War of 1812
Main article: War of 1812
The United States and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
The War of 1812 coincided with the War of the Sixth Coalition. Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, while Europeans often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars.
The United States declared war on Britain because of British military support for Native Americans, interference with American merchant ships forced enlistment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, and a desire to expand its territory.
France had interfered as well, and the United States had considered declaring war on France.
The war ended in a military stalemate, and there were no boundary changes at the Treaty of Ghent, which took effect in early 1815 when Napoleon was on Elba
Link-Napolionic War
Prisoners of War
From 1803 to 1815 Britain was at war with Napoleonic France and many thousands of prisoners were taken. To help accommodate them redundant warships were commissioned as floating prisons known as ‘the hulks’. Several hulks were at anchor at Plymouth among other places and conditions were so bad with poor sanitary arrangements, little exercise, lack of fresh air and a poor diet, the death rate rose to an unacceptable level and a prison on land was decided upon. Princetown on Dartmoor was considered a suitable location and that is how Dartmoor Prison came to be built.
The First Prisoners
First prisoners arrived on 22nd May 1809 and the prison was full by the end of the year. It soon became overcrowded and remained so. In April 1813 American prisoners began arriving and the overcrowding became worse. Outbreaks of diseases – pneumonia, typhoid, smallpox, etc. killed more than 11,000 Frenchmen and 271 Americans. Their graveyards and memorials are at the rear of the prison.
The wars finally ended and the prisoners were repatriated, the last of them leaving in early 1816. The prison then closed until opening again as a penal establishment for criminals in 1850.
Prison Uniform
French and American prisoners of war were issued with a woollen hat, jacket, trousers, and canvas shoes with wooden soles all of which were renewed every 18 months. We have a model of an early convict wearing a khaki jacket, trousers and a ‘forage’ cap stamped with the distinctive black arrows we are all familiar with. Their boots had studs arranged in the shape of an arrow which left an imprint everywhere they walked and helped warders track down escapees.
When Dartmoor reopened as a convict prison in 1850, it was decided to establish a prison farm, this opened in 1852. The effects of soil erosion and animals grazing on the land began to expose the bones and when exposed they became bleached by the sun.
Governor Walter Stopford (1865-1868) decided to act on the desecration as these men were not criminals or convicts and deserved to be remembered in a respectful way. He directed groups of prisoners to scour the area and exhume as many bones as they could.
After lying in the ground for fifty year it was not possible to identify which bones were from French and which bones were from American POWs. It was decided to divide the remains equally with one half being declared French and the other American.
Two identical cemeteries were constructed each with a cairn surmounted with an obelisk. Each obelisk was engraved the same with the only exception being the nationality.
Each obelisk carries the motto ‘Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori’ - It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.
The dates on the French obelisk are incorrect. They state 1809 to 1814 which does not cover the resumption of the war in 1815 when Napoleon escaped from Elba, culminating in the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815.
During their second period at Dartmoor the register lists a further 88 French deaths the last being on 31st January 1816
Similarly the dates on the American obelisk are incorrect, reading the same as the French 1809 to 1814. The first American death was registered on 11th April 1813 and the last on 24th July 1815.
In 1928 a replica of the prison archway was constructed in the American cemetery, funded by the US Daughters of 1812.
In 1987, the same organisation paid for the American cemetery to be refurbished and two plinths of South African granite were installed on which are inscribed the names of the 271 American POs who perished at Dartmoor.
At the same time the star and anchor emblem of the US Daughters of 1812 was added to the obelisk.
In 2019 the iron gates leading to the cemeteries were taken down and refurbished by present-day Dartmoor prisoners. The gates were returned to the cemetery entrances in 2020.
Both cemeteries are designated war graves and ground held in perpetuity by the respective Governments.
Link-H.M Prison Dartmoor Museum