June 4, 1776: "Those Poor Devils" POWs in a Jail

Oliver Wolcott, a Connecticut Delegate to Congress, wrote to Roger Newberry, "The Prisoners have been treated by us with great Indulgence, I see by the papers what has been done with McKay and Skeene. You observe a Code of Laws published for the Regulation of Prisoners which if duly attended to, I hope will be effectual."

Although sometimes extended to enlisted men, "parole" was a courtesy usually extended by warring states to captured officers and gentlemen. If a prisoner promised not to escape, he could enjoy free movement within a certain area. In some cases, the enemy permitted a prisoner to return to his homeland, if he promised not to rejoin the war until notified of his official exchange.

On May 26, the town committee of Hartford, Connecticut sent a message to the Continental Congress about Philip Skene and Captain Samuel McKay. Captured in Skenesboro, New York by the Continental Army in June 1775, Skene accepted a parole that expired on May 23, 1776 grating him freedom of movement in Middletown, Conn. McKay became a Continental prisoner with the capture of St. Johns, Canada. McKay renewed his parole on May 10, 1776, but escaped on May 18 with Daniel McFarland, a British soldier of the Artillery and McKay's waiter.

On May 22, 1776, the Hartford Committee jailed McKay; McFarland and John Graves of Pittsfield, Connecticut, who helped McKay and McFarland escape. The Continental Congress read the Hartford Committee's report on June 1, 1776 and referred to the Committee on Prisoners.

Joseph Hewes, a North Carolina Delegate, wrote from Philadelphia to Samuel Johnston, "Your favour by Allen McDonald Esqr. I have received. He and all those what came with him as prisoners are confined in the Jail of this City."

Most of these prisoners sent from North Carolina to Pennsylvania were officers of a loyalist force captured at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in February 1776. Please consult Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 78, note 1.

Your favour: During the era of the American Revolution, people referred to a letter as a favor from the sender.

Hewes added, "I have not seen him or any of them, it is not in my power to do them any kind of service, Congress will not suffer them to go out on parole 'till they hear further from North Carolina or perhaps 'till the British Troops have left the Province."

On the news of escapes by British and Tory prisoners, Hewes wrote, "Many of our Prisoners have broke their parole and gone off which will make those poor devils you sent and all taken hereafter fare worse."

Sadly, Hewes could not bring himself to visit the prisoners when he was unable to address their complaints and their likely requests for enlargement [release] on parole. Hewes explained, "As I cannot serve them I do not visit them, to hear their complaints and have no power to relieve would be disagre[e]able."

June 3, 1776: This Will Be The Trying Year

Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire wrote to John Langdon, "The Circumstances of affairs in Canada and the certainty of a large body of Hessians &c being hired and designed soon to attack the United Colonies has so engrossed the attention of Congress to be prepared for them, that it is not possible to get them to attend to smaller matters."

Bartlett believed that 1776 "will be the trying year, and if possible they must be hindered from getting any Foothold this Season; if that can be done, I think the day will be our own, and we be forever delivered from our British Tyranny."

June 2, 1776

Richard Henry Lee wrote to Landon Carter, "The infamous treaties with Hesse, Brunswick, &c. (of which we have authentic copies) and the Ministerial reply to Graftons motion leave not a doubt but that our enemies are determined upon the absolute conquest and subduction of N. America. It is not choice then, but necessity that calls for Independence, as the only means by which foreign Alliance can be obtained.... You seem to apprehend danger from our being aided by despotic States, but remember that France assisted Holland without injury to the latter."

Hesse, Brunswick, etc.: During the War of American Independence, Britain hired the most mercenaries from Friedrich Wilhelm II, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. The mercenaries became generically known as "Hessians." Hundreds of mercenaries, however, came from other German states, like Brunswick and Hanover.

Congress listed Britain's hiring of foreign mercenaries as one of the grievances compelling the American colonies to declare themselves independent states.

Former Minister Lord Dartmouth's response to Duke of Grafton: In a debate in the House of Lords over a conciliatory resolution by Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, William Legge, the Second Earl of Dartmouth (former minister of American affairs) said Britain should not cease military operations in America "till the Colonies own our legislative sovereignty; and, by the acts of duty and obedience, show such a disposition as will entitle them to the favour and protection of the parent State."

Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), 117-118; 92, note 5.

June 1, 1776: How Few Its Enjoyments

Oliver Wolcott, representing Connecticut, wrote to his wife, Laura Wolcott, "It is now a long time which I have been here, and I do most sincerely Wish to return to the Pleasures of a domestick rural Life, such a Life as Poets and Wise men have always with so much Propriety praised. Here I see but little except human Faces which I know not, and numerous Pyles of Building, which have long since Satiated the Sight, and the street rumble is farr from being musical. But as I was not sent here to please myself, I shall cheerfully yeild to my Duty, convinced of this Truth, that the Noise and Bustle of this World are the best Lessons to teach a man how few are it's Injoyments."

In January 1788, Oliver Wolcott spoke in Connecticut's Ratifying Convention in defense of the proposed Constitution's ban on religious tests, in Clause 3 of Article 6.

Wolcott remarked, "Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression."

May 31, 1776: "The Propriety of Declaring for Independency"

May 31, 1776, Elbridge Gerry, a Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, wrote to Joseph Palmer, "The Conviction which the late Measures of Administration have brot to the Minds of doubting Persons has such an Effect, that I think the Colonies cannot long remain an independant depending People, but that they will declare themselves as their Interest & Safety have long required, entirely separated from the prostituted Government of G Britain."

Later in the letter, Gerry added, "The principal object of our Attention at this important Time I think should be the Manufacturing Arms, Lead & Cloathing, & obtaining Flints, for I suppose since the Measures adopted by North Carolina & Virginia that there cannot remain a Doubt with our Assembly of the propriety of declaring for Independency & therefore that our Tho'ts will be mostly directed to the Means for supporting it."

Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 107.