Asgill Affair

The Asgill Affair was an event that occurred towards the end of the American Revolution. As a result of ongoing murders taking place between the Patriot and Loyalist factions, retaliatory measures were then taken by General George Washington against a British officer, Captain Charles Asgill, condemned to be hanged, in direct contravention of the Articles of Capitulation. To this end lots were drawn amongst 13 British Captains on 27 May 1782. As America's allies, the French monarchy became involved and let it be known that such measures would reflect badly on both the French and American nations. The French Foreign Minister, the comte de Vergennes, wrote to Washington on 29 July 1782 to express these views. After a six-month ordeal, awaiting death daily, the Continental Congress eventually agreed that Asgill should be released to return to England on parole.

Background

After the capitulation of the British forces at Yorktown in 1781, by tit-for-tat murders between the Patriots and Loyalists had become frequent. Loyalist Phillip White was killed by colonial soldiers on March 30, 1782; in reprisal, Loyalists in Monmouth, New Jersey executed Captain Jack Huddy on April 12. Patriots in Monmouth sent General George Washington a petition demanding justice, indicating they would act if Washington did not. Huddy's execution was carried out by Richard Lippincott, who was eventually court martialled by the British for this crime. Washington ordered General Moses Hazen, head of a Lancaster, Pennsylvania prisoner-of-war camp, to select a British officer equal in rank to Huddy and not protected by any agreement with Great Britain to be hanged.

Washington's solution

On 27 May 1782, lots were drawn at the Black Bear Tavern, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with Asgill's name being drawn by a drummer boy, together with the paper marked "Unfortunate", which put him under threat of execution. Asgill's fellow officer, Major James Gordon, protested in the strongest terms to both General Washington and Benjamin Lincoln, the Secretary of War, that this use of a lottery was illegal. By 5 June 1782 Washington was most concerned regarding his orders to Brigadier General Moses Hazen to select a conditional prisoner for retaliation. He also wrote to Lincoln seeking his opinion as to the "propriety of doing this". Furthermore Alexander Hamilton wrote to Major General Henry Knox on 7 June 1782 arguing against the execution in the strongest terms, saying "A sacrifice of this sort is intirely repugnant to the genius of the age we live in and is without example in modern history nor can it fail to be considered in Europe as wanton and unnecessary."

The officers drawing lots at the Black Bear Inn were:
*Officers being held near York:
*From the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards Lt. & Captain Charles Asgill, Lt. & Captain Hon. George Ludlow, Lt. & Captain James Perrin
*From the 2nd Regiment of Foot Guards, Lt. & Captain George Eld, Lt. & Captain Henry Greville
*From the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers), Captain Thomas de Saumarez
*From the 76th Regiment of Foot, Captain David Barclay, Captain Samuel Graham
*Officers being held in Lancaster:
*From the 17th Regiment of Foot Captain Lawford Miles
*From the 26th Regiment of Foot Captain Bulstrode Whitlocke
*From the 33rd Regiment of Foot Captain James Ingram
*From the 80th Regiment of Foot Captain Alexander Arbuthnot, Captain William Hawthorn (also known as John Hathorn)

After lots were drawn on 27 May 1782, Hazen, who had been in charge of the proceedings, wrote that same day to Washington to inform him that Major James Gordon had identified unconditional prisoners, but that Asgill was on his way to imprisonment for the next six months, where he awaited the gallows on a daily basis. He also told Washington that his orders of 3 May and 18 May 1782 had been painful for him to carry out (his orders from Washington of 18 May had told him to include conditional prisoners, who were protected by treaty). "Since I wrote the above Maj^r Gordon has furnished me with an Original Letter of which the inclosed is a Copy, by which you will see we have a Subaltern Officer and unconditional Prisoner of War at Winchester Barracks. I have also just received Information that Lieut. Turner, of the 3rd Brigade of Gen^l Skinner's New-Jersey Volunteers is in York Goal—but as those Informations did not come to Hand before the Lots were drawn, and my Letters wrote to your Excellency and the Minister of War on the Subject, and as I judge no Inconveniency can possibly arise to us by sending on Capt. Asgill, to Philadelphia, which will naturally tend to keep up the Hue and Cry, and of course foment the present Dissentions amongst our Enemies, I have sent him under guard as directed. Those Officers above-mentioned are not only of the Description which your Excellency wishes, and at first ordered n 3 May but in another Point of View are proper Subjects for Example, been Traitors to America, and having taken refuge with the Enemy, and by us in Arms. It have fallen to my Lot to superintend this melancholy disagreeable Duty, I must confess I have been most sensible affected with it, and omost sincerely wish that the Information here given may operate in favour of Youth, Innocence, and Honour".

