Ephraim Lincoln, Boston, Argus, by the bayonet.
Greenlow, Virginia, different places.
James Newman, Baltimore, impressed, by the bayonet.
Alexander Peterson, New-York, Erin, Boston, by the bayonet.
Joseph Music, Charleston, S. C., impressed, by the bayonet.
John Willet, Philadelphia, by the bayonet.
Joseph Hindil, Philadelphia, Young Wasp, in the hand.
Perry Richardson, Bath, Maine, Rolla, by the bayonet.
John Cowen, Teezer, by the bayonet.
James Barker, Wiscasset, Elbridge Gerry, by the bayonet.
James Wedgewood, Portsmouth, N. H., Lark, in the head.
James Mathews, Delaware, by the bayonet.
John Murray, New-York, by the bayonet.
William Marshal, Lawrence, by the bayonet.
Thomas Johnson, Albany, Criterion, by the bayonet.
The list of killed and wounded contains all that could be ascertained
at that time, but great suspicions remained among the prisoners that
more had been killed than were certainly known, as some were missing,
and not to be found among the living or the dead; it was supposed that
these had been killed, and being mangled in a most shocking manner,
were privately taken away by Capt. Shortland, and buried that night,
before Doctor Magrath entered the yard, and a report prevailed that he
had done it: as great numbers who were slightly wounded did not go to
the hospital, I, to ascertain the exact number of killed and wounded,
took the list of those in the hospital, from the doctor’s books, and
every prison mustered all those that refused going to the hospital, by
which means the list can be depended on as strictly correct.
At twelve o’clock, at noon, on the eighth, a jury of inquest arrived,
composed of twelve farmers, and a coroner, and sat over the bodies of
our murdered countrymen; they began to take the depositions of the
prisoners and turnkeys, and proceeded on till seven in the evening, and
adjourned till next morning.
The evidence of the prisoners corresponded with the statement in a
preceding page.
On the morning of the ninth, the dead not yet being buried, the jury
sat over them again, and proceeded on with the evidence on both sides,
which consisted of Dr. Magrath, whose evidence was against Shortland,
prisoners, turnkeys, soldier-officers, soldiers, &c.
The summary of the evidence I shall give presently; but I must here
digress a little to give some circumstances that intervened betwixt the
taking of the depositions, and the verdict of the jury.
This morning an order arrived for the discharge of thirty-four
prisoners, who had applied to be released to man ships in different
parts of Europe.
During the eighth and ninth, the prisoners made every inquiry in their
power to learn whether any were missing, who were not included among
the dead, wounded, or discharged; but nothing satisfactory could be
obtained, but only a report that after the prisons were closed, Capt.
Shortland had secretly buried some of the most mangled bodies, before
Dr. Magrath entered, as he is a man of integrity, feeling, candor,
firmness, and unshaken veracity, as well as genius and skill, that
no favor or affection could swerve from the truth. Shortland would
therefore endeavor to conceal as much as possible from him, as whatever
came within his knowledge, came out without fear or reward, and was
much against the conduct of Capt. Shortland. On the morning of the
seventh, as before mentioned, we ascertained by the testimony of those
persons whose names are mentioned in the certificate to this work, the
particulars of the killed and wounded, whose names have been already
mentioned, the number of which and their situation, were as follows:
Seven were killed dead in the yards, and in the prisons. Six suffered
amputation of a leg or an arm. _Thirty-eight_ dangerously wounded
and many supposed to be mortal by the surgeon of the depot. _Twelve_
slightly wounded. The total amount of killed and wounded _sixty-three_.
Among these were many mangled in the most horrid manner, having
received five, six, and seven wounds apiece from the bayonet. Hundreds
of the prisoners very narrowly escaped, having received several shots
through the hats and clothes.
We have just discovered that the soldiers here at present are the
Somersetshire militia; and the garrison consists of fifteen hundred
soldiers of different military classes.
On the evening of the ninth, the inquest, consisting of twelve
peasants, dependants of Capt. Shortland, delivered in this most
extraordinary and unjust verdict, of Justifiable Homicide; such a
verdict astonished every person, who was not _particeps criminis_. This
verdict seems to have been given against evidence; a summary of which
on both sides I shall now proceed to give the reader, that he may judge
for himself. It appeared from the different witnesses before mentioned,
that the hole made in the wall was unknown to more than three-fourths
of the prisoners confined in the yard of No. 5 and 7, where the hole
was made, and that no combination had ever been entered into by any of
the prisoners to escape; it was also proved that the prisoners confined
in the yards of No. 1, 3 & 4, were totally ignorant of there being any
hole in the wall. It was proved that the gates were broken open by a
man in the state of intoxication, and unknown to the prisoners, and
that when broken open it was in the power of the sentry to have taken
the offender and confined him without any resistance of the prisoners.
