George Weedon letter to William Phillips(1781 April 12)

• MS 2013.8
• 2 pp.

Retained copy of a letter of American Brigadier General George Weedon to British Major General William Phillips concerning prisoners of war. Weedon expresses his desire “to render the Circumstances of war as little afflicting as possible …” He notes he is willing to exchange prisoners or grant paroles when exchanges aren’t “Subject to my will.”

Phillips himself had been a prisoner of war. Captured at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, he was exchanged for the American general, Benjamin Lincoln, who was captured at Charleston in 1780. Shortly after rejoining the army, Phillips was sent to Virginia where he operated with the traitor, Benedict Arnold. He achieved a number of successes in the field before dying at Petersburg on May 13, 1781.

Weedon was present at the Siege of Yorktown where he commanded American militia at Gloucester Point. He survived the war returning to Fredericksburg where he died in 1793.