Saving Captain Asgill

To die or not to die: that was the quandary facing not only the victim, Captain Charles Asgill (1762-1823), but also his gaoler, General George Washington (1732-99). Asgill was a young prisoner of war in Lord Cornwallis’ vanquished British army. Though protected by the 14th Article of Capitulation, which specifically safeguarded prisoners, his fate appeared to have been sealed at the Black Bear Inn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in May 1782. There Washington decreed that a British captain, selected by lot, was to be sacrificed in retaliation for the Loyalist murder the previous month of the Patriot soldier Captain Joshua Huddy. It was a final, desperate attempt by Washington to bring to an end a series of retaliatory murders. While regretting the need for such action, Washington was in a dilemma since many of his men, determined on US independence, were baying for blood.