Prisoner-of-War/Missing in Action

On May 25, 1780, Philip Freneau, the author of this poem was in the ship Aurora. The ship departed from Philadelphia and was en route to Santa Cruz. The next day, the ship was captured by the British frigate Iris. The captain, crew, and passengers were all sent to New York as British prisoners. In…

This image, depicting the interior view of the British prison ship HMS Jersey, was engraved in wood by Edward Bookhout. The living conditions on the ship were inhumane and at least 8 prisoners died a day. Disease spread easily, it was overcrowded, and starvation was common.

The HMS Jersey was an infamous British prison ship used to house American prisoners of war during the American Revolution. The practice of keeping prison ships was used as a way to prevent overcrowding in British prisoners and detain prisoners without having to send them to Britain.

<p><span class="deck">A search begun in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse 140 years ago continues today as a $100-million-a-year effort to reunite the U.S. military and American families with their missing soldiers.</span></p>