Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution

Contrary to popular belief, the American Revolutionary War was not a limited and restrained struggle for political self—determination. From the onset of hostilities, British authorities viewed their American foes as traitors to be punished, and British abuse of American prisoners, both tacitly condoned and at times officially sanctioned, proliferated. Meanwhile, more than seventeen thousand British and allied soldiers fell into American hands during the Revolution. For a fledgling nation th...