![After W. CARNES, G.G. Smith, engraver. Massacre of the American Prisoners of War at Dartmoor Prison, on the 6th of April 1815 by the Somersetshire Militia. Salem, Mass.: G.G. Smith, [1815].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2021/NYR/2021_NYR_18947_0324_000(after_w_carnes_gg_smith_engraver_massacre_of_the_american_prisoners_of122839).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
After W. CARNES, G.G. Smith, engraver. Massacre of the American Prisoners of War at Dartmoor Prison, on the 6th of April 1815 by the Somersetshire Militia. Salem, Mass.: G.G. Smith, [1815].
A memorial to the Dartmoor Massacre—a long-forgotten War of 1812 atrocity. By the close of the War of 1812, Dartmoor prison had become crowded with American seamen captured on the high seas—numbering about 6,000 by the end of 1814. And while the Treaty of Ghent was already in force, with the coming of spring in 1815, the inmates found themselves caught in a squabble between the U.S. and Britain as to who should pay the costs of repatriating them. Tensions inside the prison boiled over on 6 April 1815 resulting in the deaths of six and the wounding of another sixty prisoners after guards opened fire on the inmates in what appeared to be an attempted escape. The news created a firestorm in the U.S. where it was viewed as Britain's revenge for Jackson's victory at New Orleans. For more, see Paul A. Gilje, "The End of the War: the Dartmoor Massacre and a Tainted Peace," Common Place, July 2012. Stauffer 2911.
Hand-colored engraving. 15 5/8 x 12 3/4 in (396 x 324 mm). (Soiling along margins especially at top, sheet reinforced on verso.) Framed.
A memorial to the Dartmoor Massacre—a long-forgotten War of 1812 atrocity. By the close of the War of 1812, Dartmoor prison had become crowded with American seamen captured on the high seas—numbering about 6,000 by the end of 1814. And while the Treaty of Ghent was already in force, with the coming of spring in 1815, the inmates found themselves caught in a squabble between the U.S. and Britain as to who should pay the costs of repatriating them. Tensions inside the prison boiled over on 6 April 1815 resulting in the deaths of six and the wounding of another sixty prisoners after guards opened fire on the inmates in what appeared to be an attempted escape. The news created a firestorm in the U.S. where it was viewed as Britain's revenge for Jackson's victory at New Orleans. For more, see Paul A. Gilje, "The End of the War: the Dartmoor Massacre and a Tainted Peace," Common Place, July 2012. Stauffer 2911.
Hand-colored engraving. 15 5/8 x 12 3/4 in (396 x 324 mm). (Soiling along margins especially at top, sheet reinforced on verso.) Framed.