William Endicott
William Endicott
(1741-1792) He was born and died in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He served as Private in third battalion of Atlantic County’s Gloucester Militia under Colonel Rich...
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(1741-1792)
He was born and died in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He served as Private in third battalion of Atlantic County’s Gloucester Militia under Colonel Richard Somers and was captured in a skirmish in Camden and after internment in a British prison ship was exchanged.
“The Endicott family became settled in what is now Atlantic County probably in the early or middle part of the seventeenth century: the exact date is not now known. He was a resident of Port Republic prior to the Revolutionary war. He served in that war and was a prisoner in the hands of the British for a considerable time, confined in the prison ships in New York harbor. He suffered with his companions in this confinement. All the inconveniences and bodily discomforts that gave to these prison ships their horrible reputation, the tradition of the family tells us. He suffered in other ways, for whilst he was in arms in the defense of his country, his property at home was greatly injured when it was on the lane of the enemy’s march…”
Benjamin was lucky to come out of the prison ship alive. During the New York Campaign, the British took many prisoners and put them on prison ships in New York harbor for the remainder of the war. More American soldiers and sailors died as prisoners on these ships than died in all battles of the war combined, which was about 8,000 men. 11,500 of the prisoners who died were buried at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, New York. Conditions on one ship, the Whitby, for example, were so bad that the American prisoners set fire to the ship in October 1777, choosing death in the flames to the lingering sufferings of disease and starvation. Conditions aboard the Jersey were so bad that thousands died there.
He was born and died in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He served as Private in third battalion of Atlantic County’s Gloucester Militia under Colonel Richard Somers and was captured in a skirmish in Camden and after internment in a British prison ship was exchanged.
“The Endicott family became settled in what is now Atlantic County probably in the early or middle part of the seventeenth century: the exact date is not now known. He was a resident of Port Republic prior to the Revolutionary war. He served in that war and was a prisoner in the hands of the British for a considerable time, confined in the prison ships in New York harbor. He suffered with his companions in this confinement. All the inconveniences and bodily discomforts that gave to these prison ships their horrible reputation, the tradition of the family tells us. He suffered in other ways, for whilst he was in arms in the defense of his country, his property at home was greatly injured when it was on the lane of the enemy’s march…”
Benjamin was lucky to come out of the prison ship alive. During the New York Campaign, the British took many prisoners and put them on prison ships in New York harbor for the remainder of the war. More American soldiers and sailors died as prisoners on these ships than died in all battles of the war combined, which was about 8,000 men. 11,500 of the prisoners who died were buried at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, New York. Conditions on one ship, the Whitby, for example, were so bad that the American prisoners set fire to the ship in October 1777, choosing death in the flames to the lingering sufferings of disease and starvation. Conditions aboard the Jersey were so bad that thousands died there.