News reaches London

Lady Asgill, and her daughters, first heard the news of events in Chatham, when Captain Gould, a friend of Asgill's, had been repatriated and went to call on them in Richmond:

File:THE LONDON CHRONICLE Vol. LII, No 3998 From SATURDAY, JULY 13, to TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1782.jpg, ''The London Chronicle'' Vol. LII, No 3998 From Saturday 13 July to Tuesday 16 July 1782 has articles on three of its pages.
File:Although the situation of Mr. Asgill is not a pleasant one, there is every reason to suppose it not dangerous, as to going to his life; ...p51.jpg, "Although the situation of Mr. Asgill is not a pleasant one, there is every reason to suppose it not dangerous, as to going to his life;..."p. 51
File:Letter from George Washington to Sir Henry Clinton April 21, 1782 and Clinton's reply to Washington appear on page 53 of the newspaper.jpg, Letter from George Washington to Sir Henry Clinton April 21, 1782 together with Clinton's reply to Washington appear on p. 53
File:Capt. Asgill, now under strict confinement in Philadelphia...destined to be the object.jpg, "Capt. Asgill, now under strict confinement in Philadelphia...destined to be the object of Gen. Washington's...retaliation" appears on p. 55

Ambrose Vanderpoel states that: "Intelligence of Asgill's plight reached London on or about the 13th of July." So, by the summer of 1782 Ministers in Whitehall, London, were becoming involved in the events taking place in America. King George III was informed, and was expressing his views too: On 10 July 1782 a letter from Sir Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, the British Home Secretary, to Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Commander-in-Chief, North America, read:

Again, on 14 August 1782, Sir Tomas Townsend is writing to Sir Guy Carleton:

Four days later, on 18 August 1782, Sir Guy Carleton writes to Sir William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, the Prime Minister:

King Louis XVl and Queen Marie Antoinette's role

On hearing of her son's impending execution, Asgill's mother, Sarah Theresa, Lady Asgill (who was of French Huguenot origin), wrote to the French court, pleading for her son's life to be spared. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ordered the comte de Vergennes, the Foreign Minister, to convey to General Washington their desire that a young life be spared. Since France had also signed the Treaty of Capitulation, protecting prisoners of war from retaliation, they too were bound to honour the terms. Asgill was thus protected by the 14th Article of Capitulation in the document of Cornwallis's surrender, safeguarding prisoners of war. Vergennes writes to Washington on 29 July 1782:

There is one consideration, Sir, which, tho it is not decisive, may have an influence on your resolutions — Capt. Asgill is doubless your Prisoner, but he is among those whom the Arms of the King contributed to put into your hands at York Town Altho' this circumstance does not operate as a Safe Guard, it however justifies the interest I permit my self to take in this affair. If it is in your power Sir to consider & to have regard to it you will do what is agreeable to their Majesties

Mayo sums up the French diplomacy on display in Vergennes letter:

Vergennes's letter was a masterpiece of tact and diplomacy hiding the iron hand. Vergennes had not reminded them that Article One of the Yorktown Capitulation declared the vanquished British forces "surrender as prisoners of war to the combined forces of America and France." He had not reminded them that Article Fourteen of that treaty promised freedom from reprisals to every capitulating man. He had not pointed out to them, in so many words, that France's claim upon the British prisoners was at least equal to their own; neither that France's signature, at the treaty's foot, compelled her to defend her good faith against her ally's default. Instead, clear through the imperative involved, he disclaimed both the right and the wish to use it. And so doing, he held the door wide open for that face-saving exit that had seemed, until this "wonderful intervention of Providence," as hopeless as it was desirable.

