Asgill Affair
[4] Huddy's execution was sanctioned by William Franklin, who signed the death warrant [5] but was carried out by Richard Lippincott, who was eventually court martialled by the British for this crime, but was exonerated on account of him only having obeyed orders.[6][7] On 3 May 1782, Washington ordered General Moses Hazen, head of a prisoner-of-war camp in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to select a British officer equal in rank to Huddy and not protected by any agreement with Great Britain to be hanged.[11] In the final paragraph of his letter, Hazen told Washington that Gordon had identified two possible unconditional prisoners, describing the potential replacements for Asgill as "of the Description which your Excellency wishes, and at first ordered".Hazen concluded: "It have [sic] fallen to my Lot to superintend this melancholy disagreeable Duty, I must confess I have been most sensible affected with it, and [do] most sincerely wish that the Information here given may operate in favour of Youth, Innocence, and Honour".[18] Vanderpoel writes that Washington's "apparent willingness to sacrifice a capitulation prisoner in direct violation of a treaty which he himself had signed, (a willingness which English historians have declared to be the one blot upon the otherwise irreproachable character of the American hero), may be accounted for by the circumstances of the case, and his belief in the absolute necessity of retaliation; but it cannot be explained why, when he learned that the Americans had two British officers in their hands who were unconditional prisoners, he did not instantly stop all proceedings relating to Asgill, and insist that one of them should take his place".[20] According to A. G. Bradley, Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Commander-in-Chief, North America, "sent the earliest remonstrances both to Washington, who truly replied that he was powerless, and to congress, who would be satisfied with nothing but the blood of either Lippincott or Asgill".On 10 July 1782, Sir Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, the British Home Secretary, wrote to Carleton, noting: "The News of that officer's being confined by Gen. Washington in direct contradiction to the Articles of Capitulation has struck every body [sic] with astonishment".[28] King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ordered the comte de Vergennes, the Foreign Minister, to convey to General Washington their desire that a young life be spared.Asgill is doubless [sic] your Prisoner, but he is among those whom the Arms of the King contributed to put into your hands at York Town Altho' this circumstance does not operate as a Safe Guard, it however justifies the interest I permit my self to take in this affair.[43] It was reported in The Reading Mercury on 30 December 1782 that Asgill was at the levée for the first time since his arrival back in London, and that while he was in relatively good health considering how he suffered in confinement, his legs were still swollen from the chains he had been loaded with."[45] Lurid accounts of Asgill's experiences while imprisoned continued to circulate in the coffee houses and the press following his return to England, and French plays were written about the affair.He wrote an impassioned response to the editor of the New-Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine, giving a detailed account of his mistreatment while he was awaiting execution and denying that he was ever taken to the gallows, but the letter was not published.In your Paper of the 24th August [Asgill made an error with the publication date; it should have read "of the 16th November"] the publication of some letters to & from Genl Washington together with parts of the Correspondence which passd during my Confinement in the Jerseys renders it necessary that I should make a few remarks on the insinuations containd in Genl Washingtons Letter, & give a fair account of the Treatment I received while I remaind under the Singular circumstances in which Mr Washingtons judgment & feelings thought it justifiable & necessary to place [me] — the extreme regret with which I find myself oblgd to call the attention of the publick [sic] to a subject which so peculiary [sic] if not exclusively concerns my own Character & private feelings will induce me to confine what I have to say within as narrow a Compass as possible—[46]In this letter Asgill also wrote: "I have ever attributed the delay of my execution to the humane, considerate & judicious conduct of Sr Guy Carleton, who amusd Genl Washington with hopes & soothd him with the Idea that he might obtain the more immediate object of retaliation & Vengeance this Conduct of Sr Guy produced the procrastination which enabled the French Court particularly Her Majesty to exercise the characteristic humanity of that great & polishd nation ..."[46] Asgill's unpublished letter was finally published in 2019, when a copy appeared in an issue of The Journal of Lancaster County’s Historical Society dedicated to the Asgill Affair.[18] Historian John A. Haymond notes that some commentators on the Asgill Affair "feared the legal controversy might derail the slow steps toward a peaceful resolution to the conflict that were already underway".[41][59] Asgill wrote in his Service Records: "The unfortunate Lot fell on me and I was in consequence conveyed to the Jerseys where I remained in Prison enduring peculiar Hardships for Six Months until released by an Act of Congress at the intercession of the Court of France".[62] Scholar Kristin Cook cites analysis of Mayer's book as an example of the critical attention the Asgill Affair has received, noting that "literary scholar Jack Iverson...reads the political impasse of its exposition as initially translated through two editions of Charles Joseph Mayer's 1784 French novel, Asgill, ou les désordres des guerres civiles...situating the American Affair, in relation to its French reception, as something of a dramatic Pièce de Théâtre.By introducing it as a reality-based plot that slides readily from fact into fiction, he illustrates a growing interest in the complex interconnections between 'real life' and 'imaginary conceit' among those affiliated with late eighteenth-century French print culture".
