The Albemarle Barracks was a prisoner-of-war camp located outside of Charlottesville that housed British and Hessian prisoners captured during the Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The captives, approximately 4,000 men, women, and children, were initially held near Boston. In November 1778, this Convention Army, named for the Convention of Saratoga, was marched south to Virginia because of strain on local supply chains and fear that the British would attempt to free the prisoners. The prisoners arrived in January 1779 at the Albemarle Barracks, a camp of crudely constructed log huts about five miles northwest of Charlottesville. The prisoners worked to improve their living conditions by establishing gardens, raising livestock, and building stores, taverns, and churches. They worked outside the camp and farmed the surrounding land, while many officers lived in Charlottesville and socialized with local gentry, including Thomas Jefferson. When Virginia was threatened by British forces in 1780, the British prisoners were evacuated to Fort Frederick, Maryland. The remaining Hessian prisoners were evacuated in February 1781 to Winchester. Some of the barracks’ buildings were destroyed by departing prisoners, and local residents stripped the rest for salvage. No structures from the Albemarle Barracks remain, although several local place names mark the location of the barracks.
ENTRY
