BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND OTHERS ON THE SUBJECT OF AMERICAN PRISONERS
When Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane were in Paris they wrote the
following letter to Lord Stormont, the English Ambassador to France.
Paris, April 2nd, 1777.
My Lord:--
We did ourselves the honor of writing some time since to your Lordship
on the subject of exchanging prisoners: you did not condescend to give
us any answer, and therefore we expect none to this. We, however, take
the liberty of sending you copies of certain depositions which we shall
transmit to Congress, whereby it will be known to your Court, that the
United States are not unacquainted with the barbarous treatment their
people receive when they have the misfortune to be your prisoners here
in Europe, and that if your conduct towards us is not altered, it is
not unlikely that severe reprisals may be thought justifiable from a
necessity of putting some check to such abominable practices. For the
sake of humanity it is to be wished that men would endeavor to alleviate
the unavoidable miseries attending a state of war. It has been said that
among the civilized nations of Europe the ancient horrors of that state
are much diminished; but the compelling men by chains, stripes, and
famine to fight against their friends and relatives, is a new mode of
barbarity, which your nation alone has the honor of inventing, and the
sending American prisoners of war to Africa and Asia, remote from all
probability of exchange, and where they can scarce hope ever to hear
from their families, even if the unwholesomeness of the climate does not
put a speedy end to their lives, is a manner of treating captives that
you can justify by no other precedent or custom except that of the
black savages of Guinea. We are your Lordship’s most obedient, humble
servants, Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane.
The reply to this letter was laconic.
“The King’s Ambassador recognizes no letters from Rebels, except when
they come to ask mercy.”
Inclosed in the letter from our representatives were the following
depositions.
THE DEPOSITION OF ELIPHALET DOWNER
Eliphalet Downer, Surgeon, taken in the Yankee privateer, testifies
that after he was made prisoner by Captains Ross and Hodge, who took
advantage of the generous conduct of Captain Johnson of the Yankee
to them his prisoners, and of the confidence he placed in them in
consequence of that conduct and their assurances; he and his countrymen
were closely confined, yet assured that on their arrival in port they
should be set at liberty, and these assurances were repeated in the most
solemn manner, instead of which they were, on their approach to land,
in the hot weather of August, shut up in a small cabin; the windows of
which were spiked down and no air admitted, insomuch that they were all
in danger of suffocation from the excessive heat.
Three or four days after their arrival in the river Thames they were
relieved from this situation in the middle of the night, hurried on
board a tender and sent down to Sheerness, where the deponent was
put into the Ardent, and there falling sick of a violent fever in
consequence of such treatment, and languishing in that situation for
some time, he was removed, still sick, to the Mars, and notwithstanding
repeated petitions to be suffered to be sent to prison on shore, he was
detained until having the appearance of a mortification in his legs, he
was sent to Haslar hospital, from whence after recovering his health, he
had the good fortune to make his escape.
While on board those ships and in the hospital he was informed and
believes that many of his countrymen, after experiencing even worse
treatment than he, were sent to the East Indies, and many of those taken
at Quebec were sent to the coast of Africa, as soldiers.
THE DEPOSITION OF CAPTAIN SETH CLARK OF NEWBURY PORT IN THE STATE OF
MASSACHUSETTS BAY IN AMERICA
“This deponent saith that on his return from Cape Nichola Mole to
Newbury Port, he was taken on the 17th of September last by an armed
schooner in his British Majesty’s service, ---- Coats, Esquire,
Commander, and carried down to Jamaica, on his arrival at which place
he was sent on board the Squirrel, another armed vessel, ---- Douglas,
Esquire, Commander, where, although master and half owner of the vessel
in which he was taken, he was returned as a common sailor before the
mast, and in that situation sailed for England in the month of November,
on the twenty-fifth of which month they took a schooner from Port a Pie
to Charlestown, S. C., to which place she belonged, when the owner, Mr.
Burt, and the master, Mr. Bean, were brought on board. On the latter’s
denying he had any ship papers Captain Douglas ordered him to be
stripped and tied up and then whipped with a wire cat of nine tails that
drew blood every stroke and then on his saying that he had thrown his
papers overboard he was untied and ordered to his duty as a common
sailor, with no place for himself or his people to lay on but the decks.
On their arrival at Spithead, the deponent was removed to the Monarch,
and there ordered to do duty as a fore-mast-man, and on his refusing on
account of inability to do it, he was threatened by the Lieutenant,
a Mr. Stoney, that if he spoke one word to the contrary he should be
brought to the gangway, and there severely flogged.