Charles AsgillThomas PhillipsAmerican RevolutionJoshua "Jack" HuddyPatriotGeorge Washingtoncomte de VergennesContinental Congresson paroleJoshua HuddyBritish forces at Yorktown in 1781PatriotsLoyalistsThe EconomistaffidavitMonmouth, New JerseyWilliam FranklinRichard Lippincottcourt martialledMoses HazenLancaster, Pennsylvaniadrummer boyJames GordonBenjamin LincolnSecretary of WarWilliam M. FowlerAlexander HamiltonChatham, New JerseyElias DaytonCornwallisGuy Carleton, 1st Baron DorchesterCommander-in-Chief, North AmericaWhitehallThomas Townshend, 1st Viscount SydneyHome SecretaryM. de RochambeauWilliam Petty, 2nd Earl of ShelburneHuguenotLouis XVIMarie AntoinetteCapitulationAsgill HouselevéeFriedrich Melchior, Baron von GrimmgibbetDavid HumphreysJosiah MeigsFrederick North, Lord Northdefeat at YorktownTreaty of ParisJohn AdamsJohn JayTrenton, New JerseyFrenchAmbigu-Comique theatreBillardon de Sauvigny, Louis-EdmeWilliam PennPennsylvaniaIsaac Pitmancommemorative coverLouis MasurKeith FeilingProQuestStephen, LeslieDictionary of National BiographyMayo, KatherineWikisourceSeton Hall UniversityNew Mexico State UniversityCengageEncyclopedia.comMonmouth County, New JerseyHistory TodayHistory News NetworkPresident of the United StatesSenior Officer of the ArmyContinental ArmyDelegateSecond Continental CongressFirst Continental CongressMilitary careerRevolutionary WarFrench and Indian WarJumonville GlenBattle of Fort NecessityBattle of the MonongahelaForbes ExpeditionWashington in the American RevolutionCommander-in-chief, Continental ArmyAides-de-campWashington's headquartersoffice and sleeping tentBoston campaignSiege of BostonNew York and New Jersey campaignDelaware River crossingBattle of TrentonBattle of the Assunpink CreekBattle of PrincetonPhiladelphia campaignBattle of BrandywineBattle of GermantownBattle of White MarshValley ForgeBattle of MonmouthBattles of SaratogaSullivan ExpeditionYorktown campaignSiege of YorktownCulper Spy RingNewburgh ConspiracyNewburgh letterEvacuation DayResignation as commander-in-chiefBadge of Military MeritPurple HeartWashington Before Boston MedalNelsonBlueskinOther U.S.founding eventsInitiated, co-wrote, 1769 Virginia AssociationInitiated, 1774 Fairfax ResolvesContinental AssociationCourt of Appeals in Cases of Capture1785 Mount Vernon ConferenceChairman, 1787 Constitutional Convention