The New York State Library will host an online talk based on Timothy J. Duerden’s novel Escape From The Sugar House: Levi Hanford & The American Revolution (Purple Mountain Press, 2026), which tells the story of Levi Hanford, a teenaged Revolutionary War militiaman who survived a stint as a prisoner of war at the infamous Sugar House Prison in the city of New York and then spent his final years in the Catskills.
Based on actual events, this coming-of-age adventure story is set against the backdrop of America’s struggle for independence. It’s a time of upheaval. A time when divided loyalties can mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment. Between life and death.
During the British occupation of New York City (1776–1783), thousands of American Patriots endured harrowing captivity in improvised military jails.
Levi Hanford was a farm boy from Norwalk, Connecticut, who enlisted in the spring of 1776, just after turning 16, in his uncle’s militia company. His early service was spent building fortifications in the city of New York and guarding the Fairfield County, CT coastline.
On a freezing, stormy night in March 1777, Hanford and a dozen other men were ambushed and captured by a Loyalist raiding party.
He was marched to British-occupied Manhattan where he spent a total of 14 months in captivity – first at the notorious Sugar House Prison, a notorious sugar refinery converted into a military jail on Crown Street (now Liberty Street) in lower Manhattan, and later aboard the East River prison ship Good Intent – before being released in a prisoner exchange in May 1778.
He witnessed first hand the heavy toll on Patriot prisoners of war, who faced rampant disease, starvation, and a high daily mortality rate. About 11,500 Americans lost their lives aboard British prison ships from 1776 to 1783.
More soldiers, sailors and civilians died aboard the prison ships than in all of the Revolutionary War battles combined.
Despite his severe suffering, Hanford reenlisted in 1779. He later married Mary Mead, and in 1808, they settled on Dunk Hill in Walton, Delaware County, NY where he passed away on October 19, 1854 at the age of 96.
In 1852, as the oldest living survivor of the prison, he was presented with a ceremonial cane crafted from an original oak beam of the Sugar House.
Duerden has served as the Executive Director of the Delaware County Historical Association in Delhi, NY since 2003. Beginning in 2000 and continuing to the present he has taught history as an adjunct instructor in the State University of New York system.
Currently, he teaches at SUNY Oneonta. He has degrees in history from SUNY Plattsburgh and Temple University. Born and raised in the UK, he now lives in upstate NY.
He is the author of several history non-fiction books, most recently Lewis Hine: Photographer and American Progressive (2018). Escape from the Sugar House is his first novel.
This free event will take place on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 from 11 until noon ET online. Register here and the event URL will be sent via email.
Read More About the American Revolution in NY
Illustration: The Middle Dutch Church and Sugar House next door where thousands of POWs were imprisoned. The site today is the location of One Chase Manhattan Plaza (image from about 1830).
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