“After this he was again removed and put on board the Bar-fleur, where
he remained until the tenth of February. On board this ship the deponent
saw several American prisoners, who were closely confined and ironed,
with only four men’s allowance to six. These prisoners and others
informed this deponent that a number of American prisoners had been
taken out of the ship and sent to the East Indies and the coast of
Africa, which he has told would have been his fate, had he arrived
sooner.
“This deponent further saith, That in Haslar hospital, to which place on
account of sickness he was removed from the Bar-fleur, he saw a Captain
Chase of Providence, New England, who told him he had been taken in
a sloop of which he was half owner and master, on his passage from
Providence to South Carolina, by an English transport, and turned
over to a ship of war, where he was confined in irons thirteen weeks,
insulted, beat, and abused by the petty officers and common sailors, and
on being released from irons was ordered to do duty as a foremost man
until his arrival in England, when being dangerously ill he was sent to
said hospital.”
Paris March 30th. 1777.
Benjamin Franklin, in a letter written in 1780, to a Mr. Hartley, an
English gentleman who was opposed to the war, said that Congress
had investigated the cruelties perpetrated by the English upon their
defenceless prisoners, and had instructed him to prepare a _school book_
for the use of American children, to be illustrated by thirty-five
good engravings, each to picture some scene of horror, some enormity of
suffering, such as should indelibly impress upon the minds of the school
children a dread of British rule, and a hatred of British malice and
wickedness!
The old philosopher did not accomplish this task: had he done so it is
improbable that we would have so long remained in ignorance of some of
the facts which we are now endeavoring to collect. It will be pleasant
to glance, for a moment, on the other side the subject. It is well known
that there was a large party in England, who, like Benjamin Franklin’s
correspondent, were opposed to the war; men of humanity, fair-minded
enough to sympathize with the struggles of an oppressed people, of the
same blood as themselves.
“The Prisoners of 1776, A Relic of the Revolution,” is a little book
edited by the Rev. R. Livesey, and published in Boston, in 1854. The
facts in this volume were complied from the journal of Charles Herbert
of Newburyport, Mass. This young man was taken prisoner in December,
1776. He was a sailor on board the brigantine Dolton. He and his
companions were confined in the Old Mill Prison in Plymouth, England.
Herbert, who was in his nineteenth year, was a prisoner more than two
years. He managed to keep a journal during his captivity, and has left
us an account of his treatment by the English which is a pleasant
relief in its contrast to the dark pictures that we have drawn of the
wretchedness of American prisoners elsewhere. A collection of upwards of
$30,000 was taken up in England for the relief of our prisoners confined
in English jails.
Herbert secreted his journal in a chest which had a false bottom. It is
too long to give in its entirety, but we have made a few extracts which
will describe the treatment the men received in England, where all
that was done was open to public inspection, and where no such inhuman
monsters as Cunningham were suffered to work their evil will upon their
victims.
“Dec. 24th, 1776. We were taken by the Reasonable, man-of-war of 64
guns. I put on two shirts, pair of drawers and breeches, and trousers
over them, two or three jackets, and a pair of new shoes, and then
filled my bosom and pockets as full as I could carry. Nothing but a few
old rags and twelve old blankets were sent to us. Ordered down to the
cable tier. Almost suffocated. Nothing but the bare cable to lie on, and
that very uneven.
“Jan. 15, 1777. We hear that the British forces have taken Fort
Washington with a loss of 800.”
After several changes Herbert was put on board the Tarbay, a ship of 74
guns, and confined between decks, with not room for all to lie down at
once.
“Very cold. Have to lie on a wet deck without blankets. Some obliged to
sit up all night.”
On the 18th of February they received flock beds and pillows, rugs, and
blankets. “Ours are a great comfort to us after laying fifty-five nights
without any, all the time since we were taken. * * *
“We are told that the Captain of this ship, whose name is Royer, gave us
these clothes and beds out of his own pocket.”
On the twelfth of April he was carried on shore to the hospital, where
his daily allowance was a pound of beef, a pound of potatoes, and three
pints of beer.
On the 7th of May he writes: “I now have a pound of bread, half a pound
of mutton and a quart of beer daily. The doctor is very kind. Three of
our company have died.”
On the fifth of June he was committed to the Old Mill Prison at
Plymouth. Many entries in his journal record the escapes of his
companions. “Captain Brown made his escape.” “William Woodward of the
charming Sallie escaped, etc., etc.”
