The Board of War to the Officer in Charge of Hessian Prisoners, 16 September 1777
The Board of War to the Officer in Charge of Hessian Prisoners
Philadelphia Septr. 16. 1777
sir
I am directed by the Board of War to desire you, to deliver to Coll. Bird1 forty of the Hessian Prisoners2 in your Custody, to work with him as Artifficers and Labourers, if they consent. I am your humble sevt.,
John Adams Chairman
RC in JA’s hand (DLC); docketed: “Order from Warr Office 16th Septr. 1777 to deliver 40 Hessians to Col. Bird.”
1. Col. Mark Bird, who ran a cannon foundry in Berks co. ( , 8:495–496; Morton L. Montgomery, “Early Furnaces and Forges of Berks County, Pennsylvania,” , 8:60 [March 1884]).
2. Hundreds of German mercenaries had been captured at the Battle of Trenton and had been sent to Lancaster, Penna., where they were guarded by militia but permitted to be hired out to work on the farms for pay. Late in August, because of the approach of the British, the prisoners were scattered about in such towns as Reading, Carlisle, and Lebanon (Lucy Leigh Bowie, “German Prisoners in the American Revolution,” , 40:187–188 [Sept. 1945]).