Prisoners Of War In American Conflicts

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Useful Captives

Author : Daniel Krebs
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700630511
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Useful Captives by : Daniel Krebs

Download or read book Useful Captives written by Daniel Krebs and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2021-02-15 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society. The book’s eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict. Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Prisoners of War in American Conflicts

Author : Harry P. Riconda
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Prisoners of War in American Conflicts by : Harry P. Riconda

Download or read book Prisoners of War in American Conflicts written by Harry P. Riconda and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prisoners of War in American Conflicts: A History details accounts of prisoners of war and what they had to endure. This book presents both sides, where possible, and considers the captives of the Revolutionary War to the War Against Terror in which the United States is currently engaged.

The Enemy in Our Hands

Author : Robert C. Doyle
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813139619
Total Pages : 488 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Enemy in Our Hands by : Robert C. Doyle

Download or read book The Enemy in Our Hands written by Robert C. Doyle and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-05-14 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revelations of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay had repercussions extending beyond the worldwide media scandal that ensued. The controversy surrounding photos and descriptions of inhumane treatment of enemy prisoners of war, or EPWs, from the war on terror marked a watershed momentin the study of modern warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. Amid allegations of human rights violations and war crimes, one question stands out among the rest: Was the treatment of America's most recent prisoners of war an isolated event or part of a troubling and complex issue that is deeply rooted in our nation's military history?Military expert Robert C. Doyle's The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror draws from diverse sources to answer this question. Historical as well as timely in its content, this work examines America's major wars and past conflicts -- among them, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam -- to provide understanding of the UnitedStates' treatment of military and civilian prisoners. The Enemy in Our Hands offers a new perspective of U.S. military history on the subject of EPWs and suggests that the tactics employed to manage prisoners of war are unique and disparate from one conflict tothe next. In addition to other vital information, Doyle provides a cultural analysis and exploration of U.S. adherence to international standards of conduct, including the 1929 Geneva Convention in each war. Although wars are not won or lost on the basis of how EPWs are treated, the treatment of prisoners is one of the measures by which history's conquerors are judged.

History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army, 1776-1945

Author : George Glover Lewis
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army, 1776-1945 by : George Glover Lewis

Download or read book History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army, 1776-1945 written by George Glover Lewis and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is primarily a treatment of the use of prisoner of war labor by the United States Army. It also provides a comprehensive treatment of the employment of prisoners of war by private employers in the United States. The primary objective of the monograph is to provide in one volume a comprehensive record of the use of prisoner of war labor for the guidance of General Staff officers and students in the Army school system. It is hoped that the study will assist the industrial and military mobilization planners of the future in planning for the use of prisoner of war labor. The document also will further the understanding of basic problems related to the employment of prisoners of war among persons interested in military affairs. Since the monograph is limited to the military history of prisoners of war through World War II, it is merely background for the events that have followed that conflict. An additional monograph dealing with the employment and treatment of prisoners of war during the Korean War is currently being prepared. The study is divided into three parts. Part One, "The Early Wars, "contains three chapters covering the period from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War. Part Two, "The Beginnings of Global Warfare, "contains three chapters covering the period from the Spanish-American War to the beginning of World War II. Part Three, "World War II, "contains the bulk of the study. The planning, policies, interested agencies, and actual employment both in the continental United States and in oversea theaters are presented in detail.

Prisoners of America's Wars

Author : Stephanie Carvin
Publisher : Hurst & Company
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (555 download)

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Book Synopsis Prisoners of America's Wars by : Stephanie Carvin

