Name/Title
Handwritten copy of Pub. Papers of Gov. ClintonEntry/Object ID
002025Tags
George Clinton, Isaac NicollScope and Content
These documents are from the Revolutionary War period (1779) and concern a request for the medical release or transfer of a prisoner, Thomas Bull, from the Goshen jail (spelled "Goal") due to an outbreak of the "Bloody Flux" (dysentery).
Document 1: Letter from Isaac Nicoll to Governor George Clinton
Date: Goshen, April 13th, 1779
"Gov. Clinton Permits Sheriff Nicoll to Show Leniency to Thomas Bull, a Goal Prisoner"
May it please your Excellency; Mrs. Bull, wife of Thomas Bull, Requested of me for liberty for her husband to take a Room In the Township of Goshen as he is in a pure state of health, the Goal Much crowded and the Bloody Flux amongst the Prisoners. Let her know, that without an order from your Excellency, I could not give any such Liberty; last Night she caled again, and let me know that she had waited on your Excellency and that you Told her, that if I thought it Necessary, you would grant that liberty I can Certify you Mr. Bull is in a Pure State of health and has bin confined to his bed a considerable part of the Time since he has been confined here, and that it is an uncomfortable place for any such person to be in. [He then adds most other prisoners and concludes]: I am your excellency Most obedient Humble Servant Isaac Nicoll.
Document 2: Governor George Clinton’s Reply
Date: P’sie [Poughkeepsie], 15th April 1779
To Isaac Nicoll Esqr. Gov. of the State of N.Y. [Note: Nicoll was actually the Sheriff/Colonel; Clinton was the Governor]
Sir:
If there is an Infectious Distemper in Goal that renders it necessary (to prevent it spreading among the Prisoners) to confine Bull in some other Place in Town, I have no Objection to it, provided you will be answerable for his safety & conduct; but as an Indulgence of this Kind may prevent his endeavoring to have himself Exchanged is not to be continued longer than the State of Goal renders it absolutely necessary. [Then adds others names].
I am with great Regard yours
[G.C.]
Colo. Nicoll
Key Historical Context
The "Bloody Flux": This was a common 18th-century term for dysentery, a highly contagious and often fatal intestinal infection common in crowded, unsanitary prisons.
Thomas Bull: A known Loyalist (Tory) from Orange County, NY, who was imprisoned for his British sympathies during the war.
George Clinton: The first Governor of New York and later the 4th Vice President of the United States.
