Prison Ship Records from the War of 1812
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Americans taken prisoner during the 1812 War
The detailed personal information on these men recorded in the General Entry Books is the richest single source of data relating to early American seafarers2006 recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for excellence in US Naval history
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Learn about American prisoners of war in the War of 1812
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This collection contains prison ship records drawn from the War of 1812, an inconclusive military conflict between the United States and Great Britain. The War of 1812 was incited by British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen, and the American desire to expand its territory. Although war changed little between the two Great Powers, it did lead to significant symbolic events like the burning of Washington and inspired the poem that led to the United States’ national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”.
The records are drawn from British administered prisoner of war ships and their corresponding ports, which ranges from English towns like Plymouth, to colonial ports like Barbados in the West Indies. Information provided by the shipping records includes the place of birth of prisoners, the health of the prisoners, and the port that their respective prison ships docked at. Overall, this collection offers a window into how prison populations were managed by their captors in wartime.
Contents
Prison Ship Records from the War of 1812...
Americans taken prisoner during the 1812 War
Volumes & Documents![](https://d1sxy7l4fhu207.cloudfront.net/assets/img/collectionbanner/9781851173068.jpg)
Volumes
Insights
- The lists relating to prisoner deaths include the causes of death as well as locations and dates. The reader can use this information to identify the most common causes of death for American prisoners.
- Each of these lists is a standard form which contains details of which ship captured the named prisoners, from which vessel, and when.
- The lists relating to prisoner transfer also state where the named prisoners were exchanged and if an unnamed 'cartel' was involved.
- The names and dates of ships taken by the British enable the reader to see how the number of ships captured each month changed during the 1812 war.