"AWI POW Camp " Topic

Pretty interesting read about a POW camp in Pa. that held British prisoners. Interesting about some of the British soldiers were allowed to work on farms in the area. We live near a ww-II POW camp that held germans. Many of them were also allowed to work on farms in the area during the day. Both have passed away now but two german soldiers returned after the war and married into a couple local farmers families. that made me wonder how many might have done this back then?

link

Yes, the camp up by Monticello had the same thing. Jefferson dined with some of the officers that where in captivity.

Ironic that those same officers once freed were part of Arnold's invasion of Virginia. And they knew where to find Monticello!

A fair number of Hessians either deserted or were captured and elected to remain in the colonies rather than go home at the end of the war. I suspect a fair number of Brits did as well.

I am from South-Western Pa. In W.Va., not far from the Pa./W.Va. line is a town called Hundred, W.Va. It is named in the honor of a British soldier captured at Yorktown, who settled in that area after the war and lived to be 100+ years old at the time of his death. I would think that quite a few Brits and others decided to do the same.
TomS.

There's always been a bit of a myth that the Hessians mostly "chose" to stay behind; in reality, a lot of them – and especially those who arrived in the last couple of drafts of reinforcements – were actually left behind as the rulers of their states simply didn't want them back (many were not natives of those states anyway, of course, and had just been recruited from outside in nefarious ways).

The overwhelming majority of British PoWs remained loyal and many escaped, or attempted to, as attested by the number of additions to the muster rolls of regiments in NYC from those at Saratoga.

On several occasions, the Saratoga prisoners were moved to more southerly and/or westerly locations in order to avoid them being rescued by British raids.

On several occasions, the Saratoga prisoners were moved to more southerly and/or westerly locations in order to avoid them being rescued by British raids.

That could make a good "skirmish" level scenario. Can the British/Tory raiding party rescue the prisoners before the American guards spirit them away?

Jim