Part 12

In visiting the hospitals, I found the wounded prisoners fast recovering, all in high spirits, the prison generally more healthy than it had been since our arrival in it. Capt. Shortland removed his family from this place, for his guilt had brought upon him the apprehension of the first draught’s retaliating upon him by attacking his family; but no such idea had entered the imagination of any prisoner; it was the creature of his own guilt.

We were ordered at this time to be in readiness to deliver up every article which we had received from the British Government; such as beds, hammocks, blankets, &c., &c. These articles had been in our possession, and in constant use ever since the second of April, 1813, and had never been changed; we felt but little reluctance in delivering them up, when animated with the idea of once more visiting our native country, and leaving a dreary prison, which many of us had inhabited for upwards of two years.

On the following day we received a London paper which contained the following account of the late horid massacre at this depot; it read as follows:

An affair of a serious nature has recently taken place at Dartmoor prison: the prisoners attaching the greater part of the fault of their long detention since the peace, to Mr. Beasley their country’s agent, resident at London, had, before the affray, burnt his person in effigy in the yard of their prison; on account of which, Captain Shortland, unarmed and unattended, entered the yard of their prison with a view to appease the anger of these unfortunate men; but his reception was attended with the prisoners discharging a pistol at him, the contents of which grazed his clerk; upon this the prisoners attempted to gain their liberty by rushing out of the gates, but were soon coiled by the guards firing upon them, and killing twelve, and wounding thirty.

The account was equally base and false, as the act was cruel and murderous; but the mention of twelve killed confirmed the prisoners in their belief that this number had been killed, and the five which were not to be found, were secretly buried by Captain Shortland that night, and that he, in the guilty and confused state of his mind, had given an account of twelve instead of seven, which were the only ones found of the killed. I leave it to the reader to judge whether nature or habit had done most towards hardening the feelings of this man. It is well known that men accustomed to the sufferings and misery of their fellow-beings, soon grow hardened and forget them. But could this man from the short time here, have grown so callous in his feelings as to commit such acts from habit, or must cruelty and malice have been woven in his constitution?

On this day, the prisoners in making preparation for their departure, prepared a large white flag, and as a memento had in the middle of it, the representation of a tomb, with the Goddess of Liberty leaning on it, and a murdered sailor lying by its side, and an inscription over it in large capital letters, “_Columbia weeps, and we remember_.” This flag was intended to be carried home to the United States, as it showed a just resentment for the execrable deeds which it recorded, and a just respect for the sufferers. This same day, numbers of prisoners were released by application of their friends in England, for the purpose of manning ships in different ports. We had no news from Mr. Beasley, and most of the prisoners barefooted, the oldest in a state of nudity, not having received any jackets or trowsers for more than eleven months.

At length, when we were almost dead with impatience and delay, on the fourteenth we received a letter from Mr. Beasley to the following effect:

Fellow Citizens,

I have been informed that numbers of the prisoners have entertained an idea that they are to remain in prison, until the arrival of some United States’ ships in this country; but I can assure them that there is no foundation for the belief; and I can assure them of eight cartels being already taken up for their conveyance to the United States. And with regret I hear from officers who were sent to inquire into the shameful conduct of the sixth of April, that the extravagant excess of the prisoners was partly occasioned by their censuring the United States and myself.

Mr. Beasley had, no doubt, been informed of what he wrote, but it was not the fact, for his information, no doubt, came from the two officers who were here, the Admiral and his associate; but no such conversation took place in their hearing, which numbers of the most respectable prisoners can testify, and no such idea had been entertained by any prisoner in the prison. These officers intended that Mr. Beasley should bear all the blame. God knows his conduct was blameable enough throughout; but to do him justice he had no blame in the murderous act of the fatal sixth of April. His effigy had been burnt on the 24th of March, and all animosity had been dissipated with the ashes of his effigy, and his name seemed to be forgotten, for it was scarcely ever mentioned. Mr. Beasley had had every particular of the event before his interview with the officers, but made no exertions as yet to inquire into the affray.

The weather up to this day since the month began, had been remarkably fine for this place, but this morning the moor, as far as the eye could reach, was covered with snow, and continued to snow all day, and the weather very cold.

On the sixteenth we received letters from London, from many of our fellow-citizens, who had received passports and left the prison since the fatal sixth of April; on their arrival in London, they were taken before the lord mayor of that city, and their depositions taken relative to the massacre of the sixth, which was to the same purport as before the committee. On the same day, Col. Hawker, formerly consular agent, under the American consul at London, visited the prison for the purpose of shipping seamen to man ships at Plymouth, bound to New-Orleans. In this way the prisoners were daily diminishing in number, as any one might obtain a passport who could procure a friend to make application for their release, and informing Mr. Beasley that they required no assistance from him to convey them to the United States. In obtaining a passport in this way from Capt. Shortland, they needed no other protection in this country.

This day a man was committed to the cachot for drawing money from Col. Hawker in an assumed name. The colonel was determined to have him brought to condign punishment: this man the next day was taken out of the cachot and conveyed to Exeter, to be tried at the next August assizes.

On visiting the hospital, I found the wounded and the sick fast recovering, and had every attention paid them by Dr. Magrath, for their health and comfort, that his resources would allow.

On the seventeenth, a black man belonging to No. 4 was found dead in his hammock. On this day we received another letter from Mr. Beasley, which informed us that those officers who had visited the prison by order of the British government, had represented the conduct of the prisoners on the sixth of April, in a very unfavorable light, but having received a correct statement from the prison, and a general summary of the evidence on both sides as delivered in to the jury of inquest; he now apologized for his last letter.

On the nineteenth, at four o’clock in the afternoon, an express arrived informing Capt. Shortland that one cartel had arrived at Plymouth, and ordered him immediately to remove two hundred and forty-nine prisoners from this depot to that place, for embarking on board the ship. At five in the afternoon, the whole draft was collected in the square, with all their baggage. This was the first draft of prisoners that had entered the prison after the declaration of war, and had been immured within these gloomy walls more than two long and tedious years. They were then informed that one baggage wagon would be allowed to every hundred men, for the convenience of their baggage to Plymouth.

The prisoners being the greater part barefooted, made inquiry whether any arrangement had been made by Mr. Beasley for providing them with shoes and clothes, as they were much in want of them; but were much surprised and disappointed when they found no provision had been made. The money due from government had run over the usual time of payment, now twenty-five days, although application had previously been made for the payment of the daily allowance, and also, the other articles, both by the prisoners and Capt. Shortland himself; but Mr. Beasley still neglected to make any arrangement for either.

At six every prisoner’s name was called, and they committed together with their baggage to a separate prison, ready for their departure the next morning. The joy they felt on this occasion is better imagined than described; I therefore leave to the imagination of the reader, what emotions the heart must feel, when a change which promised every endearment of life to them, and freed them from every evil of it, was about to take place.

I visited the hospital this evening for the last time, and had the pleasing satisfaction of finding the sick and wounded in a state of fast recovery, except a few who were dangerous.

The next morning we took our departure for Plymouth, and with joy in our hearts bid farewell to that pale of misery, and at four in the afternoon arrived at Plymouth, having travelled all the way under the direction of a strong guard.

We were immediately embarked on board the cartel Maria Christiana, a Swedish ship, commanded by Capt. Dirkes; we found some few of our countrymen who had been on parole, on board the ship.

It was now just forty days since the arrival of the ratified treaty in England.

The next day eight of the prisoners left the cartel to join a brig under French colors bound for France.

On the twenty-second the wind being contrary, the prisoners were permitted to go on shore and spend the day. A court of inquiry had been instituted by commissioners appointed by both governments, for the investigation of the unfortunate occurrences of the sixth of April, and was then sitting for that purpose. Several of the prisoners were called upon to give evidence in the cause, and their depositions taken by the court that day.

The court was attended by Mr. Williams, deputy consular agent to Mr. Beasley.

Before we set sail Mr. Williams informed us that he was instructed by Mr. Beasley to take down all the particulars of the investigation, for the purpose of laying them before the American government; but the commissioners had not reported when we left Plymouth, but it was expected they would in a few days, which shall constitute a part of this work as soon as it is received.

Mr. Williams informed us that the money allowed by government, which had been due thirty days, would not be paid by Mr. Beasley, nor would any provision be made by him for shoes or clothing, but that the prisoners must go home as they were.

On the twenty-third, the wind being favorable, we hove short, and made preparations for sailing.

On mustering the prisoners, we found their number amounted to two hundred and sixty-three; this increase of number was by officers paroled at Ashburton.

At three in the afternoon we left the port of Plymouth, with a fresh and favorable wind.

We had left behind at Dartmoor five thousand one hundred and ninety-three of our fellow prisoners, whom the agent informed us would be conveyed to this place in the same manner as ourselves in a few days, as the other cartels were on their way round to Plymouth, and thence to embark immediately for the United States. After leaving Plymouth we found the provisions under the direction of Capt. Turner, appointed by the agents to deal out the rations to the prisoners.

