Ethan Allen, the Robin Hood of Vermont

by Henry Hall

We arrived at Halifax not far from the middle of June, where the ship's crew, which was infested with the scurvy, were taken on shore and shallow trenches dug, into which they were put, and partly covered with earth. Indeed, every proper measure was taken for their relief. The prisoners were not permitted any sort of medicine, but were put on board a sloop which lay in the harbor, near the town of Halifax, surrounded by several men-of-war and their tenders, and a guard constantly set over them, night and day. The sloop we had wholly to ourselves, except the guard who occupied the forecastle; here we were cruelly pinched with hunger; it seemed to me that we had not more than one-third of the common allowance. We were all seized with violent hunger and faintness; we divided our scanty allowance as exact as possible. I shared the same fate with the rest, and though they offered me more than an even share, I refused to accept it, as it was a time of substantial distress, which in my opinion I ought to partake equally with the rest, and set an example of virtue and fortitude to our little commonwealth.

I sent letter after letter to Captain Montague, who still had the care of us, and also to his lieutenant, whose name I cannot call to mind, but could obtain no answer, much less a redress of grievances; and to add to the calamity, nearly a dozen of the prisoners were dangerously ill of the scurvy. I wrote private letters to the doctors, to procure, if possible, some remedy for the sick, but in vain. The chief physician came by in a boat, so close that the oars touched the sloop that we were in, and I uttered my complaint in the genteelest manner to him, but he never so much as turned his head, or made me any answer, though I continued speaking till he got out of hearing. Our cause then became deplorable. Still I kept writing to the captain, till he ordered the guards, as they told me, not to bring any more letters from me to him. In the mean time an event happened worth relating. One of the men, almost dead with the scurvy, lay by the side of the sloop, and a canoe of Indians coming by, he purchased two quarts of strawberries, and ate them at once, and it almost cured him. The money he gave for them was all the money he had in the world. After that we tried every way to procure more of that fruit, reasoning from analogy that they might have the same effect on others infested with the same disease, but could obtain none.

Meanwhile the doctor's mate of the Mercury came privately on board the prison sloop and presented me with a large vial of smart drops, which proved to be good for the scurvy, though vegetables and some other ingredients were requisite for a cure: but the drops gave at least a check to the disease. This was a well-timed exertion of humanity, but the doctor's name has slipped my mind, and in my opinion, it was the means of saving the lives of several men.

The guard which was set over us was by this time touched with feelings of compassion; and I finally trusted one of them with a letter of complaint to Governor Arbuthnot, of Halifax, which he found means to communicate, and which had the desired effect; for the governor sent an officer and surgeon on board the prison sloop to know the truth of the complaint. The officer's name was Russell; he held the rank of lieutenant, and treated me in a friendly and polite manner, and was really angry at the cruel and unmanly usage the prisoners met with; and with the surgeon made a true report of matters to Governor Arbuthnot, who, either by his order or influence, took us next day from the prison sloop to Halifax jail, where I first became acquainted with the now Hon. James Lovel, one of the members of Congress for the State of Massachusetts. The sick were taken to the hospital, and the Canadians, who were effective, were employed in the king's works; and when their countrymen were recovered from the scurvy and joined them, they all deserted the king's employ, and were not heard of at Halifax as long as the remainder of the prisoners continued there, which was till near the middle of October. We were on board the prison sloop about six weeks, and were landed at Halifax near the middle of August. Several of our English-American prisoners, who were cured of the scurvy at the hospital, made their escape from thence, and after a long time reached their old habitations.

I had now but thirteen with me of those who were taken in Canada, and remained in jail with me at Halifax, who, in addition to those that were imprisoned before, made our number about thirty-four, who were all locked up in one common large room, without regard to rank, education, or any other accomplishment, where we continued from the setting to the rising sun; and as sundry of them were infected with the jail and other distempers, the furniture of this spacious room consisted principally of excrement tubs. We petitioned for a removal of the sick into the hospitals, but were denied. We remonstrated against the ungenerous usage of being confined with the privates, as being contrary to the laws and customs of nations, and particularly ungrateful in them in consequence of the gentleman-like usage which the British imprisoned officers met with in America; and thus we wearied ourselves, petitioning and remonstrating, but to no purpose at all; for General Massey, who commanded at Halifax, was as inflexible as the devil himself, a fine preparative this for Mr. Lovel, member of the Continental Congress.

