T. C ole J ones . Captives of Liberty

Historians have long been aware of the hardships that prisoners faced during the American Revolution and of the appalling loss of life among captives. Disease, malnutrition, and murder claimed thousands. The transport of Ethan Allen and his men in chains to England after their defeat in Canada, the hacking deaths of dozens of rebels captured in South Carolina by Loyalist leader “Bloody” Bill Cunningham, and the misery of Patriot soldiers held below deck in British prison ships are well known, as are the wrongs suffered by prisoners in Patriot hands. Surrendering Loyalists were often denied quarter or hanged, and British soldiers and German mercenaries who surrendered after defeats found their captivities as prolonged, miserable, and deadly as those faced by their American counterparts. However, as T. Cole Jones argues persuasively in Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution, the treatment of...

Criminology · Political science · Politics · Prison · Prisoners of war · Sociology · World War II · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies