DARTMOOR MASSACRE, . The killing
(April 6, 1815) by a company of English
soldiers of some American prisoners, who, together
with 6000 others, had been confined in the Dartmoor
(England) prison for several months after
the close of the War of 1812 between England
and the United States. To quell what they
regarded as a mutiny and to thwart an apparent
effort at escape, the prison guard, probably under
orders from Capt. T. G. Shortland, their
commanding officer, fired upon the prisoners, killing
seven and wounding about sixty—thirty of them
dangerously. The Americans at the time
regarded this as an act of wanton murder, but it
was pronounced justifiable by a joint commission, which, however, acquitted the prisoners of the charge of organizing a mutiny or of planning an escape. The British Government soon afterwards promoted Shortland, but made liberal provision for the families of those who had been killed or permanently disabled. Consult: Andrews, The Prisoners' Memoirs: or, Dartmoor Prison (New York, 1852); and Cobb, A Green Hand's First Cruise, Together with Five Months in Dartmoor (Boston. 1841).