Prisoners of War and the Making of Revolutionary American Military Culture

This program examines the treatment of British, Loyalist, and German Prisoners of War during the American War for Independence as a window on the development of revolutionary America’s military culture. What can their treatment tell us about revolutionary American values and assumptions about war and warfare? Jones posits that in depriving these men of their liberty, American revolutionaries affirmed their independence not only from political subordination to the British Crown and Parliament, but also from the dominant culture of war in Europe.