90 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



The number of cases of impressed seamen 

 as given by Madison and Monroe seems 

 very formidable ; but even without allowing 

 for duplication and mistakes we must re- 

 member that this included all men who 

 claimed to be Americans impressed from 

 British and foreign ships, all professed 

 Americans seized by press gangs in Eng- 

 lish ports, and all foreigners serving on 

 American ships, as well as native-born 

 Americans. 



The report of the Secretary of State of 

 April 29, 1816, gives a list of 1420 impressed 

 American seamen confined in Dartmoor 

 prison. Many of these were Americans, 

 who were in the British service prior to the 

 War of 1812, and refused to serve against 

 their own country. 



The injuries inflicted on our commerce 

 by the British orders in council far out- 

 weighed in national importance the im- 

 pressment of American seamen ; but there 

 is a vivid reality in personal suffering and 

 disgrace, which appeals more closely to the 



