Albemarle Barracks

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Encampment of the Convention Army at Charlottesville in Virginia after they had surrendered to the Americans.
Site of British Barracks (also know as Albemarle Barracks)

Albemarle Barracks, also know as British Barracks, was a prisoner-of-war camp for British and German prisoners during the American Revolutionary War. Today, the original site of the barracks is located on private property north of Charlottesville on what is now Ivy Farm Road (County Route 1015), on the left when traveling east.

In January 1779, during the American Revolution, 4,000 British troops and German mercenaries (commonly known as “Hessians”) captured following the battle of Saratoga arrived in the area. Most prisoners lived in huts spread out over several hundred acres of the barracks camp.

The army marched from Massachusetts on November 9 thru 11, 1778 and arrived at Charlottesville in January 1779, to find an unfinished set of barracks awaiting them. As the British army moved northward from the Carolinas, in late 1780, the remaining prisoners were moved to Frederick, Maryland, Winchester, Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere. As they left, the British prisoners set fire to their huts when they departed, accounting for one-third, and the balance of the huts were plundered for building materials and left to collapse and rot.[1]  Since they had deteriorated significantly by the end of 1781, and there was no reason to rebuild them even if that had been practical, it is unlikely the remaining material survived very long.  Albemarle Barracks, locally called simply “the Barracks,” soon became the name only for the land on which the huts had stood.[1]

Namesakes


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Map

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Web. DEMISE OF THE ALBEMARLE BARRACKS: A REPORT TO THE QUARTERMASTER GENERAL, Journal of the American Revolution, May 31, 2018, retrieved August 18, 2023.

External Links

Surroundings

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