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TheConvention Army (1777–1783) was an army ofBritish and allied troops captured by theContinental Army after the surrender of GeneralJohn Burgoyne at theBattles of Saratoga in theAmerican War of Independence. It is named for the agreement, or convention, concluded between British generalJohn Burgoyne and British-born American army generalHoratio Gates, later rejected by theContinental Congress, to allow Burgoyne's army to be evacuated to Britain with the promise not to return to North America. Commander in chief of the Continental Army,George Washington viewed the agreement as deeply flawed, preserving trained British forces that could return to fight American forces. The Burgoyne's former army was not allowed to leave American territory. Although the soldiers were not formally prisoners of war, they were not at liberty either. They remained in America until the conclusion of the war in 1783, despite persistent efforts by the British to regain the men.[1]
On 17 October 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army according to terms negotiated of the agreement with American generalHoratio Gates following the 7 OctoberBattle of Bemis Heights.[2] The terms were titled theConvention of Saratoga, and specified that the troops would be sent back toEurope after giving aparole that they would not fight again in the conflict.[3] The British army was accorded thehonours of war, and Burgoyne had his sword returned to him by Gates.
Baroness Frederika Riedesel, wife ofGeneral Riedesel, just emerged from her shelter in the cellar ofthe Marshall House, attended the surrender ceremony which she vividly describes in herJournal: "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".[citation needed]
A total of about 5,900British,German, and provincial troops from Canada surrendered at Saratoga.[4] Under guard byJohn Glover's troops, they were marched toCambridge, Massachusetts, where they arrived on 8 November.[3] The rank and file were quartered in crude barracks that had been constructed during the 1775siege of Boston, while most of the officers were billeted in houses. The army spent about one year in Cambridge, while negotiations concerning its status took place in military and diplomatic channels. During this year, about 1,300 prisoners escaped, often because they became involved with local women while working on farms in the area.[5]
TheContinental 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 untilKing George III ratified the convention, an act they believed unlikely to happen, since it would be an acknowledgment of American independence.[3]
In November 1778, the Convention Army began marching south the 700 miles (1,100 km) from Cambridge toCharlottesville, Virginia, arriving in uncharacteristically snowy weather in January 1779. Approximately 600 men escaped during the march.[5] They were held at the hastily and poorly constructedAlbemarle Barracks until late 1780, under the guard of Lt. Col Joseph Crockett's Western Battalion.
During the army's years in Virginia it had an important economic impact on theBlue Ridge area ofVirginia. The Virginia troops assigned to guard duty were generally better fed and equipped than any other forces, so that prisoner letters would reflect a strongContinental Army. Money sent by the prisoners' families in Britain andGermany providedhard currency and coin for the cash-poor back-country area. The presence of the POWs created new demands for food and other goods – items for which they had to pay steep prices.Thomas Jefferson estimated that the presence of the prisoners increased the area's circulating currency by at least $30,000 a week.
High-ranking officers, and sometimes their wives, such as theMajor General Riedesel andhis wife and Major GeneralWilliam Phillips were sought as guests on the local social scene. The rank-and-file soldiers, however, dealt with miserable living conditions since the meager funds appropriated to build the barracks proved inadequate. "Each barrack," observed Lieutenant August Wilhelm Du Roi, "is 24 feet long, and 14 feet wide, big enough to shelter 18 men. The construction is so miserable that it surpasses all that you can imagine in Germany of a very poorly built log house. It is something like the following: Each side is put up of 8 to 9 round fir trees, which are laid one on top the other, but so far apart that it is almost possible for a man to crawl through ... The roof is made of round trees covered with split fir trees..." And then, "a great number of our men preferred to camp out in the woods, where they could protect themselves better against the cold than in the barracks."[6] 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...."[citation needed]
In late 1780, when British forces became active in Virginia, the army was again moved, this time being marched north by the Western Battalion toFrederick, Maryland. Except for specific officer exchanges, they were held there until 1783. When the war formally ended, those who survived the forced marches and campfevers were sent home.