British prisoners, post-Saratoga
I have, lately, been catching up on reading and while (finally) finishing Urban's Fusiliers, I happened across mentions of a topic that has interested me for some time. This topic being the treatment and fate of redcoats who were captured by Americans over the course of the war, as this appears to be a subject that not much has been written about. Accordingly, I've been doing some poking around.
An excerpt from Fusiliers illustrates the relations between British prisoners and their American captors and describes conditions in the camp in which many men were held.
Colonel Henley, the American commandant, was known to the inmates of the Prospect Hill barracks as a tyrant. True, his job was not the easiest, superintending thousands of British soldiers taken at Saratoga, for they frequently gave little signs of their disdain for the American nation. But Henley returned their contempt with interest, as well as showing himself capable of brutality. One winter's morning, Henley arrived on horseback at the guardhouse.
The inmates of the makeshift brig, one dozen redcoats including two corporals, were lined up for inspection. Colonel Henley approached them while still mounted, and asked one of the guards why the first man, Corporal Reeves, had been locked up. It was for abusing a Continental officer.
'What was the reason of your abuse?' Henley asked.
Reeves replied that he had been in liquor at the time so could hardly remember, was very sorry, and anyway could not recognise the man as an officer. Was this a dig at the authority of the man Reeves had sworn at? What followed escalated quickly into a violent confrontation between men speaking the same language but who had grown in a couple of short years to consider themselves utterly different.
Colonel Henley: 'Had it been me [you had abused] I would have run you through the body, I believe you are a rascal.'
Corporal Reeves: 'I am no rascal but a true Briton and by God I will stand up for my King and Country until the day I die!'
Colonel Henley: 'You are a good lad for keeping up for your King and Country, I don't blame you, but hold your tongue.'
At this point, the American commandant tried to end this tense confrontation, turning his attention to the next detainee, Corporal Buchanan of the 9th.
Corporal Reeves (to Buchanan): 'Why don't you stand up for your king and your country?'
Colonel Henley: 'Be still.'
Corporal Reeves: 'God damn them all! I'll stand up for my King and country while I have life; if I had arms and ammunition, I would soon be with General Howe, and be revenged of them.'
At this point, Colonel Henley exploded in anger and ordered one of his guards to run through Reeves with his bayonet. Nobody obeyed this command. Seeing his men struck immobile, Henley leapt from his horse, grabbed one of their muskets, and levelled it at Reeves' chest.
Colonel Henley: 'You rascal, I'll run you through or I'll blow your brains out, if you don't hold your tongue!'
Corporal Reeves: 'By God I'll stand up for my King and Country, and if you have a mind to kill me, you may.'
The Colonel lunged forward with the musket, stabbing the bayonet into Reeves' chest. The prisoner started back to save himself, so the blade did not go deep.
Colonel Henley: 'If you do not hold your tongue, I'll run you through!'
As Reeves repeated his defiance again, Henley tried to make good his threat with a further lunge, but Corporal Buchanan grabbed the weapon and parried it. Thwarted, Henley ordered the prisoners taken back to their cells.
Matters came to a head once more on 8 January 1778. Henley had paraded the guard at Prospect Hill fort. There were about seventy American soldiers lined up. An audience of 300 or so redcoats had watched the proceedings and began as a crowd to move closer to their custodians until they were actually pressing in on them. The incident with Corporal Reeves had evidently gone around the camp and whetted the appetite for confrontation. When the Americans tried to grab one of the Britons from the crowd, the inmates hauled him back, which produced 'a good deal of laughing and jeering'. Henley ordered the guard to load their muskets and level them at the men just a few feet in front. He called out that he would blow out the brains of anyone who attempted another rescue, commanding them to disperse.
The British soldiers began to trudge away from Henley's men but not without some jeerings of 'damn Yanks' and other such insults. Nettled once more, Henley rushed forward ordering them to move faster. When his command was unheeded by the truculent soldiers he attacked them with his sword, plunging it so hard into the arm of one corporal that he bent the blade. There were further volleys of derision while Henley knelt and, comically, tried to straighten his sword blade over his knee.
In my research-travels, I also came across this blog, which contains regular updates regarding individual British soldiers and their various experiences, including those who have spent time as prisoners. I have read only a few entries but would like to point out one that covers the same incidents as the above passage, albeit in somewhat different detail. It involves a Corporal John Buchanan, 9th Foot.
Mention is also made in Fusiliers of the living conditions of the captured British. A Corporal Roger Lamb, also of the 9th, notes:
It was not infrequent for thirty or forty persons, men women and children, to be indiscriminately crowded together in one small, miserable, open hut; their provisions and fire wood on short allowance; and a scanty portion of straw in their bed, their own blankets their only covering.
