Tracing one’s ancestors can find great stories like this one!
Daniel Bedington was fourteen when he begged his parents to allow him to join a company of riflemen in Shepherdstown, Virginia, and accompany his two brothers to war. A year later, when the brothers returned and told exciting tales of camp life, Daniel’s excitement could not be contained. But, once again, the parents refused.
The brothers had not been in New Jersey for two days when the brother could not believe their eyes. They recognized Daniel, a lean, hungry, emaciated boy hobbling into camp. He had walked on foot from Shepherdstown. Like so many young boys who joined in this war, Daniel also enlisted.
On November 16, 1776, the brothers were on Manhattan Island in the Battle of Fort Washington. General George Washington and Major General, Charles Lee of New Jersey, were defending the Hudson River corridor from the British Navy. The Continental Army had lost several engagements during the summer and early fall of the year.
In early November, the fort defended against the Hessians (German mercenaries), who attempted to take the fortification. British General William Howe chased George Washington’s main forces, and a British detachment was sent to Harlem Heights.
Although General Washington planned to abandon the fort, a small victory in early November convinced the fort’s commander, Colonel Robert Magaw, that his garrison of some 3,000 soldiers could hold the fort.
Defending the fort went to two Pennsylvania Regiments and Militia and Maryland and Virginia Riflemen. The Bedington brothers were attached to the Virginia Riflemen. However, there was a major problem when a deserter showed up on the British Lines with detailed plans of the fortification. A disastrous British victory resulted in the capture of the Bedington brothers.
Four days after the battle, the prisoners had little to eat. Finally, they were given one morsel: a moldy biscuit and raw pork. They were marched to New York and lodged in the Old Sugar House on Liberty Street. There was no glass in the windows, the prisoners were inadequately clothed, and snow drifted over them as they slept. One day, Daniel discovered some vats with a deposit of sugar, which he was glad to scrape to sustain life. One gentleman, confined with him in the Old Sugar House, used to tell his descendants that the most terrible fight he ever engaged in was a struggle with a comrade in prison for the carcass of a decayed rat!
When the captives were moved to confinement onboard the ship Whitby in the New York harbor, his experience in this place of confinement was dark, filthy, and brutal. Before the first exchange of prisoners occurred, the poor boy yielded to despair and turned his face to the wall to die. How bitterly he must have regretted leaving the home he had been so ready to leave a few months before!
Hessian guards decided which soldiers would be paroled, and they passed over the weak and starving Daniel as his body clung hopelessly to the wall, hoping to die. Again and again, they passed him by, but Daniel’s parents were of German origin, and he understood their words. So, he begged them in German to select him for parole. Finally, one Hessian guard relented and, helping Daniel to stand to his feet, assisted his departure from the vessel.
Daniel was taken to a hospital for his recovery. Michael Bedington, his brother, went to the hospital in search of his brother but did not recognize him.
On inquiry if there were any (that had been) prisoners, a feeble voice responded, from a little pile of straw and rags in a corner, “Yes, Michael, there is one.”
“Overcome by his feelings, Michael Bedington knelt by the side of the poor, emaciated boy and took him into his arms. He then bore him to a house where he could procure comforts through food and clothing. After this, he got an armchair, two pillows, and some leather straps and placed his suffering and beloved brother in the chair, supported by the pillows, swung him by the leather straps to his back, and carried him some miles into the country, where he found a friendly asylum for him in the house of a good Quaker family where he was nursed and cared for.
Daniel was impatient to get home and wished to proceed before he could walk. Michael walked by his side with his arm around him for support. Thus, they traveled in short stages from the neighborhood of Philadelphia to Shepherdstown (Virginia) until Daniel restored safety to his mother and family. After Daniel’s return home, he has a relapse and lay for a long while at the point of death.
However, after his recovery, this brave soldier again entered the service and continued to the war's end.
Source: American Prisoners of the Revolution by Danske Dandridge.
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