Life and Times of Washington, vol 2 (Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched) | Page 3

the Americans met with after they were captured."
The garrison of Fort Washington surrendered by capitulation to General
Howe, the 16th of November. The terms were that the fort should be
surrendered, the troops be considered prisoners of war, and that the
American officers should keep their baggage and sidearms. These
articles were signed and afterwards published in the New York papers.
Major Otho Holland Williams, of Rawling's Rifle Regiment, in doing
his duty that day, unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. The
haughty deportment of the officers, and the scurrility of the soldiers of
the British army, he afterward said, soon dispelled his hopes of being
treated with lenity. Many of the American officers were plundered of
their baggage and robbed of their sidearms, hats, cockades, etc., and
otherwise grossly ill-treated. Williams and three companions were, on
the third day, put on board the Baltic-Merchant, a hospital ship, then
lying in the sound. The wretchedness of his situation was in some
degree alleviated by a small pittance of pork and parsnip which a good-
natured sailor spared him from his own mess. The fourth day of their
captivity, Rawlings, Hanson, M'Intire, and himself, all wounded
officers, were put into one common dirt-cart and dragged through the
city of New York as objects of derision, reviled as rebels, and treated
with the utmost contempt.
From the cart they were set down at the door of an old wastehouse, the
remains of Hampden Hall, near Bridewell, which, because of the
openness and filthiness of the place, he had a few months before
refused as barracks for his privates, but now was willing to accept for
himself and friends, in hopes of finding an intermission of the fatigue
and persecution they had perpetually suffered. Some provisions were
issued to the prisoners in the afternoon of that day, what quantity he
could not declare, but it was of the worst quality he ever, till then, saw
made use of. He was informed the allowance consisted of six ounces of
pork, one pound of biscuit, and some peas per day for each man, and
two bushels and a half of sea coal per week for the officers to each
fireplace. These were admitted on parole, and lived generally in

wastehouses. The privates, in the coldest season of the year, were close
confined in churches, sugar-houses, and other open buildings (which
admitted all kinds of weather), and consequently were subjected to the
severest kind of persecution that ever unfortunate captives suffered.
Officers were insulted and often struck for attempting to afford some of
the miserable privates a small relief. In about three weeks Colonel
Williams was able to walk, and was himself a witness of the sufferings
of his countrymen. He could not describe their misery. Their
constitutions were not equal to the rigor of the treatment they received
and the consequence was the death of many hundreds. The officers
were not allowed to take muster-rolls, nor even to visit their men, so
that it was impossible to ascertain the numbers that perished; but from
frequent reports and his own observations, he verily believed, as well as
had heard many officers give it as their opinion, that not less than 1,500
prisoners perished in the course of a few weeks in the city of New York,
and that this dreadful mortality was principally owing to the want of
provisions and extreme cold. If they computed too largely, it must be
ascribed to the shocking brutal manner of treating the dead bodies, and
not to any desire of exaggerating the account of their sufferings.
When the King's commissary of prisoners intimated to some of the
American officers General Howe's intention of sending the privates
home on parole, they all earnestly desired it, and a paper was signed
expressing that desire; the reason for signing was, they well knew the
effects of a longer confinement, and the great numbers that died when
on parole justified their pretensions to that knowledge. In January
almost all the officers were sent to Long Island on parole, and there
billeted on the inhabitants at $2 per week.
The filth in the churches (in consequence of fluxes) was beyond
description. Seven dead have been seen in one of them at the same time,
lying among the excrements of their bodies. The British soldiers were
full of their low and insulting jokes on those occasions, but less
malignant than the Tories. The provision dealt out to the prisoners was
not sufficient for the support of life, and was deficient in quantity, and
more so in quality. The bread was loathsome and not fit to be eaten,
and was thought to have been condemned. The allowance of meat was
trifling and of the worst sort. The integrity of these suffering prisoners
was hardly