An excerpt from Fusiliers illustrates the relations between British prisoners and their American captors and describes conditions in the camp in which many men were held.
Colonel Henley, the American commandant, was known to the inmates of the Prospect Hill barracks as a tyrant. True, his job was not the easiest, superintending thousands of British soldiers taken at Saratoga, for they frequently gave little signs of their disdain for the American nation. But Henley returned their contempt with interest, as well as showing himself capable of brutality. One winter's morning, Henley arrived on horseback at the guardhouse.
The inmates of the makeshift brig, one dozen redcoats including two corporals, were lined up for inspection. Colonel Henley approached them while still mounted, and asked one of the guards why the first man, Corporal Reeves, had been locked up. It was for abusing a Continental officer.
'What was the reason of your abuse?' Henley asked.
Reeves replied that he had been in liquor at the time so could hardly remember, was very sorry, and anyway could not recognise the man as an officer. Was this a dig at the authority of the man Reeves had sworn at? What followed escalated quickly into a violent confrontation between men speaking the same language but who had grown in a couple of short years to consider themselves utterly different.
Colonel Henley: 'Had it been me [you had abused] I would have run you through the body, I believe you are a rascal.'
Corporal Reeves: 'I am no rascal but a true Briton and by God I will stand up for my King and Country until the day I die!'
Colonel Henley: 'You are a good lad for keeping up for your King and Country, I don't blame you, but hold your tongue.'
At this point, the American commandant tried to end this tense confrontation, turning his attention to the next detainee, Corporal Buchanan of the 9th.
Corporal Reeves (to Buchanan): 'Why don't you stand up for your king and your country?'
Colonel Henley: 'Be still.'
Corporal Reeves: 'God damn them all! I'll stand up for my King and country while I have life; if I had arms and ammunition, I would soon be with General Howe, and be revenged of them.'
At this point, Colonel Henley exploded in anger and ordered one of his guards to run through Reeves with his bayonet. Nobody obeyed this command. Seeing his men struck immobile, Henley leapt from his horse, grabbed one of their muskets, and levelled it at Reeves' chest.
Colonel Henley: 'You rascal, I'll run you through or I'll blow your brains out, if you don't hold your tongue!'
Corporal Reeves: 'By God I'll stand up for my King and Country, and if you have a mind to kill me, you may.'
The Colonel lunged forward with the musket, stabbing the bayonet into Reeves' chest. The prisoner started back to save himself, so the blade did not go deep.
Colonel Henley: 'If you do not hold your tongue, I'll run you through!'
As Reeves repeated his defiance again, Henley tried to make good his threat with a further lunge, but Corporal Buchanan grabbed the weapon and parried it. Thwarted, Henley ordered the prisoners taken back to their cells.
Matters came to a head once more on 8 January 1778. Henley had paraded the guard at Prospect Hill fort. There were about seventy American soldiers lined up. An audience of 300 or so redcoats had watched the proceedings and began as a crowd to move closer to their custodians until they were actually pressing in on them. The incident with Corporal Reeves had evidently gone around the camp and whetted the appetite for confrontation. When the Americans tried to grab one of the Britons from the crowd, the inmates hauled him back, which produced 'a good deal of laughing and jeering'. Henley ordered the guard to load their muskets and level them at the men just a few feet in front. He called out that he would blow out the brains of anyone who attempted another rescue, commanding them to disperse.
The British soldiers began to trudge away from Henley's men but not without some jeerings of 'damn Yanks' and other such insults. Nettled once more, Henley rushed forward ordering them to move faster. When his command was unheeded by the truculent soldiers he attacked them with his sword, plunging it so hard into the arm of one corporal that he bent the blade. There were further volleys of derision while Henley knelt and, comically, tried to straighten his sword blade over his knee.
In my research-travels, I also came across this blog, which contains regular updates regarding individual British soldiers and their various experiences, including those who have spent time as prisoners. I have read only a few entries but would like to point out one that covers the same incidents as the above passage, albeit in somewhat different detail. It involves a Corporal John Buchanan, 9th Foot.
Mention is also made in Fusiliers of the living conditions of the captured British. A Corporal Roger Lamb, also of the 9th, notes:
It was not infrequent for thirty or forty persons, men women and children, to be indiscriminately crowded together in one small, miserable, open hut; their provisions and fire wood on short allowance; and a scanty portion of straw in their bed, their own blankets their only covering.