I am new to the area of Brooklyn so coming to City Tech was a little bit of scary thing for me. After my trip to the Brooklyn Historical Society, I became very interested in what else Brooklyn had to offer. Therefore, as I started my personal walking tour in FortGreene I stumbled upon a Giant tower like figure. I soon learned that this was the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument. This monument stands for a New Jersey Militia during the American Revolution that soon became Prisoners on board a British vessel.

Getting to to the prison ship monuement was not that hard even though I am not familar with the area of Brooklyn. From City Tech I go to Johnson street. On your way you should see the polytechnic institute of technology. It is a very prestigous building with high honor. When you keep going a little further you are going to make a right onto Flatbush Avenue. You will see a small metropolitan market as you make an upcoming left onto Myrtle avenue. Long Island University is will then come up on the left. I gave it a good look as i was most impressed with the school. Finally when you get to Fort Greene.

The remains of these prisoners were decided to be built in a 25 by 11 foot brick vault because of how important the preservation of this was. In 1905, a crypt was created where you can go up a flight of stairs that go around the monument. This was made so that it could be honored properly by all people who came to visit. The man who sculpted it was Adolph Alexander Weinman in 1908. An elevator and stairs for the interior were installed in 1937; both were removed in 1948 after the monument was renovated by Parks. In 1970 the elevator pit was filled in.

            During the American Revolution, The British imprisoned all Americans that were mostly soldiers because of independence. The conditions upon the ship were said to be horrendous and many soldiers died because of it. When the war ended, the deaths were said to be in the tens of thousands. That is why this memorial is significant. It is because of the brutality that these soldiers had to go through just to fight for our freedom. In 1783, a local newspaper tried to deny these actions and said “they were allowed to leave whenever they pleased”. America said this was propaganda, which is news, or anything that is heard a lie. The number of deaths which was 10,000 plus was a big deal considering a large army back then was about 14,000. The prisoners wrote down memoirs too explaining every detail of what was going on.

             The memorial lies in Brooklyn and cannot be missed considering its great size. It is sited in FortGreenePark and it holds a crypt, which is a kind of grave. It is located inside the monument, which has stairs between the middle of it that you can climb. It is over 140 feet high and can blend in with some of the surrounding buildings. Inside the crypt contains many wooden coffins of some of the prisoners. Not all if the bodies are in there as some of them weren’t found or could not be preserved.

The monument also has an inscription on it which states “IN THE NAME OF THE SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED FREE / SACRED TO THE
MEMORY OF THAT PORTION OF AMERICAN SEAMEN, SOLDIERS / ON BOARD THE
PRISON SHIPS OF THE BRITISH DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY / WAR AT THE
WALL ABOUT. THIS IS THE CORNERSTONE OF THE VAULT / WHICH CONTAINS
THEIR RELICS. ERECTED BY THE TAMMANY SOCIETY/OF THE COLUMBIAN
ORDER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. THE GROUND FOR / WHICH WAS BESTOWED
BY JOHN JACKSON, NASSAU ISLAND, SEASON OF/BLOSSOMS, YEAR OF
DISCOVERY, THE 316TH. OF THE INSTITUTION THE 19TH AND OF AMERICAN
INDEPENDENCE THE 32ND, APRIL THE 6TH, 1808”

It states that the importance of this prison tower cannot be tampered with and it is part of the city. Brooklyn has a rich history and the Prison ship martyr monument in Fort Greene Park is a big part of that.

Sources:  http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/FortGreenePark/monuments/1222 -My quote

http://www.themorningnews.org/post/prison-ship-martyrs-monument