General George Washington Concludes a Prisoner Exchange With Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in America

He orders the American Superintendent of British prisoners who surrendered at Saratoga to implement the arrangement

 

This shows a kindly side of Washington, concerned with the welfare of the two Hessian generals being released

 

Rare, this being our first Washington letter on prisoner exchanges made all the better by his mentioning Clinton

The decisive American victory at the Battle of Saratoga October 18, 1777 led to the surrender of General John Burgoyne’s army of British and German soldiers. Burgoyne’s surrender played a decisive role in bringing France formally into the war as an American ally.

The surrender of Burgoyne to General Horatio Gates at Saratoga placed nearly 6,000 British and Hessian prisoners of war in the hands of the Continental Congress. According to the terms of their surrender, written in a document agreed upon by both sides, entitled the “Convention of Saratoga,” the prisoners were to be marched to Boston and then shipped back to Great Britain. When they arrived at Boston, a dispute arose between the Americans and Burgoyne, and on the 8th of January 1778, Congress resolved to suspend the terms of the Convention and keep the prisoners in custody. Now there was a large army of prisoners in the hands of the Americans, labeled as the Convention Army.

Colonel James Wood was commander of the 12th Virginia Regiment. He led the regiment in the Philadelphia and Monmouth campaigns. His regiment was redesignated the 8th Virginia in September 1778, and he was appointed Superintendent of the Convention Army. He continued in that capacity until it was dissolved in January 1783, when he was promoted to brigadier general in the Virginia militia.

Late in 1778 the decision was made to relocate the convention prisoners to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they could be more closely watched and better supplied. Many of the British and Hessian officers had their wives and children with them, and wagons were provided for their transportation. British General William Philips and the Hessian General Frederich von Riedesel led the march southward. They were accompanied by Hessian generals Johann Friedrich Specht of Brunswick and Wilhelm Rudolph von Gall, who had commanded brigades in Burgoyne’s Army and surrendered at Saratoga. They reached Charlottesville, 700 miles from Boston, in January 1779, exhausted by a long journey during an inclement season and arriving to find their barracks unfinished and their supplies insufficient. Soldiers in this force would remain prisoners until the war ended in 1783.

Following Saratoga, the indignation in Britain against Burgoyne was great. He was allowed to return England to defend his conduct and demanded but never obtained a trial. Left behind was the Convention Army, and soon calls were heard for release or exchange of the high ranking prisoners in captivity. But in 1778 negotiations for exchange failed.

In October 1780, British Major General William Phillips proposed the exchange of Specht and Von Gall for any two of the three American brigadier generals William Thompson. David Waterbury, and James Irvine. The exchange soon came to involve American Brigadier General Louis Duportail and British Brigadier General James Hamilton of the Convention Army as well. Thompson of Pennsylvania was captured during an attack on the enemy in Quebec in June 1776, and he was paroled but not exchanged until early 1781. Waterbury was second in command to General Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in October 1776. He commanded the galley Washington but was forced to surrender after the galley took severe damage. Irvine of Pennsylvania was wounded and captured at Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, in December 1777. Duportail was an engineer taken prisoner when the British captured Charleston.

On the same day that he wrote this letter, General Washington wrote to the Board of War that the German officers “are both old and infirm and it is therefore to be wished that they may accomplish their long Journey before the severity of the season sets in.” After their exchange, they returned to Europe in January 1781. Also on this date, Washington wrote to Major General William Phillips, explaining that he had ordered Specht and Von Gall to be brought from Virginia to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, for exchange.

Letter Signed, to James Wood, October 31, 1780, Head Quarters near Passaic Falls, New Jersey, ordering the prisoner exchange. “Major General Phillips has informed me that Sir Henry Clinton has consented to the exchange of Brigadiers General Spetch and de Gall with the officers of their suite and their attendants. I have acceded to this proposal. You will therefore immediately permit those General Officers with their families to repair to Elizabeth Town by the route of Lancaster, Reading and Easton, avoiding any cantonments of the Army on their way thro’ Jersey. I am with great Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most obt Servt., Go: Washington.”

Here we see Washington conclude and order implementation of a prisoner exchange, show empathy for the foe, give orders for their transportation, and mention Henry Clinton.

This is a rarity, being our first ever Washington letter on prisoner exchanges made all the better by his mentioning Clinton.