A History of Brooklyn In 20 Objects (“Objects” Being Very Loosely Defined)
18) Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument
This memorial in Fort Greene Park was designed by legendary architect Stanford White of the firm McKim, Meade and White, and honors the 11,500 American men who died on British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. Brooklyn was an important location for several events during the war, including the Battle of Brooklyn and the center of the American Intelligence Network. But perhaps the worst atrocities of the war occurred in the waters just off the coast of Brooklyn, where eleven British war ships were used as jails for prisoners of war. The men on the ships died mainly of disease and neglect, but get a load of this fact—more men died on those ships than died in all the battles of the rest of the war COMBINED. Now when you see the elegant white marble column rising up through the greenery of the park, you can horrify your friends with that fact without having to go over and read the plaque.