Forgotten patriots : the untold story of American prisoners during the Revolutionary War Edwin G. Burrows

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burrows, Edwin G., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Prisoners and prisons, British.

United States.

Prisoners of war--United States--History--18th century.

Prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Military prisons--New York (State)--New York--History--18th century.

Military prisons.

Great Britain. Army--Prisons--History--18th century.

Great Britain.

New York (N.Y.)--History, Military--18th century.

New York (N.Y.).

Physical Description:

xii, 364 p. : ill., maps, plan ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, c2008.

Summary:

Between 1775 and 1783, some 200,000 Americans took up arms against the British Crown, and just over 6,800 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. New York City was the principal base of the Crown's military operations. Beginning with the 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. This book is the first-ever account of these hell-holes, a sobering commentary on how much we have forgotten about our struggle for independence.

Contents:

Brooklyn

Destined to the cord

The stool of repentance

A cry of barbarity & cruelty

Sweet liberty

War ad terrorem

The war of words

Dead reckonings

Forgotten patriots.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-348) and index.

Local Notes:

HSP credit line: unknown, but listed as source.

ISBN:

9780465008353 (alk. paper)

0465008356 (alk. paper)

OCLC:

191926052