Captain Charles Asgill: An Anglo-American Incident, 1782
Bitter feelings between Loyalists and Patriots after the British surrender at Yorktown led to many skirmishes and retaliations.
Captain Charles Asgill, though innocent, was condemned to die. Why did this young Englishman's plight become an international issue? Why were the rulers of nations involved in his case - including King George III and King Louis XVI? And why did some of them implore that Asgill's life be spared? The answers to these questions are to be found in the complicated and baffling details of the closing years of the American Revolution. Although the peace terms concluding the War of Independence had not been signed, fighting between the British and American military forces had virtually ended after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19th, 1781. Nevertheless, in a number of areas, skirmishes and acts of retaliation continued between the Loyalists and the Patriots. In New Jersey these opening parties were still consumed with hatred for each other.
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