occasion first of the said Hessian field-officers, together with
Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, or any other officers that are or
may be in our possession, equivalent in number or quality, to be
detained, in order that the same treatment, which general Lee shall
receive, may be exactly inflicted upon their persons."

In consequence of this act Colonel Campbell was thrown into Concord
gaol. On February 4th he addressed a letter to Washington giving a
highly colored account of his severe treatment, making it equal to that
inflicted upon the most atrocious criminals; and for the reasons he was
so treated declaring that "the first of this month, I was carried and
lodged in the common gaol of Concord, by an order of Congress, through
the Council of Boston, intimating for a reason, that a refusal of
General Howe to give up General Lee for six field-officers, of whom I
was one, and the placing of that gentleman under the charge of the
Provost at New York, were the motives of their particular ill treatment
of me."

Washington, on February 28, 1777, wrote to the Council of Massachusetts
remonstrating with them and directing Colonel Campbell's enlargement, as
his treatment was not according to the resolve of Congress. The
following day he wrote Colonel Campbell stating that he imagined there
would be a mitigation of what he now suffered. At the same time
Washington wrote to the Congress on the impolicy of so treating Colonel
Campbell, declaring that he feared that the resolutions, if adhered to,
might "produce consequences of an extensive and melancholy nature." On
March 6th he wrote to the president of Congress reaffirming his position
on the impolicy of their attitude towards Colonel Campbell. To the same
he wrote May 28th stating that "notwithstanding my recommendation,
agreeably to what I conceived to be the sense of Congress,
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell's treatment continues to be such as cannot
be justified either on the principles of generosity or strict
retaliation; as I have authentic information, and I doubt not you will
have the same, that General Lee's situation is far from being rigorous
or uncomfortable." To Sir William Howe, he wrote June 10th, that
"Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell and the Hessian field-officers, will be
detained till you recognise General Lee as a prisoner of war, and put
him on the footing of claim. * * * The situation of Lieutenant-Colonel
Campbell, as represented by you, is such as I nei