It was also proved that they came running to the gate out of curiosity,
to learn the occasion of the alarm bells ringing; that the few persons
(who were not above fifty,) flocked into the square, were carried out
of the gates by the numbers pressing in the rear to gratify their
curiosity; that no stones or clubs were thrown while they were in this
situation; that they all immediately retired into the yards of their
respective prisons, and shut the gates after them; that Capt. Shortland
took the immediate command of the soldiers, and ordered them to fire on
the prisoners; that on firing the prisoners made all possible exertion
to gain the inside of the prison; but some fell before they could reach
it; that the soldiers pursued and fired into the prisons and killed
two within the prison; that the soldiers on the ramparts singled out
the prisoners, and fired and killed them, as they were going into the
prisons; that after all the prisoners had got in, except some few,
being frightened, and not able to get into the prisons, ran for refuge
close to the walls, and were fired upon singly, and either killed or
wounded by several soldiers firing at one. That an officer of low rank
assisted under the command of Capt. Shortland, in killing a boy, not
over thirteen years old! that a prisoner applied to Capt. Shortland to
forbear, and stop the horrid massacre, as the prisoners were retiring
as fast as possible, and that Capt. Shortland answered, “retire, you
damned rascal, I’ll hear to nothing.” It was proved that the turnkeys,
contrary to the invariable custom, had been in and locked all the doors
of each prison, except one; there being four doors to each prison,
they had ever before been left open, till a horn was sounded, and the
turnkeys cried “turn in, turn in;” but that night no horn was sounded,
nor was there any cry to turn in, but the doors secretly locked, which
much surprised the few that happened to see the doors locked, but did
not suspect any mischief was about to be done; that this was done some
time before the usual hour for turning in. Also, that Capt. Shortland
actually took hold of a musket with his own hands in conjunction with
a soldier, and fired the first gun. That the soldier-officers were
unwilling to give any orders to the soldiers, or take any active part
in the proceedings.
From the summary of the evidence above given, on the part of the
prisoners, it must appear evident to every impartial reader, that
Capt. Shortland made the attack with malice prepense. But to give the
public the fairest opportunity to judge, I shall give a summary of the
evidence on the part of Capt. Shortland, which came all from the mouth
of witnesses _particeps criminis_, and acting with him. Those consisted
of clerks, turnkeys, and soldiers, who had been the very instruments
of the massacre. They deposed and said, that the prisoners were in a
state of mutiny, and that great numbers had threatened to escape by
forcing through the walls, and that the hole in the wall was big enough
for a man to pass through; that the lock on the gate was broken by
some prisoner, and that stones were thrown while the prisoners were at
the gate, and also clubs and pieces of iron thrown at the guards by
the prisoners while there; that great numbers had got into the square,
and that they did mean to make their escape. Nothing material could be
further drawn from these witnesses.
In the evening of this day, the bodies of our murdered countrymen were
buried behind the prison walls in the same manner as before the peace,
without form or ceremony, and no prisoner permitted to attend to see
the last sad office, which one friend can perform for another in giving
the grave its due. O! Britannia, thy boast is gone, thy pride is lost;
humanity is fled from thy degenerate sons, and a safer asylum in the
bosom of the savage tribes is found. Deny the dead their sacred due!
Thou ingrate race, is this the reward due to men who have labored many
years thy faithful servant, and now, after having dragged out a painful
imprisonment for two years, and the moment the hope of returning had
rekindled the sparks of life, must be massacred in a most barbarous
manner, and denied the right of the grave?
I must here relate one instance which occurred a few years ago, and
which goes very far to show the inhumanity of those who have had the
command of this depot heretofore. In a manuscript which was left here
by the French prisoners, which I was this evening perusing, I find the
following remarkable circumstance of cruelty related, which took place
during their confinement.
Captain Cotgrave being agent, and Dr. Decker head surgeon of the
hospital, in December, one thousand eight hundred and nine, a most
malignant and contagious disease, bearing the most frightful and mortal
symptoms, broke out among the French prisoners, which, in the short
space of one month, carried off more than eight hundred.
This unfeeling man, Dr. Decker, caused the coffins to be brought into
the rooms of the hospital to receive the bodies: where they often
remained several days in readiness to receive the unhappy man fast
approaching the end of all his sufferings.
It is said in the manuscript, that this worse than barbarian, would
gaze with the greatest satisfaction on the surrounding victims, that he
might discover from the very inmost recesses of the heart, what effect
the appearance of these coffins had on their exhausted spirits.
However unfeeling this might be, yet their lot was envied by hundreds
of their countrymen, who were left to perish in the prison without any
assistance, without a friend, and in want of everything; and would not
be received into the Hospital by this unfeeling man.
Their extreme sufferings would have moved the heart even of a cannibal,
and it is a solitary instance of cruelty, that any one belonging to a
civilized nation could rejoice at such a mournful spectacle, and exult
over their fellow-beings in the agonies of death, as did this man
often, in saying the more deaths the fewer enemies.
Another circumstance is related in the same manuscript, in which Capt.
Isaac Cotgrave was the principal actor.
On the eighth of October, one thousand eight hundred and nine, the
turnkeys, by mistake, had left one of the prison doors unlocked,
which being discovered by some of the prisoners, they determined,
if possible, to effect an escape; they got into the yard but,
unfortunately, were discovered the very moment they came out, by one
of the sentries, who gave the alarm, and instantly a volley of sixty
muskets was discharged at them; numbers were wounded, but none killed;
they then hastily retired into the prison.
Capt. Cotgrave, the agent, then entered the yard at the head of a large
body of troops, and after searching the yard in every direction, and
discovering nobody he was retiring, when they discovered a man creeping
along the wall; the blood-thirsty monsters instantly fell upon the
unhappy victim, and would neither listen to his cries nor prayers, but
before he could make himself known to them, several musket-balls had
pierced his vital parts, and laid him lifeless on the ground; but they
were not content with this; they ran up to him, and ran over and over
his lifeless corpse, stabbing it with their bayonets in many places;
after having satiated their ferocity, on inspecting the body, they
found it to be one of their own men, whom the darkness of the night had
prevented them from distinguishing.
In memory of this horrid act, the French prisoners raised a monument on
the very spot where it was committed; but the keepers of the prison had
it destroyed the same day, for it was a monument of their cruelty.