June 6th he records: “Our allowance here in prison is a pound of beef,
a pound of greens, and a quart of beer, and a little pot liquor that
the greens and beef were boiled in, without any thickening.” Still he
declares that he has “a continued gnawing in his stomach.” The people of
the neighborhood came to see them daily when they were exercising in the
prison yard, and sometimes gave them money and provisions through the
pickets of the high fence that surrounded the prison grounds. Herbert
had a mechanical turn, and made boxes which he sold to these visitors,
procuring himself many comforts in this manner.
About ten prisoners were brought in daily. They were constantly digging
their way out and were sometimes recaptured, but a great number made
their escape. On the twentieth of July he records that they begin to
make a breach in the prison wall. “Their intention is to dig eighteen
feet underground to get into a field on the other side of the wall.
“We put all the dirt in our chests.”
August third he says: “There are 173 prisoners in the wards. On the
fifth thirty-two escaped, but three were brought back. These were
confined in the Black Hole forty days on half allowance, and obliged to
lie on the bare floor.
“September 12th. We had a paper wherein was a melancholy account of the
barbarous treatment of American prisoners, taken at Ticonderoga.
“Sept. 16th. Today about twenty old countrymen petitioned the Board for
permission to go on board His Majesty’s ships.
“Jan. 7th. 1778. 289 prisoners here in Plymouth. In Portsmouth there
are 140 prisoners. Today the prison was smoked with charcoal and
brim-stone.”
He records the gift of clothes, blankets, and all sorts of provisions.
They were allowed to wash at the pump in relays of six. Tobacco and
everything necessary was freely given them.
“Jan. 27th. The officers in a separate prison are allowed to burn
candles in the evening until gun-fire, which is eight o’clock.
“28th. Today some new washing troughs were brought up for us to wash our
clothes in; and now we have plenty of clothes, soap, water, and tubs to
wash in. In general we are tolerably clean.
“Feb. 1st. Sunday. Last evening between 7 and 9 o’clock five of the
officers in a separate prison, who had agreed with the sentry to let
them go, made their escape and took two sentries with them. The five
officers were Captain Henry Johnston, Captain Eleazar Johnston, Offin
Boardman, Samuel Treadwell, and one Mr. Deal.
“Feb. 8th. Sunday. We have the paper wherein is an account of a letter
from Dr. Franklin, Dean, and Lee, to Lord North, and to the ministry,
putting them in mind of the abuse which the prisoners have had from
time to time, and giving them to know that it is in the power of the
Americans to make ample retaliation. * * * We learn that their answer
was that in America there was an exchange.”
On the 9th of March he writes: “We are all strong, fat and hearty.
“March 12th. Today our two fathers came to see us as they generally do
once or twice a week. They are Mr. Heath, and Mr. Sorry, the former a
Presbyterian minister, in Dock, the latter a merchant in Plymouth. They
are the two agents appointed by the Committee in London to supply us
with necessaries. A smile from them seems like a smile from a father.
They tell us that everything goes well on our side.
“April 7th. Today the latter (Mr. Sorry) came to see us, and we desired
him, for the future, to send us a four penny white loaf instead of a
six-penny one to each mess, per day, for we have more provision than
many of us want to eat, and any person can easily conjecture that
prisoners, in our situation, who have suffered so much for the want of
provisions would abhor such an act as to waste what we have suffered so
much for the want of.”
Herbert was liberated at the end of two years. Enough has been quoted to
prove the humanity with which the prisoners at Plymouth were treated. He
gives a valuable list of crews in Old Mill Prison, Plymouth, during
the time of his incarceration, with the names of captains, number that
escaped, those who died, and those who joined the English.
