I recently discovered, as I was involved a number of times in the issues of 17th century "Almshouse" human burials in New York City Hall Park, for different "public archaeology" companies, that the issue of torture was important to the early history of the republic. In 1904, the New York Times published an article stating that the British prison (next to the possible location of the almshouse cemetery) was run by a Major Cunningham and "blacker than any black hole of Calcutta" (another notorious "gaol") and it was where Ethan Allen, an American patriot of Vermont's "Green Mountain Boys" (with whom Captain Hulbert of Bridgehampton, NY served with, and a controversial flag of both, said considered to be the basis for the current US flag's layout) was tortured.
Another American patriot, Nathan Hale, who had "only one life to lose" was captured in Connecticut, brought to "Fort Golgotha" built in a hilltop cemetery from torn down Presbyterian churches in Huntington, NY (under command of Benjamin Thompson, later known as physicist "Count Rumford") and then to Manhattan where he was hung, his remains location unknown. It's possible he might have been tortured too. I once was part of a small team that recovered a large metal "Queens Rangers" pin perhaps worn at the neck on a choker, from there, part of a Saturday class for "gifted and talented" children.
A statue of him was recently moved to the front of City Hall in New York City, and the remains of the "almshouse cemetery" were found in the architectural and interpretation upgrades, some for protection, in 1999 by the former Giuliani administration. The remains were demarcated and left where possible after treatment for preservation. Some were two and three deep, atop one another, with mainly no material remains found, except perhaps a Jewish burial ornament of wood attached to one wrist.
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