Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Sugar House As A Prison During The Revolutionary War


Below, prisoners on one of the infamous British prison ships
Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War, by Edwin Burrows tells the harrowing account of the fate of those prisoners
Between 1775 and 1783, some 200,000 Americans took up arms against the British Crown. Just over 6,800 of those men died in battle. About 25,000 became prisoners of war, most of them confined in New York City under conditions so atrocious that they perished by the thousands. Evidence suggests that at least 17,500 Americans may have died in these prisons—more than twice the number to die on the battlefield. It was in New York, not Boston or Philadelphia, where most Americans gave their lives for the cause of independence.
New York City became the jailhouse of the American Revolution because it was the principal base of the Crown’s military operations. Beginning with the bumper crop of American captives taken during the 1776 invasion of New York, captured Americans were stuffed into a hastily assembled collection of public buildings, sugar houses, and prison ships. The prisoners were shockingly overcrowded and chronically underfed—those who escaped alive told of comrades so hungry they ate their own clothes and shoes.
Despite the extraordinary number of lives lost, Forgotten Patriots is the first-ever account of what took place in these hell-holes. The result is a unique perspective on the Revolutionary War as well as a sobering commentary on how Americans have remembered our struggle for independence—and how much we have forgotten.

7 comments:

  1. It's interesting that no one has posted a comment on this blog about this episode of American History. Before reading about the Sugar House prison and th HMS Jersey in a Fusion article called "Paying the Price", I had no idea that so many had suffered and died so America could be born as a nation. Why arn't these lessons taught to our students in American History classes? Our founders truly pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor so America could be free from tyranny. Can we do less?

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  2. It's interesting that no one has posted a comment on this blog about this episode of American History. Before reading about the Sugar House prison and th HMS Jersey in a Fusion article called "Paying the Price", I had no idea that so many had suffered and died so America could be born as a nation. Why arn't these lessons taught to our students in American History classes? Our founders truly pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor so America could be free from tyranny. Can we do less?

    ReplyDelete
  3. My 4th great grandfather, Ephraim Harford, was captured by the Britts and kept at the Sugar House Prison...he was later released and returned to the battlefield! I had no idea that the prison was such a place of horror...thankfully, he survived!

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  4. I am researching the Sugar House prisons as part of a broader research of the Confederacy ship of the Revolution. Her crew was sent to the Jersey and Sugar House. This was the place our family lost a Patriarch Ebenezer Story of Preston CT and one of the builders of Confederacy. I am a professional storyteller and will be telling this story at the CT Storytelling Festival in April 2015.

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  5. Are there, anywhere, lists of the prisoners held in the Sugar Prisons? I am specifically looking for proof that Isaac Van Tassel was held prisoner in the Old Sugar House Prison in New York City . I would appreciate any help or guidance.
    Thanks, PW

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  6. Is there a listing of the names of the British war ships used to house American prisoners during the Rev. War. I've heard there were up to 12 at one time located in the bay off NY. Is there a list of prisoners held there, and where over 10,000 died, who died and who made it out alive? It would benefit many researching genealogy.

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  7. I wish there was a list of Sugar House and warship prisoners... we have been trying for years to get more information about Safety Bowne and his oldest son Worden. They were taken from Middletown, NJ in 1777 and were said to have died in the sugar house.

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