Prisoners of War

Prisoners of War. . Captured Americans were confined in Camden throughout the British occupation. When the American army approached the town in August 1780, British troops locked the town’s patriot leaders in the jail (located on the southeast corner of Broad and King Streets) as a precaution against revolt. After the Battle of Camden, hundreds of captured American soldiers were brought to town and confined in wooden pens. Most were later sent to Charleston. , Constant fighting in the backcountry brought a steady stream of captives to Camden’s jail. Many were exchanged for British soldiers who had been captured by the Americans. A few who had broken their oath of allegiance to Britain were hanged for treason. Teenaged Andrew Jackson, future President of the United States, was a prisoner in Camden in 1781. , “It was an inclosure like those for cows or pigs, and within, sitting or stretched on the bare earth, with no protection from the sun, were hundreds of unhappy prisoners.” Mrs. Thomas McCalla, wife of an American prisoner, September 1780