Lieutenant Russell, whom I have mentioned before, came to visit me in prison, and assured me that he had done his utmost to procure my parole for enlargement; at which a British captain, who was then town-major, expressed compassion for the gentlemen confined in the filthy place, and assured me that he had used his influence to procure their enlargement; his name was near like Ramsey. Among the prisoners there were four in number who had a legal claim to a parole, a Mr. Howland, master of a continental armed vessel, a Mr. Taylor, his mate, and myself.

As to the article of provision, we were well served, much better than in any part of my captivity; and since it was Mr. Lovel's misfortune and mine to be prisoners, and in so wretched circumstances, I was happy that we were together as a mutual support to each other and to the unfortunate prisoners with us. Our first attention was the preservation of ourselves and injured little republic; the rest of our time we devoted interchangeably to politics and philosophy, as patience was a needful exercise in so evil a situation, but contentment mean and impracticable.

I had not been in this jail many days, before a worthy and charitable woman, by the name of Mrs. Blacden, supplied me with a good dinner of fresh meats every day, with garden fruit, and sometimes with a bottle of wine; notwithstanding which I had not been more than three weeks in this place before I lost my appetite to the most delicious food by the jail distemper, as also did sundry of the prisoners, particularly Sergeant Moore, a man of courage and fidelity. I have several times seen him hold the boatswain of the Solebay frigate, when he attempted to strike him, and laughed him out of conceit of using him as a slave.

A doctor visited the sick, and did the best, as I suppose, he could for them, to no apparent purpose. I grew weaker and weaker, as did the rest. Several of them could not help themselves. At last I reasoned in my own mind that raw onion would be good. I made use of it, and found immediate relief by it, as did the sick in general, particularly Sergeant Moore, whom it recovered almost from the shades; though I had met with a little revival, still I found the malignant hand of Britain had greatly reduced my constitution with stroke upon stroke. Esquire Lovel and myself used every argument and entreaty that could be well conceived of in order to obtain gentleman-like usage, to no purpose. I then wrote General Massey as severe a letter as I possibly could with my friend Lovel's assistance. The contents of it was to give the British, as a nation, and him as an individual, their true character. This roused the rascal, for he could not bear to see his and the nation's deformity in that transparent letter, which I sent him; he therefore put himself in a great rage about it, and showed the letter to a number of British officers, particularly to Captain Smith of the Lark frigate, who instead of joining with him in disapprobation commended the spirit of it; upon which General Massey said to him, do you take the part of a rebel against me? Captain Smith answered that he rather spoke his sentiments and there was a dissension in opinion between them. Some officers took the part of the general and others of the captain. This I was informed of by a gentleman who had it from Captain Smith.

In a few days after this, the prisoners were ordered to go on board of a man-of-war, which was bound for New York; but two of them were not able to go on board, and were left at Halifax; one died; and the other recovered. This was about the 12th of October, and soon after we had got on board, the captain sent for me in particular to come on the quarter deck. I went, not knowing that it was Captain Smith or his ship at that time, and expected to meet the same rigorous usage I had commonly met with and prepared my mind accordingly; but when I came on deck, the captain met me with his hand, welcomed me to his ship, invited me to dine with him that day, and assured me that I should be treated as a gentleman, and that he had given orders that I should be treated with respect by the ship's crew. This was so unexpected and sudden a transition that it drew tears from my eyes which all the ill usage I had before met with was not able to produce, nor could I at first hardly speak, but soon recovered myself and expressed my gratitude for so unexpected a favor; and let him know that I felt anxiety of mind in reflecting that his situation and mine was such that it was not probable that it would ever be in my power to return the favor. Captain Smith replied that he had no reward in view, but only treated me as a gentleman ought to be treated; he said this is a mutable world, and one gentleman never knows but it may be in his power to help another. Soon after I found this to be the same Captain Smith who took my part against General Massey; but he never mentioned anything of it to me, and I thought it impolite in me to interrogate him as to any disputes which might have arisen between him and the general on my account, as I was a prisoner, and that it was at his option to make free with me on that subject if he pleased; and if he did not, I might take it for granted that it would be unpleasing for me to query about it, though I had a strong propensity to converse with him on that subject.