Prison-Ships demand a monument. 
 They fell, not in the warm blood of conflict. They perished 
 under every privation, and the prolonged infliction of systematic 
 cruelty. They endured hunger, thirst, pestilence and death, 
 solely for the hope of liberty to their posterity. They were con- 
 signed by thousands to nameless graves, on the shores of the 
 Wallabout ; and while their names are lost, or preserved only in 
 the household records of the Union, their fame and sacrifice should 
 be perpetuated by a column raised by grateful freemen over 
 their commingled ashes. 
 
 It is stated in Ramsay's History of the Revolution, and is 
 abundantly confirmed by other authorities, that not less than 
 eleven thousand seamen, soldiers and citizens, perished during 
 
58 CIRCULAR. 
 
 the Revolution, in the Jersev Prison-Ship alone, and were buried 
 in the Wallabout sands. Add to these the victims of those other 
 hulks, the John, the Scorpion, the Stromboli, and the Hunter, and 
 others which lay in our waters, and the number martyred in the 
 Prison-Ships, altogether, swells to more than sixteen thousand. 
 
 During the Revolution, almost every hamlet in the nation 
 throbbed with sympathy for friends or relatives, confined in those 
 living tombs ; and, soon after that event, measures were taken to_ 
 ward a monument over the remains of those who perished there, 
 in, which we shall briefly review : 
 
 Many of the corpses buried in the sands of the hills along the 
 Wallabout shore, in shallow graves, not long after became ex- 
 posed by the elements. In digging away the ground within and 
 adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1802, immense numbers 
 were disinterred. These were carefully preserved by John 
 Jackson, Esq., the owner of the grounds in the vicinity, and an 
 appeal was made to the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, 
 to provide them a place of sepulture. On the 31st of January, 
 1803, an eloquent memorial, praying an appropriation toward a 
 monument, was prepared by. a Committee of Tammany Society, 
 and sent to the learned and distinguished Dr. Samuel L. Mitchel, 
 then a member of the House of Representatives, by whom it 
 was presented to that body. That branch of the Legislature took 
 action upon it, but without any decisive or effective result. 
 
 The subject then rested until February 1st, 1808, when it was 
 again taken up by the Tammany Society, and a Wallabout Com- 
 mittee appointed to take immediate measures for the honorable 
 sepulture of the remains, of which upwards of thirteen hogsheads 
 had been collected. A deed of conveyance of the land required 
 for the vault was given by John Jackson, Esq. This Committee 
 initiated an extensive correspondence, and the feelings of the 
 Nation turned with enthusiasm toward the occasion of their 
 deposit. 
 
 On the 13th April, 1808, a military and civic procession march, 
 ed through the then village of Brooklyn, and laid the corner stone 
 of the vault with imposing ceremonies. An oration was delivered 
 on the occasion by Joseph D. Fay, Esq. 
 
CIRCULAR. 59 
 
 On the 26th May, 1808, the vault being completed, a civic and 
 military pageant took place, which was up to that time entirely 
 without precedent in the Union for splendor and impressiveness. 
 In this pageant, Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of the State, 
 and De Witt Clinton, Mayor of the City of New- York, partici- 
 pated, with the principal officers of New-York and Brooklyn, and 
 a vast array of public and official characters. It is recounted 
 that upwards of thirty thousand persons witnessed these ceremo- 
 nies. An appropriate prayer was made by the Rev. Ealph Wil- 
 liston, and an oration delivered by the Rev. Dr. Benjamin De Witt. 
 
 The remains were then deposited in the vault, on Jackson- 
 street, (now Hudson Avenue, adjoining the Navy Yard,) where 
 they have since reposed — a place then acceptable, but, by 
 changes, rendered no longer fit to retain them. It was intended 
 that collections should be made, and steps be rapidly taken to- 
 ward the erection and completion, on that site, of a suitable 
 monument. 
 
 Twice efforts towards collections were made. The State of 
 New- York appropriated flOOO to the object, which, it is believed, 
 is yet in the State Treasury, to be realized, it is hoped, with in- 
 crease. Individuals proffered donations, but they have never 
 been called for, No money has as yet gone to the object ; no 
 work has been done ; no corner-stone even been laid ! The 
 time has arrived when further delay in the payment of the debt 
 of national gratitude, in the form of a monument, to those mar- 
 tyrs, would be a shame and reproach to the American name. 
 
 We should not omit here to say that for the preservation and 
 guardianship of the remains of the Prison-Ship martyrs, much 
 is due to that distinguished Revolutionary patriot, Benjamin Ro- 
 maine, himself a sufferer in the days of the Revolution, though 
 not unto death, from imprisonment similar to that of the martyrs 
 themselves. After many years of devotion to their care, his own 
 remains now repose in the same vault, and are entitled to equal 
 honor. 
 
