Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution

Fraunces Tavern Museum

In this lecture, recorded July 16, 2020, Jones examines how America's founding generation grappled with the problems posed by prisoners of war, and how this influenced the wider social and political legacies of the Revolution. As the British denied customary protections to their American captives, the revolutionary leadership wasted no time in capitalizing on the prisoners' ordeals for propagandist purposes. This cycle of violence spiraled out of control, transforming the struggle for colonial independence into a revolutionary war.