We were allowed, five days in the week, one pound of salt beef, one pound of bread, half a pound of potatoes a day; the other two days one pound of pork, the same quantity of bread, and half a pint of peas per man, and half a pint of vinegar a week.

Mr. Beasley had made arrangements for each prisoner to have a small bed and blanket; the cartel was equipped according to custom, with great guns and small arms.

A Physician had been appointed with a sufficient quantity of medicine to serve during the passage.

One part of the ship was allotted to the sick, where every attention was paid them by their countrymen for their comfort and convenience.

During the residue of the month nothing material occurred; cartel quite healthy, only five cases of sick, and them not very dangerous; the month ended with winds, light and unfavorable.

On the first of May we were in lat. 45° North, and longitude 23° 41’ West. On the second, being in long. 24°, we spoke a brig from London bound to Quebec.

From the first to the fourteenth the winds were from N. W. to S. W., and the cartel kept between the latitudes of 42° and 44° North.

Some few sick but not dangerously. On this day we discovered a sail on our weather beam, standing to the eastward; at 2 P. M. she bore up and stood for the cartel, with a British flag flying; at four we spoke her in lat. 42, and long. 38. She proved to be a British transport with a number of troops from Mobile, bound to England, and fourteen days from Bermuda. She sent her boat alongside of the cartel with a naval and military officer, and the captain of the transport; they came on board the cartel and remained for an hour, and then returned to the transport, and each ship made sail for their destined places.

The winds still continued the same way the twenty-eighth. This day, Sunday, we fell in with several large islands of Ice, lat. 43°; on the same day, lat. 42° long. 60°, we spoke the brig Sally Barker, six days from Boston, bound for Portugal; the three days following the winds continuing light, from the South and West, we spoke a brig from Portland four days out, bound to Surinam.

Cartel perfectly healthy, with the exception of one man very low in a consumption.

On the first of June, lat. 40, 50, long. 64, spoke the ship Helvitius, of Philadelphia, bound home, after remaining during the whole war up the east country. On the 2nd of June, lat. 40, 35, long. 69, the majority of the prisoners agreed to take possession of the cartel, and run her into New-York, for the following reasons: the ship being disabled by the loss of her main trussel-trees, which endangered the top-mast, and rendered her unfit for sea; secondly, there being every appearance of a gale from the S. W. and the weather thick and hazy; thirdly, the port of New-York being the most convenient for the greater part of the prisoners; for which reasons, at twelve meridian, by the general voice of all on board, the command was taken from her former captain, and she directed for the port of New-York. At 4 P. M. the man in a consumption “put off this mortal coil,” and took his quietus in thirty-five fathoms of water, in the usual form at sea.

The captain of the ship required some document, that he might show for his indemnification for resigning the command of the ship, and deviating from his destined port, which was Norfolk, Vir.; the following certificate, signed by a great number of the prisoners, was delivered him.

CERTIFICATE.

We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States of America, do hereby certify, that on the second day of June, 1815, at twelve meridian, being in lat. 40, 30, long. 69, 30, by mutual agreement of a majority of prisoners now on board the cartel Maria Christiana, bound for Norfolk, did take possession of her, and directed her for the port of New-York.

At four o’clock on the third, we discovered the highland of New-Jersey bearing W. by S.; at eight made the light house, distance three or four leagues; at two P. M. obtained a pilot and stood within the Hook; at seven came to an anchor; the next morning arrived at New-York.

Having received the report of the commissioners since our arrival in the United States, we shall give it to the reader verbatim. The reader will perceive that it differs somewhat from the account of the massacre which I have given before, and that of the committee of prisoners. The public are to judge of the report; the facts seemed not to warrant just such an one; but to give my simple opinion as an individual, I believe that the commissioners, through a sort of _pia fraus_ for the love of peace and harmony between the two governments, have made it a vail of amnesty, and a preventative of new troubles.

THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

PLYMOUTH, 26th April, 1815.