Download or read book Prisoners of America's Wars written by Stephanie Carvin and published by Hurst & Company. This book was released on 2010 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prisoners of war have featured in virtually every conflict that the US has engaged in since its revolutionary beginnings. Today visitors to Washington will frequently see a black POW flag flying high on government buildings or war memorials in silent memory. This act of fealty towards prisoners reflects a history where they have frequently been a rallying point, source of outrage and problem for both military and political leaders. This is as true for the 2003 Iraq War as it was the American Revolution. Yet, the story of prisoners in American wars (both enemies taken and soldiers captured) reveals much about the nation itself; how it fights conflicts and its attitudes towards laws of war. A nation born out of an exceptional ideology, the United States has frequently found itself faced with the contradictory imperatives to be both exemplary and secure: while American diplomats might be negotiating a treaty at The Hague, American soldiers could be fighting a bloody insurrection where it seemed that few if any rules applied. By taking a historical approach, this book demonstrates that the challenges America faced regarding international law and the war on terror were not entirely unique or unprecedented. Rather, to be properly understood, such dilemmas must be contextualized within the long history of those prisoners captured in American wars.

History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 - 1945

Author : George G. Lewis
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781410201287
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 - 1945 by : George G. Lewis

Download or read book History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776 - 1945 written by George G. Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Man power has been at a premium in nearly every major war in which the United States has participated. In the event of a future conflict against a foe who may be numerically superior, every available source of manpower may have to be used. This will include captured enemy personnel. The successful prosecution of the war may depend upon the utilization of these prisoners of war.Up to this time no record of the use of prisoners of war in past wars of the United States has been available. This study prepared for the Office of the Chief of Military History of the United States Army will fill the void and provide detailed information on the Army's use of prisoners of war in the past.The study is divided into three parts. Part One, " The Early Wars," contains three chapters covering the period from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War. Part Two, " The Beginnings of Global Warfare," contains three chapters covering the period from the Spanish-American War to the beginning of World War II. Part Three, " World War II," contains the bulk of the study. The planning, policies, interested agencies, and actual employment both in the continental United States and in overseas theaters are presented in detail.

American Prisoner of War Policy and Practice from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror

Author : Paul Joseph Springer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (741 download)

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Book Synopsis American Prisoner of War Policy and Practice from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror by : Paul Joseph Springer

Download or read book American Prisoner of War Policy and Practice from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror written by Paul Joseph Springer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American prisoner of war (POW) policy consists of repeated improvisational efforts during wartime followed by few efforts to incorporate lessons learned. As such, in every war, the United States has improvised its system of POW maintenance and utilization. At no time prior to World War II was the United States military prepared to capture and maintain the prisoners taken in any American conflict. The United States has depended upon reciprocal treatment of enemy prisoners and threatened retaliation for mistreatment of American captives in every war. It has also adhered to accepted customs and international law regarding prisoners, providing housing, food, and medical care to POWs at least the equal of that given to American prisoners. However, the U.S. military has often sought the most expedient methods of maintaining prisoners, a practice that has led to accusations of neglect. In the nineteenth century, American wars were typically fought upon the North American continent and were limited in scope, which facilitated the maintenance of enemy prisoners and eased the improvisation of policy and practice. In the twentieth century, the United States participated in conflicts in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, complicating POW issues. World War II and subsequent conflicts show a radical departure from earlier wars, as the army planned for the capture of enemy troops and was better prepared to maintain them. However, the War on Terror represents a return to improvisation, as a lack of planning and a failure to follow established policies contributed to allegations of mistreatment in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

Prisoners of the Empire

Author : Sarah Kovner
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 067473761X
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (747 download)

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Book Synopsis Prisoners of the Empire by : Sarah Kovner

Download or read book Prisoners of the Empire written by Sarah Kovner and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Allied POWs in the Pacific theater of World War II suffered terribly. But abuse wasn't a matter of Japanese policy, as is commonly assumed. Sarah Kovner shows poorly trained guards and rogue commanders inflicted the most horrific damage. Camps close to centers of imperial power tended to be less violent, and many POWs died from friendly fire.

A Prisoner's Duty

Author : Robert C. Doyle
Publisher : US Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis A Prisoner's Duty by : Robert C. Doyle

Download or read book A Prisoner's Duty written by Robert C. Doyle and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Concentrating on the American character held hostage, Doyle combed official and private archives as well as unpublished diaries, letters, and memoirs to find exciting stories of individuals, famous and unknown, who risked their lives and those of others to escape." The escapes range from the American Revolution, the Mexican War, the Civil War, "wars of the twentieth century, and the smaller conflicts." He also includes accounts of the Underground Railway, settlers and traders escaping Indians, and journalists and government officials eluding terrorist captors all over the globe."--Jacket.

