thumb|300px|A 1789 etching depicting the encampment of the Convention Army at [[Charlottesville, Virginia]]

The Convention Army was a force of British and Hessian troops under General John Burgoyne captured by the Continental Army after Burgoyne's surrender at the Battles of Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War. It is named for the convention concluded between Burgoyne and American General Horatio Gates, later rejected by the Continental Congress, to allow Burgoyne's army to be evacuated to Britain with the promise that it would not to return to North America. The Continental Army's commander-in-chief, George Washington, repudiated the convention and Burgoyne's army was not allowed to leave American-held territory. Although the British and Hessian troops were not formally prisoners of war, they were not at liberty either. The Convention Army remained in the United States until the conclusion of the war in 1783, despite persistent British efforts to rescue them.

Convention of Saratoga

On 17 October 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army according to terms negotiated of the agreement with American general Horatio Gates following the 7 October Battle of Bemis Heights. The terms were titled the Convention of Saratoga, and specified that the troops would be sent back to Europe after giving a parole that they would not fight again in the conflict. The British army was accorded the honours of war, and Burgoyne had his sword returned to him by Gates.

Baroness Frederika Riedesel, wife of General Riedesel, just emerged from her shelter in the cellar of the Marshall House, attended the surrender ceremony which she vividly describes in her Journal: "On the 17th of October the capitulation was consummated. The generals waited upon the American general-in-chief, Gates, and the troops laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war".

Cambridge, Massachusetts

A total of about 5,900 British, German, and provincial troops from Canada surrendered at Saratoga. Under guard by John Glover's troops, they were marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they arrived on 8 November.

The Continental Congress ordered Burgoyne to provide a list and description of all officers to ensure that they would not return. When he refused, Congress revoked the terms of the convention, resolving in January 1778 to hold the army until King George III ratified the convention, an act they believed unlikely to happen, since it would be an acknowledgment of American independence. For some officers, their time in Virginia was not entirely uneventful. An excerpt from the Orderly Book of Crockett's Western Battalion elaborates: "The commanding officer has been informed that an officer of the Convention Army who is residing in a different part of the county makes a practice of going to Negrew quarters in the night and associating with slaves, to the disatisfaction of the inhabitants. This practice is positively forbid in future...."

In late 1780, when British forces became active in Virginia, the army was again moved, this time being marched north by the Western Battalion to Frederick, Maryland. Except for specific officer exchanges, they were held there until 1783. When the war formally ended, those who survived the forced marches and camp fevers were sent home.

See also

  • Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War

Notes

Further reading

  • Dabney, William M. After Saratoga: The Story of the Convention Army. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1954.
  • Fleming, Thomas. "Gentleman Johnny's Wandering Army," American Heritage 24, no. 1 (1972): 10-15.
  • Halverson, Sean C. “British Plans to Rescue Convention Army Prisoners in the American Revolution.” Early American Studies 19, no. 4 (2021): 769–814. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27284211.
  • Knepper, George W. "The Convention Army, 1777-1783". PhD dissertation, University of Michigan 1954.
  • Miller, Ken. Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities during the War for Independence. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2014.
  • Springer, Paul J. America's Captives: Treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press 2010.
  • Wall, Alexander J. "The Story of the Convention Army, 1777-1783". New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin 11 (1927) 67-97.
  • Saratoga Articles of Convention, 1777
  • The Marshall House, Schuylerville, New York
  • After Saratoga, National Park Service
  • Gentleman Johnnys Wandering Army
  • Demise of the Albemarle Barracks
  • Albemarle Barracks (additional links)