Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- A Revolutionary War Era Ancestor

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  We all have ancestors who were alive in 1776, and some of them may have celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence or even served in the military during the war.

2)  Describe one or more of your ancestors who lived in that time or served in the military.

Here's mine:

    I found that I have 19 men in my family tree who served in the Revolutionary War, all on the American side.  To be honest, I have not researched these ancestors and their part in the war.  However, I found one ancestor who had a "notable, if tragic, connection to a critical moment in the American Revolutionary War."

My 5th great-grandfather, Isaac H. Osman (1738-1778), served out of Orange County, New York with the Orange County Militia, First Regiment, a/k/a Colonel Jesse Woodhull's Regiment.  

On October 6, 1777, British forces under General Sir Henry Clinton launched a major assault on the American fortifications guarding the Hudson River, specifically Forts Clinton and Montgomery.  This was The Battle of Fort Montgomery, and it was one of the most significant military engagements in the New York Highlands.

The men of the First Regiment of the Orange County Militia were essential defense of the Hudson River corridor. This region was a primary target for the British because securing the river would have effectively split the American colonies in two.  

Records indicate that Isaac Osman was taken prisoner during this battle. The loss of these forts was a severe blow to the American defense of the Hudson Valley, as it allowed the British to dismantle the defensive chain across the river. However, even though the  British achieved a tactical victory by seizing the forts, the campaign failed to achieve its strategic goal of securing the Hudson Valley.   

Following his capture, Isaac was taken to one of the infamous Sugar House prisons in New York City, which was occupied by the British at the time.  The "Sugar Houses" were sturdy, industrial warehouse buildings. These prisons were notorious for extreme overcrowding, lack of ventilation starvation, and rampant disease.  Prisoners often slept on the floors and were subjected to harsh treatment. The mortality rate there was alarmingly high due to these conditions. 

The British used both sugar houses and decommissioned ships (prison ships) because their traditional jail facilities in New York City became overwhelmed by the thousands of Americans captured in battles like the one at Fort Montgomery. Both types of facilities are remembered for the immense suffering they caused.  While the prison ships are perhaps more famous in American lore, the Sugar House prisons were equally central to the grim reality of life for prisoners of war in occupied New York.

A list of prisoners was supplied to the British Army in New York for the purpose of informing families that they needed to send food and supplies for the prisoners. The Provost Marshall of the Prison, William Cunningham, confessed later to selling the food and supplies that were sent for the prisoners.  He was later found guilty of financial crimes and was executed in London in 1791.  

Issac Osman died in the Sugar House prison of starvation in 1778.  He was 40 years old and left a wife and 8 children between the ages of 2 and 13. 

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