Captives of Liberty

Author : T. Cole Jones
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812296559
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Captives of Liberty by : T. Cole Jones

Download or read book Captives of Liberty written by T. Cole Jones and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2019-10-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to popular belief, the American Revolutionary War was not a limited and restrained struggle for political self-determination. From the onset of hostilities, British authorities viewed their American foes as traitors to be punished, and British abuse of American prisoners, both tacitly condoned and at times officially sanctioned, proliferated. Meanwhile, more than seventeen thousand British and allied soldiers fell into American hands during the Revolution. For a fledgling nation that could barely afford to keep an army in the field, the issue of how to manage prisoners of war was daunting. Captives of Liberty 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. When the struggle began, according to T. Cole Jones, revolutionary leadership strove to conduct the war according to the prevailing European customs of military conduct, which emphasized restricting violence to the battlefield and treating prisoners humanely. However, this vision of restrained war did not last long. As the British denied customary protections to their American captives, the revolutionary leadership wasted no time in capitalizing on the prisoners' ordeals for propagandistic purposes. Enraged, ordinary Americans began to demand vengeance, and they viewed British soldiers and their German and Native American auxiliaries as appropriate targets. This cycle of violence spiraled out of control, transforming the struggle for colonial independence into a revolutionary war. In illuminating this history, Jones contends that the violence of the Revolutionary War had a profound impact on the character and consequences of the American Revolution. Captives of Liberty not only provides the first comprehensive analysis of revolutionary American treatment of enemy prisoners but also reveals the relationship between America's political revolution and the war waged to secure it.

America's Captives

Author : Paul J. Springer
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700617175
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Captives by : Paul J. Springer

Download or read book America's Captives written by Paul J. Springer and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2010-03-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Notwithstanding the long shadows cast by Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo, the United States has been generally humane in the treatment of prisoners of war, reflecting a desire to both respect international law and provide the kind of treatment we would want for our own troops if captured. In this first comprehensive study of the subject in more than half a century, Paul Springer presents an in-depth look at American POW policy and practice from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Springer contends that our nation's creation and application of POW policy has been repeatedly improvised and haphazard, due in part to our military's understandable focus on defeating its enemies on the field of battle, rather than on making arrangements for their detention. That focus, however, has set the conditions for the military's chronic failure to record and learn from both successful and unsuccessful POW practices in previous wars. He also observes that American POW policy since World War II has largely sought to outsource POW operations to allied forces in order to retain American personnel for frontline service-outsourcing that has led to recent scandals. Focusing on each major war in turn, Springer examines the lessons learned and forgotten by American military and political leaders regarding our nation's experience in dealing with foreign POWs. He highlights the indignities of the Civil War, the efforts of the United States and its World War I allies to devise an effective POW policy, the unequal treatment of Japanese prisoners compared with that of German and Italian prisoners during World War II, and the impact of the Geneva Convention on the handling of Korean and Vietnamese captives. In bringing his coverage up to the so-called War on Terror, he also marks the nation's clear departure from previous practice-American treatment of POWs, once deemed exemplary by the Red Cross after Operation Desert Storm, has become controversial throughout the world. America's Captives provides a long-needed overarching framework for this important subject and makes a strong case that we should stop ignoring the lessons of the past and make the disposition of prisoners one of the standard components of our military education and training.

