"Prisoner exchanges in the AWI" Topic

I run across occasionally about Charles Lee and Ethan Allen showing up after being exchanged.
Also, some British regiments surrendered at Saratoga show up later.

What was the procedure? I know nothing, John the OFM, about this.
What regiments were exchanged.
Were the Hessians from Trenton?
The Brunswickers?
Which generals?
Was there a 1:1 scale?
The usual questions.

I know some of the victims of Saratoga escaped, don't think they were exchanged. New battalions may have been raised from cadres in depots.

Strange you brought this up, on the tv show Turn they showed an exchange going on. No clue if it was historically accurate but it seemed to happen how I'd guess it would.

From reading about Charles Lee being exchanged, I'm trying to think of the british office they exchanged for him? I'll have to do some looking online cause I can't think of his name??

I believe this might be helpful:

link

Very interesting article. Yet another example of Washington being hamstrung by Congress.

Mel obtained the release of his captured men by exchanging British officers' uniforms stuffed with straw and supported by wooden frames.

I think that procedure only worked once, however.

The British general exchanged for Charles Lee was Richard Prescott, colonel of the 7th Foot (and, incidentally, the only one of its Colonels who has no known/surviving portrait). He was initially exchanged for Sullivan, but later abducted whilst in command at Rhode Island, specifically so that Lee could be exchanged with him.

The British 7th and 26th Foot were captured in large numbers during the invasion of Canada, and were later exchanged – but not until the winter of 1777-78, which is when Washington was given permission by Congress to negotiate.

The Saratoga Convention Army was, in effect, kidnapped and remained incarcerated until the end of the war,having been marched to Boston in order to be picked up and returned to Europe. Many men escaped and rejoined the British in New York, serving in different regiments (eg Roger Lamb in the 23rd). Unfortunately, the consistent duplicity of Congress in using PoW visits for spying, and the relative paucity of enemy PoWs until late in the war, meant that many Rebels remained in captivity for longer than they needed to.

A few of the Hessians captured at Trenton were exchanged from early 1778, and two of the three regiments were later reformed. The Yorktown prisoners were exchanged in late 1782 or early 1783.

I thought exchanges were rare because the British saw their prisoners as rebellious subjects, not prisoners of war from another nation. The conventions of war therefore did not apply. Colonial Williamsburg magazine had an article on it this year.

That's why many rotted on the prison hulks off Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, most of the guys in the prison hulks were privateers; this created three problems:-

1) There was no incentive for Congress to exchange them, as they were not really part of its regular forces – Congress would gain nothing, whilst the enemy would gain genuine manpower. (This is also possibly the origin of the article you read, as such men were considered "licensed pirates" and not proper soldiers or sailors.)

2) In the early part of the war, there were disproportionate numbers of Rebel prisoners, as against their Crown counterparts. The British tried to deal with this by using parole notes (a simple document stating that the bearer had been captured, and had been released on condition he did not bear arms again, or at least until officially exchanged). Unfortunately, so many Rebels were re-captured still carrying these notes that the goodwill needed to maintain such a system disappeared.

3) Because of the inter-service protocol (and rivalries) between the Royal Navy and the Army, it was extremely difficult to exchange Rebel prisoners captured by one service for members of the other. Because the privateers seldom captured Royal Navy personnel, it was difficult to have prisoner exchanges.

Another point to remember about the so-called "prison ship martyrs" is that in the 18th Century, the welfare of PoWs remained the responsibility of their own government, not that of their captors, and hence Rebel prisoners should have been paid, fed and clothed by Congress – not by the British. The only exception to this in Europe was an agreement between the British and French governments, under which the captors would treat enemy PoWs as their own troops, and then present each other with a bill after the war was over (obviously the two sides' expenditure would be offset and whoever owed more would pay the outstanding balance to the other).

Whilst it's true to say that Congress could barely clothe, equip and pay the men it still had in its ranks, it was also the case that because so many of these men were privateers, Congress saw no reason to waste scarce resources on them. Instead, they were seen as the responsibility of their State of origin/letter of marque, but perhaps more importantly as a valuable propaganda weapon because any hardships could be blamed on the British – look what the evil enemy are doing to our poor brave boys!

If I recall,there was a POW camp near Monticello. Jefferson had a few Hessian officers over for dinner. They were able to give info to the American Legion later on when Arnold invaded VA. on were Monticello was and the late out.
Per Flight from Monticello.