The Vilest Villain of All: Joshua Loring, Jr.
Americans like to see ourselves as the good guys: occasionally mistaken, but always honest and well-meaning. The refutation of the argument goes back to the earliest days of America. It exists in the person of Joshua Loring, Jr. (1744-89), mass murderer and paragon of corruption. |
| Prison ship Jersey In the public domain; courtesy of www.wikipedia.com |
In
the entirety of the Revolution, a total of 4,300 American men were
killed in battle. Three times as many, roughly 13,000, died on the
infamous British prison ships and in warehouses and factories
commandeered by the British in New York and elsewhere. And Joshua Loring
was largely to blame.
American prisoners died like rats, of disease and hunger. In summer, they suffocated and they froze to death or died of pneumonia in winter. With little food and water, prisoners had no strength to resist dysentery, typhoid, smallpox, yellow fever, and tuberculosis. The food was often putrid.
From Commissary Joshua Loring, Provost Marshal William Cunningham, and Naval Commissary David Sprout, down to the lowly prison guards, no one acted to prevent the virtual annihilation of these prisoners of war. The story differed little in prisons in Charleston and Savannah. The policy appears to have been a deliberate conspiracy not only among the prison commissaries, but actually by the British High Command.
Wallabout Bay
The victims were buried in the sands of the adjacent shore of Wallabout Bay, where the Navy Yard in Brooklyn is now located. Twenty years after the war, a vast number of the bones were dislodged. They were collected by Captain John Jackson, the proprietor of the neighboring land, and re-interred at his expense.
When they evacuated New York, the British tried to cover up their responsibility. But the evidence was there, contained in letters written by prisoners who survived. There was also the word of escaped and exchanged prisoners. And there was the report made by Elias Boudinot, appointed by Congress to secure the exchange of prisoners, provide them with clothing and food, and investigate the situation in some of the New York prisons.
The victims were buried in the sands of the adjacent shore of Wallabout Bay, where the Navy Yard in Brooklyn is now located. Twenty years after the war, a vast number of the bones were dislodged. They were collected by Captain John Jackson, the proprietor of the neighboring land, and re-interred at his expense.
When they evacuated New York, the British tried to cover up their responsibility. But the evidence was there, contained in letters written by prisoners who survived. There was also the word of escaped and exchanged prisoners. And there was the report made by Elias Boudinot, appointed by Congress to secure the exchange of prisoners, provide them with clothing and food, and investigate the situation in some of the New York prisons.
Howe
had a direct link with Commissioner Loring, whom he appointed. Loring
was a Boston Loyalist and a contemptible example of greed and graft. He
is perhaps most famous for selling his wife Elizabeth Lloyd Loring
(1744-1838) to Howe to secure the appointment. This arrangement was
widely known at the time, and made the Lorings the subject of some of
the more ribald lyrics of the day.
Visit us on Halloween for the rest of the story.
Sources:
http://longislandgeneaology.com by Brock Fleming
www.wikipedia.com
www.usmm.org (The Merchant Marine website has lists of the names of prisoners)
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