(Signed)
| WM. B. ORNE, | } | |
| WM. HOBART, | } | |
| JAMES BOGGS, | } | |
| JAMES ADAMS, | } | |
| FRANCIS JOSEPH, | } | |
| JOHN F. TROBRIDGE, | } | Committee. |
| JOHN RUST, | } | |
| HENRY ALLEN, | } | |
| WALTER COLTON, | } | |
| THOMAS B. MOTT. | } |
Dartmoor Prison, April 7th, 1815.
The same day Mr. Ingraham come to the prison and informed the prisoners that he had come for the purpose of shipping a number of men, to man ships now lying in different ports in Europe; he also informed us that he had been appointed agent, under the consular agent of the United States: and that every preparation was making for the immediate release of every prisoner, and we might be assured of the immediate arrival of the ships from London to convey us to the United States.
On the tenth, a number were discharged to man different ships in Europe; this day arrangements were made by the prisoners, for the assistance and relief of our wounded countrymen in the Hospital, and also an arrangement for the prisoners to wear crape on their arm for thirty days after their arrival in America, as a tribute of respect due to their departed friends and fellow-prisoners. The wounded in the hospital were paid every attention, for their comfort and speedy recovery, by Doctor Magrath.
We received no letters from Mr. Beasley, although hundreds of letters had been sent to him since the melancholy event of the 6th. Reports were circulating that a new agent was to be appointed by the United States to supersede Mr. Beasley, which every man most anxiously wished might be true, but had not the satisfaction to learn it was the case; every day’s delay made more confusion and anxiety among the prisoners. The weather during this month up to the present day, had been remarkably fine, pure and healthy, and more so than it had been at this place since our confinement; as if the All-Seeing Eye of Heaven looked down with pity and compassion upon our injured and wounded countrymen, and dispensed His blessings for their speedy recovery in the salubrity of His air. That passage in Holy Writ, in this instance, seemed to be remarkably verified: “that when the prisoner was sick in prison, He visited him.”
Capt. Shortland, after being acquitted, resumed the command of the depot, but he was seldom seen by the prisoners, being very apprehensive that the prisoners would shoot him the first opportunity; therefore he kept a body guard around him, and this day a draft of thirty prisoners being discharged, and having to pass by his house, he had his guard stationed at his door.
On the morning of the twelfth, we were informed by Capt. Shortland that the drafts for the discharge of the prisoners were already made out, and that the draft for the first cartel would consist of 280, to be discharged as they entered this depot. I therefore obtained the exact number of prisoners then in each prison, which I shall give as follows:
| Prison No 1, contained, | 1290 |
| 3, | 952 |
| 4, | 978 |
| 5, | 938 |
| 7, | 1248 |
| In different employments about the stores and hospital, | 29 |
| Patients in the hospital, | 107 |
| —— | |
| Total number of unparoled prisoners in England, | 5542 |
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.