 Since that 26th day of May, 1808, these precious deposits, in 
 the trust, on the behalf of our country, of Brooklyn and New- 
 York, have frequently been alluded to on patriotic occasions ; 
 and as, at such times, the riches and the glory of our free inherit- 
 
60 CIRCULAR. 
 
 ance — the purchase, in proportionate measure, of the untold 
 sacrifices and sufferings of that heroic company — 
 
 * * * the royal and the brave who thus lie 
 In the blank earth — 
 
 have formed the subject of special consideration, citizens liave 
 recognized the obligation not to dishonor them by indifference or 
 neglect. Yet, we witness no effective result. Even yet, " there 
 is no material monument, the evidence of their country's remem- 
 brance and gratitude ! — no stone, bearing the record of their pat- 
 riotic devotion to principle, and their more than heroic deaths !" 
 But a fitting site for the monument has been designated — the 
 lofty summit of Fort Green — a site consecrated in the annals of 
 the Ee volution, and therefore most apposite for the purpose — 
 commanding the Wallabout, where the martyrdom was suffered, 
 and with whose soil the dust of the martyrs is blended ; and a 
 movement is now in progress, designed to secure the funds 
 necessary to erect, upon that site, over the remains of those 
 brave and patriotic men, the too long-delayed token of their 
 country's gratitude. 
 
 At an enthusiastic meeting of citizens, recently held on this 
 subject, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Resolved, That the time has arrived when the Cities of New- York and 
 Brooklyn cannot, without criminality; longer delay the necessary efforts 
 for rearing the monument to the Martyrs of the Prison Ships. 
 
 Resolved, That justice to the memory of these martyrs will inspire hero- 
 ism in the children of the Republic — that their suiTerings, fortitude, devo- 
 tion and self-sacrifice, will challenge comparison with the noblest examples 
 of Roman, G-recian or Spartan heroism, and should be commemorated and 
 perpetuated as the best and dearest inheritance of a free people. 
 
 Resolved, That the sacred trust of the ashes of a larger body of heroes 
 than fell in all the battles of the Revolution, is one of exalted honor, as of 
 persevering duty; and that the people of two leading cities of the Union — ' 
 one of them the metropolis thereof — cannot fail to discharge this trust faith- 
 fully and energetically. 
 
 Resolved, That as these ashes embrace the commingled remains of citi- 
 zens of the Republic from all the original States of the Union, our brethren 
 of all the States are peculiarly and properly called upon to aid us with patri- 
 otic zeal in raising contributions for the object. 
 
 Resolved, That while our great reliance is upon individual effort and con- 
 tributions, and the influence o'f a genuine, enthusiastic and wide-spread 
 
CIKCTLAK. 61 
 
 Aniericau sentiment, this eilovl should be aided by Congress and the State 
 Legislatures. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of all American citizens ave due to JJenjamin 
 Komaine, who was himself a prisoner of the Eevolution, for his careful 
 guardianship of these remains for many years in the tomb Avhere his own 
 ashes now repose : and that, in our opinion, if congenial to his family, his 
 remains should be with theirs iii tlieir final re.^ting-place. 
 
 An Association has been formed, and a Board of Directors 
 constituted — in which each Senatorial District in the State of 
 ISTew-York, and each State and I'erritor}' in the Union is rep- 
 resented — to act efficiently in this great interest. 
 
 The undersigned, President, and tiie Finance Committee ol' 
 that Association, having had imposed on them the duty -of rais- 
 ing the needed funds, desire to invite to the object the attention 
 of their countrymen, and to afibrd to each one, if possible, the 
 opportunity to co-operate, by gifts and efforts, in the payment of 
 such nobly earned, but too long neglected, memorial tribute. 
 Fifty thousand dollars is the least amount of expenditure con- 
 templated ; seventy-five thousand, it is hoped, ^vill be contrib- 
 uted, that the monument may be worthy of the object and 
 of us. 
 
 To their countrymen at large thfs Committee address them- 
 selves, in a confidence which the object inspires, that they will 
 become enlisted for the successful accomplishment of this great 
 and glorious undertaking. 
 
 We adopt the energetic words of an olden patriot, upon an 
 occasion not dissimilar to the present, accommodated to our 
 case : " Oh, Americans, these dead bodies ask no monument. 
 Their monument arose u-hen they fell : and so long as liberty 
 shall have defenders, their names will be imp)erishable. But, 
 oh, Americans, it is we who need a monument to their honor, — 
 we, who survive, not having yet proved that we, too, could die 
 for our country and be immortal. We need a monument, that 
 the widows and the children of the dead, and the whole coun- 
 try, and the shades of the departed, and all future ages, may see 
 and know that we honor patriotism, and virtue, and liberty, and 
 truth ; for, next to performing a great deed, and achieving a 
 noble character, is to honor such characters and deeds.'' 
 
