Soldiers with No Weapons: Remembering the Convention Army and Examining what Life was like for British Prisoners-of-War at Camp Security

Percy Moran painting of Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga

Library of Congress

Recipient: Friends of Camp Security

Amount: $149,501.59

When the British Army led by Lieutenant General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, New York on October 18, 1777, its soldiers entered a legal gray area that would not be resolved until the end of the Revolutionary War. Under the terms of the Saratoga Convention that Burgoyne had negotiated with the American field commander, Major General Horatio Gates, the British laid down their arms in exchange for the promise of their future parole. During this period, soldiers who were paroled were sent back to their home country in exchange for the pledge that they would not fight again for the rest of the war, or at least not for the rest of that campaign. An agreement like this was often made so neither side had to assume the burden of taking care of large numbers of enemy prisoners.

The setback for these de facto prisoners of war - who became known as the Convention Army - was that the American Continental Congress did not agree with Gates, nor to the terms of the British surrender. Instead, the Congress treated the captured soldiers poorly, and relocated them numerous times to avoid the Convention Army’s potential liberation by other British forces. The thousands of soldiers that made up the army, as well as their wives and families, would be moved first from Saratoga to Boston, then from Boston to Charlottesville, Virginia. After more than a year in Charlottesville, the army was then split-up between multiple camps in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Located outside of York, Pennsylvania, Camp Security swelled to house over 1,500 soldiers and their families from the Convention Army, as well as British Forces captured at the Siege of Yorktown. They would remain at the camp from October 1781 until the end of the war in 1783. In 2022, the non-profit, Friends of Camp Security, began archeological efforts to unearth the camp that has disappeared into the landscape and faded into local folklore.

Using the financial support of a Preservation Planning Grant, the Friends of Camp Security will expand upon previous research by conducting an archeological field survey of what is believed to be the location of the camp’s stockade, and use the data recovered to contribute to the site’s long-term preservation. The Friends group also intends to highlight the project within the local community to increase public engagement and awareness of the site.

Preservation Planning Grants from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program support a variety of projects that are focused on the preservation and interpretation of sites of armed conflict, including battlefields and associated sites on American soil. In addition to this grant opportunity, the program also provides financial assistance through Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants, Battlefield Interpretation Grants, and Battlefield Restoration Grants, to help generate community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.