The Forgotten POWs of the Revolutionary War

Much has been written about the glorious battles of the Revolutionary War: the Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere’s famous ride, and the surrender at Yorktown.  They are tremendous stories that deserve to be taught again and again, tales of heroism and courage, accounts of divine providence, faith, inspiration, and sometimes dumb luck.  This is our proud history, our quest for freedom and struggle for independence.  But often overlooked in the telling of these stories, is the silent courage that took place in the hellish dungeons which housed American prisoners of war. 

It is estimated that, while 4,300 American soldiers lost their lives in battle, over 20,000 died in British prisons; more than four times as many died of disease and starvation than actually died from bullets and cannonballs.  One third of the prisoners were civilians, mostly citizens accused and imprisoned without due process.  Modern standards for caring for captive prisoners simply did not exist at the time.

In some cities, churches and warehouses were used as prisons.  In Manhattan, Sugar Houses were used to hold American prisoners.  Prior to the war, these buildings had been designed with strong stone structures for refining and storing Caribbean sugar and molasses.  According to Revolutionary War veteran Levi Hanford, who was captured in March 1777 and imprisoned in the Livingston Sugar House, the cramped conditions initially housed 40 to 50 prisoners.  The population soon swelled to between 400 and 500.  Few were acquitted, rescued, or escaped; death was their only release.  Rations of pork and sea biscuits were often so moldy and infested with worms they were only eaten by the starving prisoners after placing them in a kettle of water and skimming off the parasites. Food, clothing, and supplies for the prisoners were provided by local churches, prisoner’s families, and the fledgling American government. The British provided nothing. 

More commonly, the British used decommissioned war ships as floating prison fortresses.  Conditions were appalling.  In the summertime, prisoners suffocated in air so foul that at times lamps could not be kept burning; in the winter they froze or died of pneumonia. With little food and scanty water, healthy prisoners were soon left with no resistance to dysentery, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid, smallpox, and frostbite. Untreated sores would gangrene.  The HMS Jersey, was the most notorious of the death-trap prison ships where over 10,500 POWs perished under the command of William Cunningham. 

Twenty one year old Nathan Hale, the most famous of Cunningham’s prisoners was permitted to write brief letters to his betrothed and to his mother just before his execution.  As he ascended the ladder, he turned to the hangman and said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."  He went on to say that if he had ten thousand lives; he would lay them all down, in defense of his injured, bleeding country.  Upon reading Hale’s letters, Cunningham destroyed them and exclaimed, "The damned rebels shall never know they had a man who could die so bravely."

On January 18, 1777, General Washington wrote to Lord Richard Howe complaining of the conditions of his prisoners, “You may call us Rebels, and say we deserve no better treatment, but remember, my Lord, that we still have feelings as keen and sensible as Loyalists and will, if forced to, most assuredly retaliate upon those upon whom we look as the unjust invaders of our rights, liberties and properties.”  Howe’s response was ambiguous and a general denial of the charges. 

By contrast, during the World War II, it is estimated that 15% of British and French soldiers died in German prison camps.  During the Civil War, fatality rates in the worst prisons climbed to 33%.  But in on the Jersey, estimated death rate was 85%.  Prisoners rotted away, murdered by neglect in the miserable hulks.  

But more notable than the horrid conditions of the prisons was the intense patriotism of the prisoners.   British captors constantly offered freedom to almost anyone who would abandon the cause of liberty.  For a free pardon, prisoners simply had to sign a document of allegiance and enlist in the British military.  Very few did!  Those who remained became the best examples of those who “gave their lives that the nation might live”. 

Hamilton Fish wrote of these prisoners, “If we were to single out any group of Americans for outstanding patriotism, it would be the prisoners in the British prison hulks and in the jails.  These Patriot prisoners should be placed at the top of the list of sublime courage and sacrifice in support of independence and freedom.”  These too, are the patriots of the American Revolution; the unassuming, forgotten heroes.  

Learn more at www.TheGloriousCauseOfAmerica.org