Convention Army

The Convention Army (1777–1783) was an army of British and allied troops captured after the Battles of Saratoga in the American Revolutionary War.

On 17 October 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army according to terms negotiated with American general Horatio Gates following the 7 October Battle of Bemis Heights. The terms were titled the Convention of Saratoga, and specified that the troops would be sent back to Europe after giving a parole that they would not fight again in the conflict.

Baroness Frederika Riedesel, wife of General Riedesel, just emerged from her shelter in the cellar of the Marshall House, attended the surrender ceremony which she vividly describes in her Journal: "On the 17th of October the capitulation was consummated. The generals waited upon the American general-in-chief, Gates, and the troops laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war".

A total of about 5,900 British, German, and Canadian troops surrendered at Saratoga. Under guard by John Glover's troops, they were marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they arrived on 8 November. The rank and file were quartered in crude barracks that had been constructed during the 1775 siege of Boston, while most of the officers were billeted in houses. The army ended up spending about one year in Cambridge, while negotiations concerning its status took place in military and diplomatic channels. During this year, about 1,300 prisoners escaped, often because they became involved with local women while working on farms in the area.

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