Stories of butchery surrounded the August 27, 1776 British victory at the Battle of Long Island. More Americans probably died, however, from prolonged neglect as prisoners than from gruesome acts of violence. Lieutenant Jabez Fitch offered the story of a Native American comrade in his regiment.
One Sam Talman, (an Indian fellow...) after he was taken & strip'd by the Barbarians, was set up at a small Distance as a mark for them to shoot at for Diversion or practice, by which he Recd: two severe wounds, one in the Neck & the other in the Arm, but alth'o it appear'd that their Skill was not sufficient to Despatch him in that way, yet it afterward Appear'd that they were sufficiently Skil'd in the Cruel Art of Starving with hunger Cold &c, to Destroy him with many hundred others who perrish'd in N. York.
Please consult the except from Jabez Fitch's Diary in John H. Rhodehamel, editor, The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (New York: Library of America, 2001).
Samuel Tallman was one of nineteen Privates "Missing" from Captain [Jonathan] Brewster's Company of Col. [Jedidiah] Huntington's Regiment, the Seventeenth Regiment of Continental Infantry, after the Battle of Long Island. Henry P. Johnston, The Records of Connecticut Men in the I-War of the Revolution, II-War of 1812, III-Mexican War (Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, Printers, 1889), page 102.
One Sam Talman, (an Indian fellow...) after he was taken & strip'd by the Barbarians, was set up at a small Distance as a mark for them to shoot at for Diversion or practice, by which he Recd: two severe wounds, one in the Neck & the other in the Arm, but alth'o it appear'd that their Skill was not sufficient to Despatch him in that way, yet it afterward Appear'd that they were sufficiently Skil'd in the Cruel Art of Starving with hunger Cold &c, to Destroy him with many hundred others who perrish'd in N. York.
Please consult the except from Jabez Fitch's Diary in John H. Rhodehamel, editor, The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (New York: Library of America, 2001).
Samuel Tallman was one of nineteen Privates "Missing" from Captain [Jonathan] Brewster's Company of Col. [Jedidiah] Huntington's Regiment, the Seventeenth Regiment of Continental Infantry, after the Battle of Long Island. Henry P. Johnston, The Records of Connecticut Men in the I-War of the Revolution, II-War of 1812, III-Mexican War (Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, Printers, 1889), page 102.
No comments:
Post a Comment