By June 1776, the British prisoners captured at the sieges of Fort Chambly and Fort St. Jean had been in custody for over half a year, facing long journeys, local tensions, and unpleasant conditions. Conditions for captured officers, though, could be quite different than for the army’s enlisted men. Officers were considered to be gentlemen, and with that status came more trust and more freedom.
Privates captured in Canada initially had some freedom. The Continental Congress hoped to prove through its humane treatment of prisoners of war that America had the moral high ground and deserved a place among enlightened Western nations. British prisoners in Pennsylvania were given the same rations as Continental Army privates and were allowed to move freely through the towns they stayed in. However, as tensions rose between locals and prisoners, restrictions were tightened. By summer 1776, prisoners were confined in stockaded barracks.
Captivity was more comfortable for British officers. As gentlemen, they were presumed to be trustworthy and bound to keep their word of honor. In November 1775, Congress set terms of parole for officers captured at St. Jean. Officers would promise not to go more than six miles from their place of parole, avoid port towns, and “carry on no political correspondence” about the conflict. In return, they could stay comfortably and mostly unmonitored in private homes.
On June 11, 1776—250 years ago today—Captain Jacob Schalch and surgeon James Gill of the Royal Regiment of Artillery were given a new parole pass. Thomas McKean of the Committee on Prisoners signed this certificate affirming that the men “have given me their Parole this day to repair, to Bound-brook… in New Jersey and there to conduct themselves agreeable to the Resolutions of Congress.” Their imprisonment was likely nearing its end; most of the prisoners taken at St. Jean were exchanged by the end of 1776. Schalch returned to the Royal Artillery Regiment after his exchange and continued to serve there until his death in 1789.
Learn about this pass (object ID 1994.55) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30286