In her desperation, Lady Asgill sent a copy of Vergennes letter to Washington herself, by special courier, and her copies of correspondence reached Washington before the original from Paris. She sought the help of Cornwallis, and it may be that the enclosure to his letter was, indeed, the time she employed a special courier to speed Vergennes letter to Washington, of 29 July, on its way to America.
"Earl Cornwallis to Sir Guy Carleton 4 August 1782.
Calford. — Dear Sir, Lady Asgill, whose situation has been most distressing, is very anxious to have the inclosed letter transmitted to Gen^l. Washington. I think I convinced her that it was impossible that the letter could arrive in America time enough to be of any use, but yet she was unwilling to give up sending it, I have therefore taken the liberty of inclosing it to Your Excellency, that you may determine whether it ought to be sent to Gen^l. Washington, if, contrary to all probability, you should receive it before that unfortunate transaction is finally settled." Vergennes' letter, enclosing that of Lady Asgill, was presented to the Continental Congress on the very day they were proposing to vote to hang Asgill, since "A very large majority of Congress were determined on his execution, and a motion was made for a resolution positively ordering the immediate execution." But "On 7 Nov. an act was passed by Congress releasing Asgill". Congress's solution was to offer Asgill's life as "a compliment to the King of France." However, according to Ambrose Vanderpoel, Asgill did not receive his passport to leave imprisonment in Chatham, New Jersey, until 17 November 1782.

The Continental Congress decides

From Ambrose Vanderpoel we learn that Asgill's fate was on a knife-edge in Congress: "One of the members of Congress at that time was Elias Boudinot of Elizabeth, N. J., who thus recorded in his journal the circumstances under which these letters were received, and the effect which they produced: A very large Majority of Congress were determined on his sgill'sExecution, and a Motion was made for a Resolution positively ordering the immediate Execution. Mr. Duane & myself considering the Reasons assigned by the Commander in Chief conclusive, made all the Opposition in our Power. We urged every Argument that the Peculiarity of the Case suggested, and spent three Days in warm Debate, during which more ill Blood appeared in the House, than I had seen. Near the close of the third Day, when every Argument was exhausted, without any appearance of Success, the Matter was brought to a Close, by the Question being ordered to be taken. I again rose and told the House, that in so important a Case, where the Life of an innocent Person was concerned, we had (though in a small Minority) exerted ourselves to the utmost of our Power. We had acquitted our Consciences and washed our Hands clean from the Blood of that Young Man. ... The next Morning as soon as the Minutes were read, the President announced a Letter from the Commander in Chief. On its being read, he stated the rec't of a letter from the King and Queen of France inclosing one from Mrs. Asgill the Mother of Capt. Asgill to the Queen he actually wrote to the comte de Vergennes that on the Whole was enough to move the Heart of a Savage. The Substance was asking the Life of young Asgill. This operated like an electrical Shock. Each Member looking on his Neighbor , in Surprise, as if saying here is unfair Play. It was suspected to be some Scheme of the Minority. The President was interrogated. The Cover of the Letters was called for. The General's Signature was examined. In Short, it looked so much like something supernatural that even the Minority, who were so much pleased with it, could scarcely think it real. After being fully convinced of the integrity of the Transaction, a Motion was made that the Life of Capt. Asgill should be given as a Compliment to the King of France." After much debate Congress agreed that young Asgill should be released on parole to return to England.

In a letter from Robert R. Livingston to Benjamin Franklin, on 9 November 1782, he writes: "Mr Stewart, informing me that he shall set out tomorrow for Paris here Franklin was negotiating the terms of the peace treaty will be the bearer of this ... The only political object of a general nature, that has been touched upon in Congress since my last, is the exchange of prisoners, which seems at present to be as far as ever from being effected. The propositions on the side of the enemy were to exchange seamen for soldiers, they having no soldiers in their hands; that the soldiers so exchanged should not serve for one year against the United States; that the sailors might go into immediate service; that the remainder of the soldiers in our hands should be given up at a stipulated price. ... General Carleton has sent out the trial of Lippincott, which admits the murder of Huddy, but justifies Lippincott under an ''irregular'' order of the Board of Refugees. So paltry a palliation of so black a crime would not have been admitted, and Captain Asgill would certainly have paid the forfeit for the injustice of his countrymen, had not the interposition of their Majesties prevented. The letter from the Count de Vergennes is made the groundwork of the resolution passed on that subject."

