Patriot Prisoners of War

Overview

Like other aspects of the War for Independence, neither side was prepared to feed, clothe and house large numbers of prisoners of war.  As a result, surrendering did not insure that soldiers and sailors would be safely treated and they could survive the war.  The British refusal to consider the captured Patriots as POW’s complicated their treatment and limited potential exchanges or paroles.

In the 19th century, many writers emphasized the one-sided brutality of the British treatment of the POWs. Later, more balanced views were written depicting humane and barbaric treatment.  Readers should take care to question sources and to fully understand the constraints of jailers and British military commanders. However, it is likely that more American Rebels died in captivity than on the battlefield

Anyone researching Patriot POWs should visit Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, New York.  Atop the park’s summit is a monument to the Patriots who lost their lives on the prison hulks in Wallabout Bay.  The crypt is thought to contain the remains of up to eleven thousand prisoners.  Brooklyn residents are raising funds to rehabilitate the crypt and better honor the Patriots who died on the prison hulks.

Similarly, the British imprisoned POWs on derelict ships after the American 1780 surrender of Charleston to the British forces under General Henry Clinton. Less is written about the southern prison ships, but conditions were similarly unhealthy and deadly.

Even less well-known, the British captured hundreds of American sailors on privateering ships and incarcerated them in Britain.

Memoirs and Diaries

Adlum, John. Memoirs of the Life of John Adlum in the Revolutionary War. Edited by Howard H. Peckham. Chicago: The Caxton Club, 1968.

Adlum’s diary is one of the few diaries written by an enlisted soldier during the American Revolution. He joined the Pennsylvania Flying Camp Regiment in 1776 and served in the New York City campaign. The British captured Adlum during the assault on Fort Washington. Most of the diary recounts Adlum’s captivity on Manhattan Island. He interacts with notable Rebel Colonels, such as Ethan Allen, Samuel Miles, and Robert Magaw. While not described in the published diary, Adlum became a viticulture expert and grower of the famous Catawba grape.

Stone, Thomas. “Experiences of a Prisoner in the American Revolution.” Edited by Hiram Stone. The Journal of the American History Two, no. Third (1908): 527–29.

Thomas Stone served as an enlisted soldier in the New York Line at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point during the 1775 and 1776 campaigns. After discharge, he again enlisted, this time in the Connecticut line. During a raid from Norwalk, CT, to Long Island, a British frigate captured his small sloop after grounding. The British transferred Stone to the infamous Jersey prison ship, where many Rebels perished. The journal recounts an escape attempt and a British release offer if he switched sides and enlisted in the British Army. Fortunately, a prisoner exchange released Stone, and he returned to the Rebel lines.
Interestingly, Stone alleges the British attempted to poison the exchanged prisoners. Stone survived and re-enlisted. He received an arm wound in a skirmish in Springfield, NJ ending his military career.

Williams, Ezekiel. Papers of Ezekiel Williams 1777-1790. Edited by John C. Parsons. Connecticut: The Acorn Club, 1976.

During the American Revolution, Ezekiel Williams served as Connecticut’s Deputy Commissioner of Prisoners. The correspondence primarily concerns British and Loyalist prisoners’ transport, disposition, and exchange. One of Williams’ letters discusses using a prison ship to house British prisoners. If implemented, this would have been a rare instance of the Patriots using ship hulks to house prisoners. Williams had good relationships with Elias Boudinot, the overall Commissioner of Prisoners under George Washington. Additionally, there is a post-war correspondence with Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates indicating a personal and friendly relationship.

Other Primary Sources

Boudinot, Elias, and Joseph Lee Boyle. “Their Distress Is Almost Intolerable”: The Elias Boudinot Letterbook, 1777-1778. Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 2002.

The Continental Congress appointed Elias Boudinot, a New Jersey businessman as the first Commissioner of Prisoners.  It was his responsibility to seek just treatment by the British jailers and to arrange supplies of food and living necessities be transported to the prisoners.  Boudinot became extremely frustrated with this assignment and eventually resigned.

Dring, Thomas, and David Swain. Recollections of Life on the Prison Ship Jersey in 1782: A Revolutionary War-Era Manuscript. Yardley, Pa: Westholme, 2010.

An officers on a Patriot privateer, the British captured Dring and imprisoned him on the infamous Jersey prison hulk in the East River off the Brooklyn shore.  Although near the end of the war when conditions improved, the Dring diary is one of the best accounts of prison life about the deadly hulks.

Stone, Thomas. “Experiences of a Prisoner in the American Revolution.” Edited by Hiram Stone. The Journal of the American History Two, no. Third (1908): 527–29.

Secondary Sources

Booth, Mary L. History of the City of New York. Vol. 2. New York: W. R. C. Clark, 1867.

Provides the 19th Century biased view of British brutality and criminal behavior towards the Patriot POW’s.

Borick, Carl P. Relieve Us of This Burthen: American Prisoners of War in the Revolutionary South, 1780-1782. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2012.

Especially if members of the militia, southern prisoners were likely to receive a parole with the stipulation that they either swear allegiance to the King or commit to not talking up arms for the Patriots.  Only a few prisoners were sent north to New York City to the confined in the prison hulks.

Bowman, Larry G. Captive Americans:  Prisoners During the American Revolution. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 976.

The Bowman volume is the best starting place for an authoritative overview of the POW experiences.

Ranlet, Philip. “In the Hands of the British: The Treatment of American POWs during the War of Independence.” The Historian 62, no. 4 (2000): 731–57.

Ranlet’s work is an example of more balanced view of prisoner treatment.  At times, the British also ran short of food and supplies for their army and did not have the resources to adequately clothe, house and feed the large number of Patriot prisoners.

Watson, Robert P. The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn: An Untold Story of the Revolutionary War. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2017.

While well-written narrative, Watson’s sensationally focused book should be read with caution as it contains biases and content which is not supported by the historical record.  For a review of The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn, click.