Useful Enemies: The Treatment of German Prisoners of War during the American War of Independence

During the American War of Independence, the revolutionaries captured thousands of British and German soldiers. Focusing on common German soldiers, this case study explains the various ways in which American revolutionaries turned these prisoners of war into useful enemies for their war effort. To boost morale, revolutionaries staged elaborate rituals with prisoners of war. Congress, the states, and local citizens hired captive soldiers as prisoner-laborers. After the victory at Yorktown in 1781, Congress and the Continental Army recruited German prisoners of war, allowed them to go free after cash payments, and even sold them into indentured servitude to save expenses.