The following correspondence sailed on the ''Swallow'' Packet – the same ship and voyage on which Charles Asgill left America – and were received in Whitehall on 17 December 1782, under a covering letter from Sir Guy Carleton to Thomas Townsend, dated 15 November. Carleton enclosed a copy of Congress's directive to free Asgill:

Copy: By the United States in Congress assembled November 7, 1782

On the report of a committee to whom was referred a letter of the 19th of August from the Commander in Chief, a report of a Committee thereon and motions of Mr Williams and Mr Rutledge relative thereto, and also another letter of 25th of October from the Commander in Chief, with a Copy of a letter from the Count de Vergennes dated 29th July last, interceding for Captain Asgil . –

Resolved, That the commander in Chief be and he is hereby directed to set Capt Asgil at Liberty.

Signed Cha Thomson Sec^t

Amongst the correspondence were copies of letters to and from Luzerne (written in French) and Carleton. None of it reached London until Asgill himself had disembarked from his voyage home.

Released from captivity

Once released by Congress, Asgill left Chatham immediately,"...riding for the British lines with Washington's passport in his pocket; riding, day and night, as hard as horse-flesh can bear it. And now, all breathless, all caked with the mire of the road, not pausing to make himself decent, he stands before Sir Guy Carleton hose headquarters was located at Number One Broadway, Lower Manhattan For has he not learned, as he hammered through the streets of New York, that a packet-ship, the Swallow, is weighing anchor for England? Sir Guy sparing formalities, pushing him through, he dashes for the waterside — for the Swallow's moorings. The Swallow had just sailed! In a small boat with a willing crew he makes after her, overhauls her twelve miles and more out, and so is off on the long voyage ome.. As the Swallow skims eastward, making, as it chances, a phenomenally quick run, time wears into the third and fourth month since Asgill's last news from home — since the writing of those impounded family letters. He cannot but be desperately anxious concerning his father, of whose condition he is now aware anxious, too, concerning them all. None the less so in view of the fact that his own last farewell, written home when he learned of the acquittal of Lippencott, may have come to their hand soon after this voyage began."

An escape plan was laid

When Asgill spent those brief moments with Sir Guy Carleton, prior to sailing for home, he handed him a letter from his friend, Major James Gordon. It read as follows: "Major James Gordon to Sir Guy Carleton.
1782, November. Chatham. — Sir, Captain Asgill will have the honour to deliver this to Your Excellency, who is at last set at liberty by a Vote of Congress after a long and disagreeable confinement, which he bore with that manly fortitude that will for ever reflect honour upon himself. During the period that he was close confined he had frequent opportunities of making his escape, and was often urged to do it by anonymous correspondents, one of which assured him that if he did not make use of the present moment an order would arrive next day from General Washington that would put it out of his power for ever. This letter he gave me to read, and at the same time told me (that unless I wou'd advise him to do it) he never wou'd take a step that might be the means of counteracting measures adopted by Your Excellency to procure his release, or might bring one of the officers of Lord Cornwallis's army into the same predicament, and that he had made his mind up for the worst consequences that cou'd happen from rebel tyranny."

Gordon hatched a fail-safe plan for Asgill to be rescued by the British in the event the call to go to the gallows came. This escape plan involved Gordon sacrificing his own life to save Asgill. For this reason Asgill was not told the details of the plan since he would never have agreed. The plan also involved several local ladies, whose identity is still unknown to this day. Mayo tells us that: "This project, so Graham in later time affirmed, 'would have been effected.' That he declared no more, it is safe to say, was because of the women concerned, whom he would not implicate." It pained Asgill deeply that Gordon died in New York, on 17 October 1783, before Asgill could offer him his heartfelt gratitude, in person, for all that he had done for him.

The journey home

Ambrose Vanderpoel writes: "Captain Asgill left Chatham on November 17th; and he hastened to New York intent upon taking the first ship to England. Finding that the packet ''Swallow'', Captain Green, of Falmouth, had just sailed, he abandoned his servant and baggage, procured a row-boat, and succeeded in overtaking the vessel. He reached his native land in safety on December 18th."

