The Freeman's Journal, Or, New Hampshire Gazette

Extract of a letter from Peeks kill, dated January 19, 1777.

General Howe has discharged all the privates, who were prisoners in New York, one half he sent to the world of spirits for want of food-the other he hath sent to warn their countrymen of the danger of falling into his hands, and to convince them by ocular demonstration, that it is infinitely better to be slain in battle, than to be taken prisoners by British brutes, whose tender mercies are cruelty. But it is not the prisoners alone who felt the effects of British humanity. Every part of the country thro' which they have march'd has been plundered and ravaged. No discrimination has been made with respect to Whig or Tory, but all alike have been involved in one common fate. Their march thro' New Jersey has been marked with the most savage barbarity. But West-Chester witnesseth more terrible things. The repositories of the dead have ever been held sacred by the most barbarous and savage nations. But here, not being able to accomplish their accursed purposes upon the living, they wreaked their vengeance on the dead. In many places, the graves in the church yards were opened, and the bodies of the dead exposed upon the ground for several days. At Morrisania, the family vault was opened, the Coffins broken, and the bones scattered abroad. At Delancey's farm, the body of a beautiful young lady which had been buried for two years, was taken out of the ground, and exposed for five days in a most indecent manner; many more instances could be mentioned but my heart sickens at the recollection of such inhumanity. Some persons try to believe that it is only the Hessians who perpetrate these things, but I have good authority to say, that the British vie with, and even exceed the auxiliary troops in licentiousness. After such treatment, can it be possible for any persons seriously to wish for a reconciliation with Great Britain.