"Prisoners of War (POWs) are combatants captured and held by the enemy during periods of open conflict. During the American Revolution, thousands of soldiers, militiamen, and civilians were taken prisoner and their presence strained the resources of the British and Continental forces alike. The situation of Patriot and Loyalist prisoners was complicated by their status as rebels and traitors, thus their treatment could be inconsistent and often quite severe. As in many early modern conflicts, the unsanitary conditions of rudimentary prison facilities caused far more deaths than actual combat.[1]
Prisoners captured on European battlefields historically faced a very uncertain fate. Ransom, slavery, starvation, disease, and even execution were all potential outcomes for captives until the early modern period. Following the destructive conflicts of the seventeenth-century and inspired by ideals of the Enlightenment, European states adopted standardized customs of prisoner exchange and committed, rhetorically at least, to humane treatment for the rank and file. These rules governing the treatment of prisoners were not, however, codified in law. Rather, by the eighteenth century, soldiers and officers taken prisoner could expect to be treated according to widely accepted custom.
In wars between sovereign European states, treatment depended on rank. Officers were normally permitted generous freedoms. Upon giving their word that they would not escape nor engage in combat until they were exchanged, officers lodged comfortably and unsupervised in private homes. Common soldiers' treatment depended on the availability of space and food. They were usually granted two-thirds of the daily rations of a soldier in the field and were confined in camps, stockades, or prison ships while they awaited exchange or the end of hostilities. Escape was considered a form a desertion for common soldiers and dishonorable oath-breaking for officers…."
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Amicalement
Armand
paints brigs for the British fleet.