Joined
NAMES OF SHIPS AND CAPTAINS No. of British
Men Escaped Died Ships
Brig Dolton, Capt. Johnston 120 21 8 7
Sloop Charming Sally, Capt. Brown. 52 6 7 16
Brig Fancy, Capt. Lee 56 11 2 0
Brig Lexington, Capt. Johnston 51 6 1 26
Schooner Warren, Capt. Ravel 40 2 0 6
PARTS OF CREWS TAKEN INTO PLYMOUTH
Brig Freedom, Capt. Euston 11 3 1 0
Ship Reprisal, Capt. Weeks 10 2 0 3
Sloop Hawk 6 0 0 0
Schooner Hawk, Capt. Hibbert 6 0 0 0
Schooner Black Snake, Capt. Lucran 3 1 0 0
Ship Oliver Cromwell 7 1 0 4
Letter of Marque Janey, Capt. Rollo 2 1 0 0
Brig Cabot 3 0 0 0
True Blue, Capt. Furlong 1 0 0 0
Ranger 1 0 0 0
Sloop Lucretia 2 0 0 0
Musquito Tender 1 0 0 1
Schooner, Capt. Burnell 2 1 0 1
Sturdy Beggar 3 0 0 0
Revenge, Capt Cunningham 3 0 0 0
Total 380 55 19 62
Remained in Prison until exchanged, 244
Before we leave the subject of Plymouth we must record the fact that
some time in the year 1779 a prize was brought into the harbor captured
from the French with 80 French prisoners. The English crew put in charge
of the prize procured liquor, and, in company of some of the loose women
of the town, went below to make a night of it. In the dead of night the
Frenchmen seized the ship, secured the hatches, cut the cable, took her
out of port, homeward bound, and escaped.
A writer in the London _Gazette_ in a letter to the Lord Mayor, dated
August 6th, 1776, says: “I was last week on board the American privateer
called the Yankee, commanded by Captain Johnson, and lately brought into
this port by Captain Ross, who commanded one of the West India sugar
ships, taken by the privateer in July last: and as an Englishman I
earnestly wish your Lordship, who is so happily placed at the head
of this great city (justly famed for its great humanity even to its
enemies), would be pleased to go likewise, or send proper persons, to
see the truly shocking and I may say barbarous and miserable condition
of the unfortunate American prisoners, who, however criminal they may
be thought to have been, are deserving of pity, and entitled to common
humanity.
“They are twenty-five in number, and all inhumanly shut close down,
like wild beasts, in a small stinking apartment, in the hold of a sloop,
about seventy tons burden, without a breath of air, in this sultry
season, but what they receive from a small grating overhead, the
openings in which are not more than two inches square in any part, and
through which the sun beats intensely hot all day, only two or three
being permitted to come on deck at a time; and then they are exposed in
the open sun, which is reflected from the decks like a burning glass.
“I do not at all exaggerate, my lord, I speak the truth, and the
resemblance that this barbarity bears to the memorable Black Hole at
Calcutta, as a gentleman present on Saturday observed, strikes every eye
at the sight. All England ought to know that the same game is now acting
upon the Thames on board this privateer, that all the world cried out
against, and shuddered at the mention of in India, some years ago, as
practised on Captain Hollowell and other of the King’s good subjects.
The putrid steams issuing from the hold are so hot and offensive that
one cannot, without the utmost danger, breathe over it, and I should not
be at all surprised if it should cause a plague to spread.
“The miserable wretches below look like persons in a hot bath, panting,
sweating, and fainting, for want of air; and the surgeon declares that
they must all soon perish in this situation, especially as they are
almost all in a sickly state from bilious disorders.
“The captain and surgeon, it is true, have the liberty of the cabin (if
it deserves the name of a cabin), and make no complaints on their own
account. They are both sensible and well behaved young men, and can give
a very good account of themselves, having no signs of fear, and being
supported by a consciousness of the justice of their cause.
“They are men of character, of good families in New England, and highly
respected in their different occupations; but being stripped of their
all by the burning of towns, and other destructive measures of the
present unnatural war, were forced to take the disagreeable method of
making reprisals to maintain themselves and their children rather than
starve. * * * English prisoners taken by the Americans have been treated
with the most remarkable tenderness and generosity, as numbers who are
safely returned to England most freely confess, to the honor of our
brethern in the colonies, and it is a fact, which can be well attested
in London, that this very surgeon on board the privateer, after the
battle of Lexington, April 19th, 1775, for many days voluntarily and
generously without fee or reward employed himself in dressing the King’s
wounded soldiers, who but an hour before would have shot him if
they could have come at him, and in making a collection for their
refreshment, of wine, linen, money, etc., in the town where he lived.
* * * The capture of the privateer was, solely owing to the ill-judged
lenity and brotherly kindness of Captain Johnson, who not considering
his English prisoners in the same light that he would French or Spanish,
put them under no sort of confinement, but permitted them to walk the
decks as freely as his own people at all times. Taking advantage of this
indulgence the prisoners one day watched their opportunity when most of
the privateer’s people were below, and asleep, shut down the hatches,
and making all fast, had immediate possession of the vessel without
using any force.”
What the effect of this generous letter was we have no means of
discovering. It displays the sentiments of a large party in England, who
bitterly condemned the “unnatural war against the Colonies.”