the outbreak of the Revolution, the state decided to use these facilities as prisons for the captured British and Hessian soldiers. The Hessians were mer- cenary soldiers from Hesse, Germany, hired to fight for the British. The non-commissioned prisoners were confined in the barracks, which was

" were known, ironmasters formed in- dustrial dynasties through the marriages of their children.) Robert Cole- man"s daughter, Ann, became engaged to James Buchanan, then a promis- �14 JOURNAL Robert Coleman ing young attorney in Lancaster, later to become President of the United States. The marriage

two dozen staterooms, no pas- sengers dared make the trip, and only a few crewmen were aboard." As the steam engine became improved, the sailing vessels gradually disappeared. Professor J. Olney, in his 1836 History of the United States, related that the amount of tonnage in the U.S. reckoning the