YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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Fund

AFFIDAYITS AND DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO THE

NORTHERLY PART OF TRINITY CHURCH YARD

American Iriarars uf Mm,

WHO PERISHED IN THE PRISONS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK DURING THE

^REVOLUTION,

NEW YORK:
SAMUEL T. CALLAHAN, FEINTER, NO. 113 NASSAU STREET

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO THE

B XT XI. I A 3L. ,

NORTHERLY PART OF TRINITY CHURCH YARD

American irkmm jtf.SHar,

WHO PFRISHED IN THE PIUSONS IN THE CITY OP NEW YORK DURING THE

REVOLUTION.

NEW YORK:
SAMUEL T. CALLAHAN, PRINTER, NO. 113 NASSAU STREET.
1855.

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO THE

^urial m % nortjjerlg part td Crinitg <%rcj) farft

AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR.

STATE OF NEW YORK, ,

City and County of New York,
Andrew S. Norwood, being duly sworn, doth
depose and say that he was born in the city
of New York, in Duke, now called Stone
Street, and his father was also a native of this
city. That deponent remained in the city from
the time of his birth until a short time prior
to its being taken by the British forces dur
ing the Revolutionary War, when his father's
family removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey.
That his father espoused the cause of Liberty
in the struggle with Great Britain, and was
actively engaged therein ; was twice taken pris
oner ; he was exchanged the first time ; he

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

was the second time taken in 1779 while in
command of a baggage-train in New Jersey,
brought to New York and thrown into the
Sugar House prison in Crown Street, now known
as Liberty Street.
And deponent further says that he has a
distinct and vivid recollection of many of the
scenes and incidents in New York city during
the period of our Revolutionary History ; that
his mother returned to the city shortly after
his father was the second time taken prisoner,
and brought her children with her — this depo
nent among the rest, since which time depo
nent has resided in the city of his birth con
tinuously to the present time. That he
remembers scenes incident to the Declaration
of Independence and to the War ; such as the
evacuation of the city by the Revolutionary
Citizens and their families prior to its occupa
tion by the hostile forces ; the fact of the
conversion of various buildings, public and pri
vate, into prisons, military hospitals, and quar
ters for troops ; and the final evacuation of the
city by the British ; also the entry of General

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

Washington and his army after peace was de
clared. That he distinctly remembers the Sugar
House prison in Crown Street, as his father
was there confined a prisoner of war. That
his mother's relatives belonged to the Tory
party, particularly one Major Creamer in the
Royalist forces, through whose influence depo
nent's father was released from prison on his
parol conditional that he should remain in the
city ; that after his father was so released he
frequently employed this deponent to carry
provisions to his friends in the prison. Depo
nent particularly remembers one John Van Dyke
to whom he often carried gifts of food. That
the Hessian sentinels became somewhat familiar
with deponent, and allowed him ingress and
egress to and from the prison aforesaid ; that
on one or two occasions, however, they struck
him, but not so as to injure him seriously.
And deponent further says that the condition
of the prisoners was abject in the extreme, and
most distressing to witness ; they frequently
tried to wrest from his possession the food with
which he was sent ; they were frequently fed

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

with bread made from old worm-eaten ship-
bread, which was reground. into meal and then
converted into bread, and deponent remembers
that the bread so made was offensive to the smell
even while still hot from the oven.
Deponent further says that he remembers that
many of the prisoners died during their con
finement in said prison ; that the bodies of
those who died were placed in oblong boxes,
sometimes two bodies in one box, and were
buried in Trinity Church Yard, and deponent
distinctly remembers having himself seen such
interments. Deponent further says that a part of Trinity
Church Yard was at that time used as a com
mon burying ground, as was also the yard of
St. George's Church and the Swamp Burying
Ground. That St. Paul's Church Yard was
exclusive, and was not thus used for public
purposes, and that only members of the Epis
copal Church were there interred.
Deponent further says that a brother of his
father, named Cliff or Clifford Norwood, was "
murdered during the period of the Revolution,

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

as was supposed by foreign soldiers, and his
said uncle was buried in Trinity Church Yard.
And this deponent further says that he dis
tinctly remembers the Rev'd. Mr. Inglis, the
officiating Rector of Trinity Church at that pe
riod, and deponent verily believes, that Mr.
' Inglis had no power or influence and exercised
or attempted to exercise none to prevent the
interment of "rebels," as they were termed by
the Tories and British, in the yard of Trinity
Church.

