With their flesh stinging from the cold, and their road-sore feet covered in deep snow, what met the eyes of the prisoners at journey’s end was almost too much to bear.
For nearly three months the British soldiers and their German mercenary counterparts had been on the march from an interment camp near Boston. Now, more than 600 miles later, they were at their new home just west of Charlottesville.
It was Jan. 16, 1779, and for the approximately 3,750 prisoners of war the date would mark a low point in their lives. Their expectation of being billeted in heated huts was cruelly shattered by reality.
“When the prisoners arrived only half the huts that were supposed to have been built had been built,” said Phil Williams, president of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
“Half of those that had been built did not have roofs. And it was uncharacteristically cold.
“The prisoners were in grave condition, having been prisoners for nearly two years prior to being moved south. About three years ago I started doing some reasonably serious research on this subject, and found it to be one of the most interesting stories in Charlottesville history.”
Williams was instrumental in the creation and placement of the new roadside historical marker that was dedicated Saturday on Barracks Road, near where the camp had been. The marker provides a thumbnail sketch of the historical significance of the “Albemarle Barracks” POW camp and hints at the “great hardships” the prisoners endured there.
“The marker fits in the context of what the Sons of the American Revolution is all about,” said Williams who is also a past president of the local Thomas Jefferson Chapter of the SAR.
“We are dedicated to patriotic and historical education. We work to remind our citizens of the sacrifices that were made, and the extraordinary American experiment that was launched by a relatively small number of people against all odds in the founding of this country.
“With the marker we wanted to honor the soldiers who fought honorably for their side in the conflict. And we wanted to recognize those who died on American soil.
“And we also wanted to recognize those who at the end of the war remained, and became a part of America.”
It wasn’t just male POWs who arrived here on that brutal winter day in 1779. Accompanying them on the long march were wives and children.
Gen. George Washington had ordered wagons to transport the women and children as well as the sick. But adult male prisoners had walked every step of the way.
The weather stayed decent as the long columns of prisoners moved through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Then during the last leg through Virginia the temperature plunged and snow began to fall.
“There could not have been a more unlucky concurrence of circumstances than when the troops first came,” Thomas Jefferson wrote about the arrival of the POWs.
“The barracks were unfinished for want of laborers, the spell of weather, the worst ever known within the memory of man, no stores of bread laid in, the roads by the weather and the number of wagons soon rendered impassable.”
A young British officer, Thomas Anburey, was among the prisoners. He found himself at a loss for words when he tried to express the conditions they found here.
“On our arrival at Charlottesville, no pen can describe the scene of misery and confusion that ensued,” Anburey wrote. “This famous place we had heard so much of, consisted only of a courthouse, one tavern and about a dozen houses.”
Officers like Anburey had money and were allowed to secure lodging outside the camp. Enlisted men were not, and he termed their situation “truly horrible.”
For the first six days all the POWs had to eat was a little meal made from Indian corn. It quickly became clear to the captive men that they were going to have to play a major role in their own survival.
“When those soldiers arrived in such tattered condition, their heart and pride made them work like madmen,” Williams said. “They eventually cleared an area six miles in circumference.
“In addition to building several hundred huts, they also built two churches — one Anglican and one Lutheran. They also built a tavern, theater and a recreation center with a billiard hall.
“A German officer was paroled temporarily in order to go over the mountain with a servant to buy tools and seeds. When he returned with these things it went a long way in helping the men save themselves.”
As Williams learned during his research, the story leading up to the POWs transfer from Massachusetts to Virginia is also a fascinating episode in the nation’s history. The British and their German mercenaries, commonly referred to as Hessians, had been captured as a result of the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga on Oct. 17, 1777.
It had been a win for the Americans, but not decisive enough for them to be in a position to demand an “unconditional surrender.” What was agreed upon was a “convention” surrender, which was expected to result in a mass parole of the British forces.
“The original intent was that all the soldiers would pledge never to return to North America to reengage in the conflict,” said Williams, a graduate of the University of Virginia.
“The prisoners spent almost two years near Boston while the British and the Continental Congress dickered about what to do with them. General Washington was afraid of the prospect that these soldiers on parole would return to the fight.
“When an impasse was reached, the British stopped supplying food and clothing to the prisoners. That’s the reason they were marched to what was considered at the time to be an agricultural backwater.”
What was needed was a tract of land that would support vegetable gardens and a nearby dependable source of water. Col. William Harvie, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, thought he had just the spot.
Harvie owned a large piece of land just north of Ivy Creek. When he offered to make the land available, Jefferson seconded the motion and the prisoners were soon on their way.
“This is a story that had local, state, national and international implications,” Williams said. “The details of the story, I think, should be better known especially in the context of this year’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of Charlottesville.
“When the war ended in 1783 most of the British returned to England. But a large number of the Germans remained in America, because they felt at home.
“They became some of the first citizens of this new nation. Many families in this area, on both sides of the Blue Ridge mountains, are their descendents.”
