which was allowed to American citizens. Some few of the Stockbridge Indians also joined the army of the commander in chief, while in the state of New York; but these people abandoned it when they were most needed, and no real service was ever afforded by them. * Colonel Gist was authorized in January 1777, to engage five hundred Cherokees; but he did not suc. ceed in this attempt.

The peculiar nature of the war....a war be. tween a sovereign, and those who, in its commencement, still professed themselves to be his subjects, gave birth to several circumstances not usual among belligerent powers, and of which the cause was no sufficient justification. Among these, the most interesting was the treatment of prisoners.

General Gage, who had been appointed go. vernor of Massachussetts, had received, in that station, all the irritations of which his

CHAP. I. 1776.

Treatment

CHAP. I. mind was susceptible;....irritations which, as 1776. too frequently happens, seem to have been retained by him in his character of commander in chief of the British forces in America; and to have had no inconsiderable share of influence over his conduct in that capacity. He considered the Americans merely as rebels, and treated them as if the great national resistance they were now making on principle, was only to be considered as the act of a few daring and turbulent spirits, rising against laws of unquesof prisoners. tionable obligation, who would soon be quelled, and punished for their disobedience to legitimate authority; and who would never possess, or would never dare to use the means of retaliating the injuries inflicted on them. In this spirit, so well calculated to add to the calamities of war, and to increase the miseries of the human race, some distinguished characters in Boston, especially mr. Lovel, and the American officers and soldiers who fell into his hands, were thrown into the common jail of felons, and treated, without respect to military rank or condition, not as prisoners of war, but as state criminals.

This unjustifiable measure was remonstrated against by general Washington, who considering political opinion entirely out of the question, and "conceiving the obligations of humanity, and the claims of rank, to be universally binding, except in the case of retaliation;

1

1776.

expressed the hope he had entertained, that CHAP. I. they would have induced, on the part of the British general, a conduct more conformable to the rights they gave. While he claimed the benefit of these rights, he declared his determination to be regulated entirely in his conduct towards the prisoners who should fall into his hands, by the treatment which those, in the power of the British general, should receive."

To this letter, a very haughty and intemperate answer was returned, in which complaints concerning the treatment of prisoners were retorted; and it was affected to be considered as an instance of clemency, that the cord was not applied to those whose imprisonment was complained of. To this answer, for which not even the then peculiar state of things can afford a palliative, general Washington gave a manly, and dignified reply: which was, he said, close their correspondence, perhaps, forever:" and which he concluded with saying, "if your officers, our prisoners, receive from me a treatment different from what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion of it."

"to

The result of this correspondence was communicated to the council of Massachussetts, who were requested to order the British officers then at Watertown, and elsewhere, on parole, to be confined in close jail, and the soldiers to be sent to such place of security as the general

CHAP. I. court should direct. He requested that the 1776. motives for this conduct, which might other.

wise appear harsh and cruel, should be explained to those who suffered under it; and the effect, attributed to its real cause. On the recall of general Gage, the command devolved on sir William Howe, whose conduct was less exceptionable; and this rigorous treatment of prisoners was soon relaxed.

Not long after this, colonel Ethan Allen, a gentleman remarkable for the boldness and enterprise of his character, who had distinguished himself among those parties that took the forts on the lakes, and who was ambitious of continuing to acquire fame, and to render service, not in the ordinary routine of duty, advanced against Montreal at the head of a few volunteers, while general Montgomery was employed before St. Johns. This bold but rash project was soon disconcerted. His party was routed, and himself made a prisoner. Under pretext of his having acted without authority, he was thrown into irons, and sent to England as a traitor.

On being informed of this treatment, and while he was yet in Canada, congress requested the commander in chief to inquire into the fact. A letter was thereupon addressed to sir William Howe, requiring an eclaircissement, and assuring him that general Prescott, who had been taken in Canada, and who was under

stood to have contributed to the injuries inflicted on colonel Allen; should receive exactly the fate of that officer.

!

General Howe not holding any authority in Canada, or not choosing to answer the letter, General Schuyler was directed to make parti. cular inquiries into the conduct of general Prescott; and congress, on being informed of the result of the application, ordered that officer into close jail,*

A physician and his servant were permitted to attend him; and on the report of the former, that in his delicate state of health, the damps of a jail might endanger his life, he was removed to private lodgings, where he was still guarded for the avowed purpose of experiencing the doom which might be inflicted on colonel Allen. The other prisoners of war continued to be treated with all the indulgence compatible with their security.

On the arrival of admiral, and general Howe, at New York, the system, which had been so long very absurdly maintained, was abandoned, and an exchange of prisoners was agreed on.t

CHAP. I. 1776.

*

Congress also directed an application to general Carleton on this subject; and general Schuyler was requested by the commander in chief to send a flag respecting it.

† The American regulations for the custody of their prisoners had heretofore been such, that this agreement