Mayo writes:

The Asgill family visit to Paris

A year later, starting 3 November 1783, Asgill together with his mother (who had been too ill to travel sooner) and his two eldest sisters, went to France to thank the King and Queen for saving his life. Asgill wrote in his Service Records: "The unfortunate Lot fell on me and I was in consequence conveyed to the Jerseys where I remained in Prison enduring peculiar Hardships for Six Months until released by an Act of Congress at the intercession of the Court of France". He goes on to say: "and had leave of Absence for a few months for the purpose of going to Paris to return thanks to the Court of France for having saved my Life."

The Aftermath

Following Asgill's return to England, lurid accounts of his experiences whilst a prisoner began to emerge in the coffee houses and press, and French plays were written about the affair. Washington was angered that the young man did not deny these rumours, nor did he write to thank Washington for his release on parole. Speculation mounted as to his reasons; Washington ordered that his correspondence on the Asgill Affair be made public. His letters on the matter were printed in the ''New-Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine'' on 16 November 1786, with the exception of his letter written to General Hazen on 18 May 1782, ordering him to include conditional prisoners in the selection of lots, in which he had violated the 14th Article of Capitulation. Judge Thomas Jones states: "Colonel David Humphreys ashington's former ''aide-de-camp''arranged and published them himself, not referring, of course, to Washington's agency in the matter..."

It was five weeks before Charles Asgill was able to obtain a copy and sit down to read the account of his experiences, as recorded by George Washington. He wrote an impassioned response by return of post. His letter was sent to the editor of the ''New-Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine,'' but he is mistaken over the issue date - he should have written ''16 November 1786.'' His letter begins:

Cap^t Asgill^s Answer to General Washington^s Letter &c Address^d to the Editor of the Newhaven Gazette
London Dec^r 20th 1786.
Sir
In your Paper of the 24th August the publication of some letters to & from Gen^l Washington together with parts of the Correspondence which pass^d during my Confinement in the Jerseys renders it necessary that I should make a few remarks on the insinuations contain^d in Gen^l Washington^s Letter, & give a fair account of the Treatment I received while I remain^d under the Singular circumstances in which Mr Washington^s judgment & feelings thought it justifiable & necessary to place e— the extreme regret with which I find myself oblg^d to call the attention of the publick to a subject which so peculiary if not exclusively concerns my own Character & private feelings will induce me to confine what I have to say within as narrow a Compass as possible—

Asgill's 18-page letter of 20 December 1786, including claims that he was treated like a circus animal, with drunken revellers paying good money to enter his cell and taunt or beat him, was not published. Supposedly left for dead after one such attack, he was subsequently permitted to keep a Newfoundland dog to protect himself.

In this letter Asgill also wrote: "I have ever attributed the delay of my execution to the humane, considerate & judicious conduct of S^r Guy Carleton, who amus^d Gen^l Washington with hopes & sooth^d him with the Idea that he might obtain the more immediate object of retaliation & Vengeance this Conduct of Sr Guy produced the procrastination which enabled the French Court particularly Her Majesty to exercise the characteristic humanity of that great & polish^d nation ..."

I leave for the public to decide how far the treatment I have related deserv^d acknowledgements – the motives of my silence were shortly theseThe state of my mind at the time of my release was such that my judgement told me I could not with sincerity return thanksmy feelings would not allow me to give vent to reproaches

The only letter from Asgill included in Washington's Papers, which were published in ''The New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine'', under the heading; "The Conduct of GENERAL WASHINGTON, respecting the Confinement of Capt. Asgill, placed in its true Point of Light", was his letter of 17 June 1782, but this was printed with the date of 17 May (which was before lots were drawn). When writing it, Asgill was only just three weeks into his confinement, since being selected to atone for Huddy's death, by going to the gallows. He had been housed by Dayton for less than a fortnight, where he said he had been treated kindly, but then had become too ill to be moved to close confinement at Timothy Day's Tavern. Four years later, this one letter was presented as proof that that same kindness lasted for the next five months, which had not been the case at Timothy Day's Tavern. Only one Asgill letter; the absence of Asgill's letter to Washington, of 27 September, in which he made it clear he was suffering greatly (asking Washington "to reflect on my unhappy Case, & to relieve me from a state, which those only can form any Judgment of, who have experienced the Horrors Attending it."); along with Washington's withheld letter of 18 May, ordering Hazen to include protected officers in the lottery, was presented as the "true point of light".

