The Deadliest Place For Patriots In The Revolution Was . . .

Prison ships in New York Harbor.

More American soldiers and sailors died in prison ships (primarily Wallabout Bay in the East River, now Fort Greene Park) than in all the battles of the Revolution combined: over 11,500.

The conditions on these ships were appalling and disease and malnutrition ran rampant.

Bodies were tossed overboard and some washed up on shore.

There is a monument in Fort Green Park: Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument.

Excerpted from: New York City Little Black Book 1: Secrets, History, and Trivia of the World’s Greatest City.