We, the undersigned commissioners, appointed on behalf of our respective governments, to inquire into, and report upon, the unfortunate occurrence of the 6th of April instant, at Dartmoor prison, having carefully perused the proceedings of the several courts of inquiry instituted immediately after that event, by the orders of Admiral Sir John T. Duckworth and Major General Brown respectively, as well as the depositions taken at the coroner’s inquest upon the bodies of the prisoners who lost their lives upon that melancholy occasion; upon which inquest the jury found a verdict of justifiable homicide; proceed immediately to the examination upon oath, in the presence of one or more of the magistrates of the vicinity, of all the witnesses, both American and English, who offered themselves for that purpose, or who could be discovered as likely to afford any material information upon the subject, as well as those who had been previously examined before the coroner, or otherwise, to the number in the whole of about eighty. We further proceed to a minute examination of the prisons, for the purpose of clearing up some points, which upon the evidence alone, were scarcely intelligible; obtaining from the prisoners, and from the officers of the depot, all the necessary assistance and explanation; and premising, that we have been from necessity compelled to draw many of our conclusions from statements and evidence highly contradictory, we do now make upon the whole proceedings the following report:

During the period which has elapsed since the arrival in this country of the account of the ratification of the treaty of Ghent, an increased degree of restlessness and impatience of confinement appears to have prevailed amongst the American prisoners at Dartmoor, which, though not exhibited in the shape of any violent excess, has been principally indicated by threats of breaking out if not soon released.

On the fourth of this month in particular, only two days previous to the events, the subject of this inquiry, a large body of the prisoners rushed into the market-square, from whence, by the regulations of the prison, they are excluded, demanding bread, instead of bircuit, which had on that day been issued by the officers of the depot; their demands, however, having been then almost immediately complied with, they returned to their own yards, and the employment of force on that occasion became unnecessary.

On the evening of the sixth, about six o’clock, it was clearly proved to us, that a breach had been made in one of the prison walls, sufficient for a full-sized man to pass, and that others had been commenced in the course of the day near the same spot, though never completed.

That a number of the prisoners were over the railing erected to prevent them from communicating with the sentinels on the walls, which was of course forbidden by the regulations of the prison, and that in the space between the railing and those walls, they were tearing up pieces of turf, and wantonly pelting each other in a noisy and disorderly manner.

That a much more considerable number of the prisoners was collected together at that time in one of their yards near the place where the breach was effected, and that although such collection of prisoners was not unusual at other times (the gambling tables being commonly kept in that part of the yard) yet, when connected with the circumstances of the breach, and the time of the day, which was after the hour the signal for the prisoners to their respective prisons had ceased to sound, it became a natural and just ground of alarm to those who had charge of the depot.

It was also in evidence that in the building formerly the petty officers’ prison, but now the guard barrack, which stands in the yard to which the hole in the wall would serve as a communication, a part of the arms of the guard who were off duty, were usually kept in the racks, and though there was no evidence that this was in any respect the motive which induced the prisoners to make the opening in the wall, or even that they were ever acquainted with the fact, it naturally became at least a further cause of suspicion and alarm, and an additional reason for precaution.

Upon these grounds, Captain Shortland appears to us to have been justified in giving the order, which about this time he seems to have given, to sound the alarm-bell, the usual signal for collecting the officers of the depot, and putting the military on the alert.

However reasonable and justifiable this was as a measure of precaution, the effects produced thereby in the prisons, but which could not have been intended, were most unfortunate, and deeply to be regretted. A considerable number of the prisoners in the yards, where no disturbances existed before, and who were either already within their respective prisons, or quietly retiring as usual towards them, immediately upon the sound of the bell rushed back from curiosity (as it appears) towards the gates, where, by that time, the crowd had assembled, and many who were at the time absent from their yards, were also, from the plan of the prison, compelled, in order to reach their own homes, to pass by the same spot, and thus, that which was merely a measure of precaution, in its operation increased the evil it was intended to prevent.

Almost at the same instant that the alarm-bell rang, (but whether before or subsequent, is, upon the evidence, doubtful, though Captain Shortland states it positively, as one of his further reasons for causing it to ring) some one or more of the prisoners broke the iron chain, which was the only fastening of No. 1 gate, leading into the market-square, by means of an iron bar; and a very considerable number of the prisoners immediately rushed towards that gate; and many of them began to press forwards as fast as the opening would permit, into the square.

There was no direct proof before us of previous concert or preparation on the part of the prisoners; and no evidence of their intention or disposition to effect their escape on this occasion, excepting that which arose by inference from the whole of the above detailed circumstances connected together.

The natural and almost irresistible inference to be drawn, however, from the conduct of the prisoners by Captain Shortland and the military, was, that an intention on the part of the prisoners to escape was on the point of being carried into execution, and it was at least certain that they were by force passing beyond the limits prescribed to them, at a time when they ought to have been quietly going in for the night. It was also in evidence that the outer gates of the market-square were usually opened about this time to let the bread-wagon pass and repass to the store, although at the period in question they were in fact closed.