Error of judgement

According to historian Peter Henriques, Washington made a serious error of judgement in deciding to revenge the murder of Joshua Huddy by sending a Conditional British officer to the gallows, writing: "Indeed the general's major error in judgment triggered the ensuing crisis."

Henriques argues: "George Washington was notoriously thin-skinned, especially on matters involving personal honor. The general angrily responded that Asgill's statements were baseless calumnies. He described in considerable detail a generous parole he had extended Asgill and Gordon, forgetting that earlier he had tightly limited Asgill's movements. Calling his former captive 'defecting in politeness,' ashington actually wrote "defective in politeness" he observed that Asgill, upon being repatriated, had lacked the grace to write and thank him". In contrast to Henriques's account, Katherine Mayo writes that Asgill "seems to have published no statement at all concerning his American experience".

Vanderpoel agrees: "His apparent willingness to sacrifice a capitulation prisoner in direct violation of a treaty which he himself had signed, (a willingness which English historians have declared to be the one blot upon the otherwise irreproachable character of the American hero)"

Impact on Paris peace talks

Historian John A. Haymond notes that some commentators on the Asgill Affair "feared the legal controversy might derail the slow steps toward a peaceful resolution to the conflict that were already underway". Haymond notes that the British prime minister, Frederick North, Lord North, "in a secret dispatch to Carleton, wrote of his concern that the matter 'not provide an obstacle in the way of accommodation'". Holger Hoock, however, attributes this quote to a letter to Carleton not from North but from William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, who became prime minister in July 1782. After defeat at Yorktown in October 1781, North had remained as prime minister in the hope of being allowed to negotiate peace in the American Revolutionary War, but following a House of Commons motion demanding an end to the war, he resigned on 20 March 1782. Peace negotiations leading to the Treaty of Paris, which eventually brought to an end the war, started in April 1782. American statesmen Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay negotiated the peace treaty with British representatives. On 12 April 1782, the day Huddy was hanged by order of William Franklin, his father Benjamin was in Paris, where he was holding preliminary negotiations with a British official, and the hanging "was to have international repercussions and threaten the peace talks".

Ambrose Vanderpoel writes: "Baron de Grimm is the authority for the statement that she ady Asgillapplied to the king, who directed that the author of a crime ippincott acting on William Franklin's orderswhich dishonored the English nation should be given up to the Americans; but, incredible as it may seem, his command was not obeyed. Richard Oswald, a gentleman whom the British ministry had sent to Paris a short time before to sound the French government on the subject of peace, endeavored to persuade Benjamin Franklin, our representative at the Royal Court of Versailles, to exert his influence in Asgill's favor; but Franklin assured him that nothing but the surrender of Lippincott could save the prisoner's life." The irony is that Benjamin Franklin's son, William, was the author of the crime, but he may not have known this when he gave this response. Thomas Jones has this to say about the British negotiator: "Richard Oswald, of Philpot Lane, London, merchant, was a Scotchman who had been a contractor for biscuits and provisions in Germany during the Seven Years' War."

However, the preliminary articles of peace were signed on 30 November 1782 and the Treaty of Paris itself, which formally ended the war, was signed on 3 September 1783. The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty on 14 January 1784. In a letter to Robert R. Livingston in January 1783, John Adams wrote: "The release of Captain Asgyll was so exquisite a Relief to my feelings, that I have not much cared what Interposition it was owing to— It would have been an horrid damp to the joys of Peace, if we had heard a disagreable account of him".

Thomas Jones writes: "The American Commissioners objected to the form of Oswald's commission, and refused to treat unless it was altered. Oswald, upon this, desired Jay to draw such a one as would come up to his own wishes, which was done and sent to England, and so bent were the new Ministry upon a peace, that Jay's commission went through all the different forms, and was transmitted to Paris in a very few days, so that the British Commissioners absolutely acted under a commission dictated by the American Commissioners."

The Asgill Affair in literature

* A historical novel written by Agnes Carr Sage, ''Two Girls of Old New Jersey: A School-Girl Story of '76'', was published in 1912. It follows the events of 1782, and Asgill's impending execution. This fictionalised account introduces Asgill as a romantic hero who becomes engaged to be married to a Loyalist schoolteacher, Madeline Burnham, in Trenton, New Jersey

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