Daily Life of U.S. Soldiers [3 volumes]

Author : Christopher R. Mortenson
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1440863598
Total Pages : 1159 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (48 download)

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Book Synopsis Daily Life of U.S. Soldiers [3 volumes] by : Christopher R. Mortenson

Download or read book Daily Life of U.S. Soldiers [3 volumes] written by Christopher R. Mortenson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2019-06-14 with total page 1159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ground-breaking work explores the lives of average soldiers from the American Revolution through the 21st-century conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. What was life really like for U.S. soldiers during America's wars? Were they conscripted or did they volunteer? What did they eat, wear, believe, think, and do for fun? Most important, how did they deal with the rigors of combat and coming home? This comprehensive book will answer all of those questions and much more, with separate chapters on the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II in Europe, World War II in the Pacific, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and War on Terror, and the Iraq War. Each chapter includes such topical sections as Conscription and Volunteers, Training, Religion, Pop Culture, Weaponry, Combat, Special Forces, Prisoners of War, Homefront, and Veteran Issues. This work also examines the role of minorities and women in each conflict as well as delves into the disciplinary problems in the military, including alcoholism, drugs, crimes, and desertion. Selected primary sources, bibliographies, and timelines complement the topical sections of each chapter.

While in the Hands of the Enemy

Author : Charles W. Sanders, Jr.
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807130612
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (36 download)

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Book Synopsis While in the Hands of the Enemy by : Charles W. Sanders, Jr.

Download or read book While in the Hands of the Enemy written by Charles W. Sanders, Jr. and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the four years of the American Civil War, over 400,000 soldiers -- one in every seven who served in the Union and Confederate armies -- became prisoners of war. In northern and southern prisons alike, inmates suffered horrific treatment. Even healthy young soldiers often sickened and died within weeks of entering the stockades. In all, nearly 56,000 prisoners succumbed to overcrowding, exposure, poor sanitation, inadequate medical care, and starvation. Historians have generally blamed prison conditions and mortality rates on factors beyond the control of Union and Confederate command, but Charles W. Sanders, Jr., boldly challenges the conventional view and demonstrates that leaders on both sides deliberately and systematically ordered the mistreatment of captives.Sanders shows how policies developed during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War shaped the management of Civil War prisons. He examines the establishment of the major camps as well as the political motivations and rationale behind the operation of the prisons, focusing especially on Camp Douglas, Elmira, Camp Chase, and Rock Island in the North and Andersonville, Cahaba, Florence, and Danville in the South. Beyond a doubt, he proves that the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis purposely formulated and carried out retaliatory practices designed to harm prisoners of war, with each assuming harsher attitudes as the conflict wore on.Sanders cites official and personal correspondence from high-level civilian and military leaders who knew about the intolerable conditions but often refused to respond or even issued orders that made matters far worse. From such documents emerges a chilling chronicle of how prisoners came to be regarded not as men but as pawns to be used and then callously discarded in pursuit of national objectives. Yet even before the guns fell silent, Sanders reveals, both North and South were hard at work constructing elaborate justifications for their actions.While in the Hands of the Enemy offers a groundbreaking revisionist interpretation of the Civil War military prison system, challenging historians to rethink their understanding of nineteenth-century warfare.

Andersonvilles of the North

Author : James Massie Gillispie
Publisher : University of North Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 1574412558
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (744 download)

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Book Synopsis Andersonvilles of the North by : James Massie Gillispie

Download or read book Andersonvilles of the North written by James Massie Gillispie and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study argues that the image of Union prison officials as negligent and cruel to Confederate prisoners is severely flawed. It explains how Confederate prisoners' suffering and death were due to a number of factors, but it would seem that Yankee apathy and malice were rarely among them.

Prisoners of War

Author : Arnold Krammer
Publisher : Praeger
ISBN 13 : 0275993000
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (759 download)

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Book Synopsis Prisoners of War by : Arnold Krammer

Download or read book Prisoners of War written by Arnold Krammer and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The issue of prisoners of war is of immediate concern, and an examination of the history of their treatment and current status may well influence foreign policy. Yet, until very recently, astonishingly little has been written on the subject. To understand the present, it is critical to look back over history. To that end, Arnold Krammer examines the fate of war prisoners from Biblical and Medieval times through the halting evolution of international law, to the current reshuffling of the rules."--Résumé de l'éditeur