62 CJliCULAR. 
 
 Our ireasury will be replete, if all alike "will do lohatthey can, 
 and the proposed work will go vigorously on to the glory of 
 justice, patriotism, and our common inheritance. 
 
 Contributions may be remitted, in the name of the donors, to 
 our Treasurer — assurance being hereby given that if, from insuf- 
 ficiency of funds, the proposed work should not proceed, the 
 money forwarded shall be faithfully returned to the sources 
 from which it may have come, an alternative, the necessity 
 for which, it is our confidence, Americans will not permit. 
 
 George Taylor, President. 
 
 I. H. Smith, \ 
 
 Wm. B. Richards, y Finance Cojnmittee. 
 
 James McBride, 
 
 Brookt.yn, L. I.. August Gth, 1855. 
 
63 
 
 3oaxtf of IHirectcrs. 
 
 '■ From the several States and Territories in the Union, the 
 Governor of each respectively, ex-officio. 
 
 From the several Senatorial Districts, and the County of 
 Kings, in the State of New- York, the following : — 
 
 John Q. Adams, 
 George E.. Babcock, 
 Eufas R. Belknap, 
 Ebenezer Blakely. 
 Silas M. Burroughs, 
 James R. Burton, 
 Howard 0. Cady, 
 Thomas C. Chittenden, 
 Zenos Clark, 
 John Cochrane, 
 George T. Comstock, 
 James E. Cooley, 
 Matthias P. Coons, 
 Samuel S. Crooke, 
 Alden S. Crowell, 
 Gilbert Dean, 
 Daniel S. Dickinson, 
 John Dikeman, 
 Harmanus B. Duryea, 
 William L. Ely, 
 Smith Eancher, 
 W. B. Fenton, 
 B. G. Ferris, 
 William Gleason, Jr., 
 Rosewell Graves, 
 Hiram Gray, 
 John Greenwood, 
 George Hall, 
 Philip Hamilton, 
 William C. Hasbrouck, 
 Simon C. Hitchcock. 
 
 James C. Hopkins. 
 William L. Hudson. 
 Wm. Samuel Johnson, 
 Benjamin P. Johnson, 
 Arphaxad Loomis, 
 Henry W. Mahan, 
 Charles A. Mtinn, 
 James McBride, 
 Robert C. Morris, 
 Nathan B. Morse, 
 George W. Patterson, 
 William H. Richards, 
 Worthington Romaine, 
 Henry H. Ross, 
 Henry C. Rossiter, 
 Eliakim Sherrill, 
 Isaac H. Smith, 
 L. Ward Smith, 
 Alden J. Spooner, 
 Thomas, Stacy, 
 Samuel G. Stryker, 
 George Taylor, 
 George Underwood, 
 
 John Vanderbilt, 
 
 Joseph B. Varnum, Jr.. 
 
 Fred. W. Walker, 
 
 William W. Walsh, 
 
 Aaron Ward, 
 
 Ephraim J. Whitlock, 
 
 James G. Williamson, 
 
 Fernando Wood. 
 
«4 
 
 Q?>fficcr3. 
 
 GEORGE TAYLOli, J.'resiclent ; Xo. 1 Broad-dreel, X. Y. 
 ROBERT C. MORRIS, Vice-Pre.<^. ; Xo. 113 Broachcaij, X. Y. 
 FRED. W. WALKER. Rcc. Secy ; ) {Office) 2i7 Broadu-uij, N. Y. ; or 
 " " Cor. Sec' I/; ) (Eousc) 90 Wash'ii-sf.. RrooJcli/n. 
 
 E. J. \V1[1TI,0CK. Treamrcr : No. 39 Xoxsav-sfreei, N. Y. 
 
 S'uimn (Hoiiimittcc. 
 
 ISAAC H. SMITH, A'o. 157 PearUlreci, X. Y. 
 WM. H. RICHARDS, Xo. 45 Barclay-^t., " 
 .TA^IES McRRTDE, Xo. 102 Bynnd-i^irppf. " 
 
 Builbing ([Toinmittce. 
 
 JOHN DIKEMAN, No. 343 FuJlon-slrcei, Bruoldyn. 
 WM. L. ELY, Clmlon. cor. Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn. 
 ALDEN J. BPOOXER. No. T.i CIii)fon.^U-eef., Broohlyn. 
 
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