A revealing study of the experiences of prisoners of war during the American Revolution
Relieve Us of This Burthen is the first book-length study of Continental soldiers, officers, and militiamen held as prisoners of war by the British in the South during the American Revolution. Carl P. Borick focuses his study on the period 1780-82, when British forces most actively campaigned in the South. He makes groundbreaking use of the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application files, which have been underutilized to understand the history of prisoners of war. Borick's careful reading of the pension files reveals much about what men went through and how they endured in captivity.
Carl P. Borick is director of the Charleston Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. He is author of A Gallant Defense: The Siege of Charleston, 1780, which won the 2003 George C. Rogers Jr. Award of the South Carolina Historical Society for best book in South Carolina history.
"Borick provides a well-researched account of this key moment in the military history of the American Revolution when patriot fortunes seemed at their lowest point."—Southern Historian
"A welcome addition to the history of South Carolina and of the American Revolution."—Journal of Military History
"A handsome volume that is both well researched and accessible to a general readership. . . . A Gallant Defense is an insightful fusion of military, political, and social history."—Charleston (S.C.) Mercury
"The reader discerns clear prose, research and interpretations that are solid, a few myths are dispelled, and details of technology, battle plans and maneuvers are found in no other single place."—Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier
"Borick's work is a most useful addition to the historiography of the Revolutionary War's southern campaigning. It was long overdue"—Journal of Southern History
"Carl P. Borick's Relieve Us of This Burthen fills a great gap in the history of the American Revolution. In this first book on the fate of American prisoners held by the British in the South Borick makes extensive use of primary sources to discuss subjects from the British prison ships in Charleston to the infamous execution of Isaac Hayne, and Borick tracks—all the way to Canada—some of the prisoners who had little choice but to enlist with the British. This book will be of great value to anyone interested in the American Revolution as it unfolded in the North or the South."—Philip Ranlet, author of The New York Loyalists and Enemies of the Bay Colony: Puritan Massachusetts and Its Foes