Honor Bound

Author : Stuart I. Rochester
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781410221155
Total Pages : 728 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (211 download)

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Book Synopsis Honor Bound by : Stuart I. Rochester

Download or read book Honor Bound written by Stuart I. Rochester and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of American prisoners of war in Southeast Asia has never been fully told despite numerous popular accounts, personal memoirs, and official reports that have appeared over the years since the prisoners' release in 1973. Now, twenty-five years after Operation Homecoming, comes the first attempt at a comprehensive, objective, documented history of their experience that seeks to separate fact from fiction and to portray the full scope of the captivity from the perspective of both captive and captor. Honor Bound, a collaborative effort researched and written over the course of more than a decade by historian Stuart Rochester and Air Force Academy professor and POW specialist Frederick Kiley, combines rigorous scholarly analysis with a moving narrative to record in unprecedented detail the triumphs and tragedies of the several hundred servicemen (and civilians) who fought their own special war in North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia between 1961 and 1973. The authors address a gamut of subjects from the physical ordeal of torture and deprivation that required clarification of the Code of Conduct to the sometimes more onerous psychological challenges of indoctrination, adjustments to new routines and relationships, and mere coping and passing time under the most monotonous, inhospitable conditions. The volume weaves a winding trail through scores of prison camps, from large concrete compounds in the North to isolated jungle stockades in the South to mountain caves in Laos, while tracing political developments in Hanoi and Washington and the evolution of the "psywar" that placed the prisoners at the center of the conflict even as they were removed from the battlefield. From courageous resistance and ingenious methods of organization and communication to failed escapes and questionable conduct---"warts and all"---Honor Bound examines in depth the longest and perhaps most remarkable prisoner-of-war captivity in U.S. history. Stuart I. Rochester holds a Ph.D, in history from the University of Virginia and taught at Loyola College in Baltimore before joining the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he is presently Deputy Historian. He is the author of Takeoff at Mid-Century: Federal Civil Aviation Policy in the Eisenhower Years, 1953-1961 and American Liberal Disillusionment in the Wake of World War I. Frederick Kiley earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver. A retired Air Force colonel, he was a professor of English at the Air Force Academy prior to serving in Vietnam as an adviser to the Vietnam Air Force. He is a leading authority on prisoners of war and the author of Satire from Aesop to Buchwald and A Catch-22 Casebook. From 1984 to 1997 he was Director of the National Defense University Press and headed the NDU Research Fellows Program.

Dangerous Guests

Author : Ken Miller
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 080145493X
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Dangerous Guests by : Ken Miller

Download or read book Dangerous Guests written by Ken Miller and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Dangerous Guests, Ken Miller reveals how wartime pressures nurtured a budding patriotism in the ethnically diverse revolutionary community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. During the War for Independence, American revolutionaries held more than thirteen thousand prisoners—both British regulars and their so-called Hessian auxiliaries—in makeshift detention camps far from the fighting. As the Americans’ principal site for incarcerating enemy prisoners of war, Lancaster stood at the nexus of two vastly different revolutionary worlds: one national, the other intensely local. Captives came under the control of local officials loosely supervised by state and national authorities. Concentrating the prisoners in the heart of their communities brought the revolutionaries’ enemies to their doorstep, with residents now facing a daily war at home. Many prisoners openly defied their hosts, fleeing, plotting, and rebelling, often with the clandestine support of local loyalists. By early 1779, General George Washington, furious over the captives’ ongoing attempts to subvert the American war effort, branded them "dangerous guests in the bowels of our Country." The challenge of creating an autonomous national identity in the newly emerging United States was nowhere more evident than in Lancaster, where the establishment of a detention camp served as a flashpoint for new conflict in a community already unsettled by stark ethnic, linguistic, and religious differences. Many Lancaster residents soon sympathized with the Hessians detained in their town while the loyalist population considered the British detainees to be the true patriots of the war. Miller demonstrates that in Lancaster, the notably local character of the war reinforced not only preoccupations with internal security but also novel commitments to cause and country.