Further says not.

A. S. NORWOOD.

Sworn to before me this 20th day )
of May, 1854, )
FREDERICK E. WESTBROOK,
Commissioner of Deeds.

The above deponent is a member of the Presbyterian Church,
and resides at No. 155 West Fourteenth Street, in the City of
New York.

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

JVb. 161, formerly 155 West 14th Street,
l6th December, 1854.
Dear Sir : In answer to your question as to
what part of Trinity Church Yard the Ameri
can Prisoners of War were buried, I without
hesitation designate the Northerly, or more par
ticularly the Northwesterly portion of the yard,
that part being directly in the line of Pine
Street. Yery respectfully, A. S. NORWOOD.
Henry Youngs, Esq., )
New- York. \

STATE OF NEW YORK,
City and County of New York,

I, Jacob Freeman, now of Woodbridge, in
the County of Middlesex, in New Jersey, being
duly sworn do depose and say : That I am
the son of Amos Freeman, a native of said

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC. iJ
Woodbridge, whose father was Henry Freeman,
my grandfather, of the same place, both my
said grandfather and my father, being now de
ceased. That, in the lifetime of my father, I had
many conversations with my father in relation
to events of the American Revolution, and of
the incidents and circumstances connected with
himself, and that of my grandfather, in that
Revolution. I remember his repeatedly relat
ing to me the fact of his father and himself
being with several others, inhabitants of Wood-
bridge, arrested and taken and put in prison,
in New York, by the British, because they
wei-i> attached to the American cause, and re
member well his description of the sufferings of
himself and my grandfather during their impris
onment. He told me, that his father, when
arrested, was about sixty years of age, and
knowing that he would, if taken alone, be in
danger of extreme suffering, and believing that
he, my father, might if with him, mitigate its
severity, he, my father, though then concealed,
surrendered himself, that he might accompany

10 AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.
my grandfather. He told me, that he and his
father were among those who were confined in
the Sugar House in Liberty Street, and were
there several months. That, while there, every
day, one or more of the prisoners there con
fined died, and, as he was then informed, and
then and afterwards understood, were buried in
the north part of Trinity Church Yard.
I am now about fifty-nine years old ; during
my father's life, since my earliest recollection,
and since his death, it was always understood
as a fact, conceded and known in the family,
and among the relatives of those at Wood-
bridge who were taken prisoners, and a cir
cumstance of general notoriety among them,
that the American prisoners who died in that
Sugar House were buried in the north part of
Trinity Church Yard. My father was an officer
in the American army, a Lieutenant.

JACOB FREEMAN.

Sworn to before me this 8th day
of June, 1854,

ANDREW KOHLER,
Commissioner of Deeds.

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC. 11

LETTER FROM GEN. JACOB BARNITZ,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
A Veteran of the War of 1812, and one of the Heroes of North Point.

York, April 11th, 1854.
Dear Str : I received your letter of the 7th
inst., desiring information as to the place of
interment of the Revolutionary patriots whilst
in captivity in the city of New York during
its occupation by the British ; and in reply
state that I am a son of Ensign Jacob Bar-
nitz, who fell wounded in both legs when Fort
Washington was lost, and that among others he
was conveyed to New York, and there thrown
into a Sugar House, and suffered to lay on the
damp ground, where he continued with others
in a suffering state until a kind friend had him
removed to more comfortable quarters, and al
though he frequently related many circumstances
respecting his captivity and sufferings to his
children, I do not recollect his having men
tioned the place of interment of those who died
whilst in captivity.

