After the fall of Savannah in December 1778, the British confined Mordecai Sheftall to the Nancy, a prison ship Savannah, GA. Eventually, the British sent Sheftall to the West Indies.
Conditions on British prison ships off Savannah became lethal just as they were aboard the prison ships of British-occupied New York City. Pierre Colomb, a Frenchman enlisted in the Continental Army, was a prisoner on one of the British prison ships of Savannah. Colomb described increasing mortality among the prisoners, sometimes reaching as many as twelve deaths each day.
Confined to the prison ship Nancy, Rev. Moses Allen of Midway, Georgia tried to escape. Sadly, Rev. Allen drowned in his attempt to reach shore. On February 24, 1784, the Georgia House of Assembly resolved to give Rev. Allen's "only surviving Son," also named Moses Allen, five-hundred acres of land "as a compensation for his father[']s service."
Allan D. Candler, The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, 3 vols. (Atlanta: The Franklin-Turner Company, 1908), 3: 550, 551. For more on Moses Allen and the Revolutionary commitment of the New England settlement at Midway, Georgia, please visit the post "Sheftall's Messmate," especially the last paragraph. Also visit the Moses Allen entry at Wikipedia. For the disturbing description of one British prison ship off Savannah, please consult the quote included in the article by Historian Philip Ranlet, "In the Hands of the British: The Treatment of American POWs during the War of Independence," Historian vol. 62 (summer 2000): 731-757.
Conditions on British prison ships off Savannah became lethal just as they were aboard the prison ships of British-occupied New York City. Pierre Colomb, a Frenchman enlisted in the Continental Army, was a prisoner on one of the British prison ships of Savannah. Colomb described increasing mortality among the prisoners, sometimes reaching as many as twelve deaths each day.
Confined to the prison ship Nancy, Rev. Moses Allen of Midway, Georgia tried to escape. Sadly, Rev. Allen drowned in his attempt to reach shore. On February 24, 1784, the Georgia House of Assembly resolved to give Rev. Allen's "only surviving Son," also named Moses Allen, five-hundred acres of land "as a compensation for his father[']s service."
Allan D. Candler, The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, 3 vols. (Atlanta: The Franklin-Turner Company, 1908), 3: 550, 551. For more on Moses Allen and the Revolutionary commitment of the New England settlement at Midway, Georgia, please visit the post "Sheftall's Messmate," especially the last paragraph. Also visit the Moses Allen entry at Wikipedia. For the disturbing description of one British prison ship off Savannah, please consult the quote included in the article by Historian Philip Ranlet, "In the Hands of the British: The Treatment of American POWs during the War of Independence," Historian vol. 62 (summer 2000): 731-757.
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