Life and Times of Washington, vol 2 (Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched) | Page 2

able, or would never dare, to retaliate.
Hence their prisoners were most infamously treated. Against this the
Americans remonstrated, and, on finding their remonstrances
disregarded, they adopted a system of retaliation which occasioned
much unmerited suffering to individuals. Col. Ethan Allen, who had
been defeated and made prisoner in a bold but rash attempt against
Montreal, was put in irons and sent to England as a traitor. In
retaliation, General Prescott, who had been taken at the mouth of the
Sorel, was put in close confinement for the avowed purpose of
subjecting him to the same fate which Colonel Allen should suffer.
Both officers and privates, prisoners to the Americans, were more
rigorously confined than they would otherwise have been, and, that
they might not impute this to wanton harshness and cruelty, they were
distinctly told that their own superiors only were to blame for any
severe treatment they might experience.
The capture of General Lee became the occasion of embittering the
complaints on this subject, and of aggravating the sufferings of the
prisoners of war. Before that event something like a cartel for the
exchange of prisoners had been established between Generals Howe
and Washington, but the captivity of General Lee interrupted that
arrangement. The general, as we have seen, had been an officer in the
British army, but having been disgusted had resigned his commission,
and, at the beginning of the troubles, had offered his services to
Congress, which were readily accepted. General Howe affected to
consider him as a deserter, and ordered him into close confinement.
Washington had no prisoner of equal rank, but offered six Hessian field
officers in exchange for him, and required that, if that offer should not
be accepted, General Lee should be treated according to his rank in the
American army. General Howe replied that General Lee was a deserter
from his majesty's service, and could not be considered as a prisoner of
war nor come within the conditions of the cartel. A fruitless discussion
ensued between the Commanders-in-Chief. Congress took up the
matter and resolved that General Washington be directed to inform
General Howe, that should the proffered exchange of six Hessian field

officers for General Lee not be accepted, and his former treatment
continued, the principle of retaliation shall occasion five of the Hessian
field officers, together with Lieut. Col. Archibald Campbell, or any
other officers that are or shall be in possession of equivalent in number
or quality, to be detained, in order that the treatment which General Lee
shall receive may be exactly inflicted upon their persons. Congress also
ordered a copy of their resolution to be transmitted to the Council of
Massachusetts Bay, and that they be desired to detain
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, and keep him in close custody till the
further orders of Congress, and that a copy be also sent to the
committee of Congress, in Philadelphia, and that they be desired to
have the prisoners, officers, and privates lately taken properly secured
in some safe place.
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell of the Seventy-first Regiment, with about
270 of his men, had been made prisoner in the bay of Boston, while
sailing for the harbor, ignorant of the evacuation of the town by the
British. Hitherto the colonel had been civilly treated; but, on receiving
the order of Congress respecting him, the Council of Massachusetts
Bay, instead of simply keeping him in safe custody, according to order,
sent him to Concord jail, and lodged him in a filthy and loathsome
dungeon, about twelve or thirteen feet square. He was locked in by
double bolts and expressly prohibited from entering the prison yard on
any consideration whatever. A disgusting hole, fitted up with a pair of
fixed chains, and from which a felon had been removed to make room
for his reception, was assigned him as an inner apartment. The
attendance of a servant was denied him, and no friend was allowed to
visit him.
Colonel Campbell naturally complained to Howe of such unworthy
treatment, and Howe addressed Washington on the subject. The latter
immediately wrote to the Council of Massachusetts Bay, and said,
"You will observe that exactly the same treatment is to be shown to
Colonel Campbell and the Hessian officers that General Howe shows to
General Lee, and as he is only confined to a commodious house, with
genteel accommodation, we have no right or reason to be more severe
to Colonel Campbell, whom I wish to be immediately removed from
his present situation and put into a house where he may live
comfortably."

The historian (Gordon), who wrote at the time, gives a very graphic
account of the sufferings of the American prisoners in New York,
which, dreadful as it seems, is confirmed by many contemporary
authorities. He says: "Great complaints were made of the horrid usage