12 AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.
But fortunately for the good cause you are
engaged in, in protecting the ashes of those
brave patriots who sacrificed their lives for our
liberties, I rejoice that there is still one liv
ing amongst us (who although not one of those
belonging to the York or Lancaster troops,)
gave me, I think, a satisfactory account sufficient
to establish the fact that those who died there
whilst in captivity were interred in Trinity
Church Yard.
The name of the old soldier is John Pennal
(well known to my nephew J. B. Bacon, who
I rejoice to see, has taken an active part in
the proceedings with you), who answered to
my questions as follows :
John, how were you engaged during the
Revolutionary War '?
Answer. When in 1776 I was but 11 years
old I was bound by my father, then residing
in Philadelphia, to Capt. White of the Sloop
of War Nancy, and continued with him until
the Peace of 1783.
Did you at any time land at New York while
you were in service ?

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC. 13
Answer. Yes, several times before the Brit
ish occupied it and after its evacuation.
Tell me what you saw after the British left
there ?
Answer. I saw and heard how cruelly they
treated our men ; they kept them in the damp
Sugar Houses where many of them sickened
and died.
Do you know where those who died in the
Sugar Houses were buried ?
Answer. They were buried on the hill, they
called it the holy ground, I saw where they were
buried, the graves were long and about six feet
wide, five or six were put into one grave.
What was the name of the church that the
ground belonged to called ?
Answer. They called it Trinity Church.
The above were all the questions I thought
necessary to ask him, and he answered them
readily and without hesitation.
Yours respectfully, JACOB BARNITZ.
Mr. Peter Y. Cutler.

14 AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

THE GRAVE OF THE PATRIOT.

To the Editors of the Courier and Enquirer ¦-
It is with considerable interest I wait daily for
the carrier to bring your paper, in which I may
know all that is said and done relative to the
desecration of Trinity Churchyard. In Chester
County of this State, a few miles from where the
Paoli Monument now stands, during the Revolu
tion resided a farmer too far advanced in life to
take part in the struggle for Independence then
going on; his son, however, at his expense, raised
a company of eighty men, who fought at the battle
of Brandywine, and being attached to General
Wayne's Brigade, went with him to reconnoiter
the enemy. A few nights after the battle of
Brandywine was fought, the old farmer was waked
up by several men at his door, who were wounded,
and claimed his well known hospitality. The
massacre of the Paoli had taken place, and these
few were among those who escaped the butchery
of that terrible night. Shortly after, their com
mander came home, and, after seeing the remnant

AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.

15

of his company fed and secreted from the foe,
retired to sleep. While they were sleeping, a girl
of tender years kept watch the whole night. The
next day they started for the camp ; when at the
battle of Germantown the captain of this little
band was wounded, taken prisoner, and carried
to New- York, — died of his wounds, and was buried
or pitched into the north side of Trinity Church
yard. This man was my great-grandfather ; the
little girl, my grandmother.
in June, 1853, in this city there was an old lady
then in her 85th year, by her side stood a youth
who said, "Grandma, I am going to New- York
to-morrow, what shall I bring you home V" Putting
her hand on his head she said, "Bring me a twig
from one of the trees which overshadow in Trin
ity Churchyard the dust of my father, who died
in defence of the blessings you now enjoy ; he
lies in that spot, Your father tells me the Church
guards with a jealous care that sacred spot, and
may Heaven reward them for the act. I will
never see the spot again, for I will soon be called
home to my Heavenly Father, but when you visit
that city always go see the place where more

16 AFFIDAVITS AND DOCUMENTS, ETC.
than one of your ancestors lies buried, and never
forget what the heroes of the Revolution done
for you and your country." This old lady was
the little girl of the Revolution, the boy your
humble servant.
I cannot help feeling a deep indignation for the
men who would desecrate that which in my eyes
is a holy spot, and hope you will never tire in
your laudable efforts to show the Vandals in
their true light, who would scatter to the winds
the dust of those who gave up their lives and
fortunes for the benefit these 'now enjoy by living
in a prosperous and happy country, which they
could not do, if they had remained where nature
first cast them forth. Yours truly, J. WAYNE.
Philadelphia, March 28, 1854.

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