Annual ceremony held to commemorate the Prison Ship Martyrs
Remembering the fallen during Battle of Brooklyn week. New Yorkers made their way to Fort Greene Park on Saturday, August 23, to the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument to honor the 11,500 American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard 16 British prison ships during the American Revolutionary War.
“The day is to raise consciousness and civic awareness so that the younger generation knows how important this monument is and that it’s one of the largest burial sites in America. Not many people are aware of it,” said Ted General, the second vice president of the Society of Old Brooklynites, of the 149-foot monument. A burial chamber located 40 feet below has the remains of the revolutionary soldiers.
The keynote speaker was Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries, who discussed his attempts to pass legislation that would make the Stanford White-designed memorial a national monument. “He talked about the significance of the monument and how he was familiar with it growing up,” General said.
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