The Asgill Affair or Huddy-Asgill Affair was a diplomatic incident during the American Revolution named after a British army officer, Captain Charles Asgill (and Captain Joshua "Jack" Huddy).
In retaliation for the execution of a Patriot officer, George Washington ordered the death of a British officer chosen by lot from prisoners; this selected Asgill. This was in direct contravention of the Articles of Capitulation signed when British forces surrendered at Yorktown which protected Asgill.
As allies to the Americans and signatories to the surrender document, the French monarchy became involved and let it be known that such measures would reflect badly on both the French and American nations, conveying the message through the French Foreign Minister, the comte de Vergennes, who wrote to Washington on 29 July 1782. After six months the Continental Congress agreed that Asgill should be released to return to England on parole.
Background
After the capitulation of the British forces at Yorktown in 1781, skirmishes and retaliatory acts between the Patriots and Loyalists continued. Loyalist Philip White was killed by Patriot militiamen in March 1782. According to The Economist, "Accounts of his death differ: his brother Aaron, captured with him, signed an affidavit attesting that he was killed while trying to escape. Aaron later recanted, claiming that his captors had threatened to kill him unless he signed; the truth, he now maintained, was that the American militiamen had executed Philip White in cold blood". Peter Henriques writes that "According to Loyalist accounts, his arms had been cut off and his legs broken and his corpse mutilated almost beyond recognition and shoveled into a makeshift grave".
In reprisal, Loyalists in Monmouth, New Jersey executed Captain Jack Huddy (who was not present when White was killed) on 12 April. Patriots in Monmouth sent General George Washington a petition demanding justice, indicating they would act if Washington did not. Huddy's execution was sanctioned by William Franklin, who signed the death warrant but was carried out by Richard Lippincott, who was eventually court martialled by the British for this crime, but was exonerated on account of him only having obeyed orders.
On 3 May 1782, Washington ordered General Moses Hazen, head of a prisoner-of-war camp in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to select a British officer equal in rank to Huddy and not protected by any agreement with Great Britain to be hanged. Upon learning that there were no prisoners fitting this description, Washington, on 18 May, ordered Hazen to select from among protected officers. Carrying out this order put the U.S. in violation of the terms of the Yorktown surrender, which protected prisoners of war from acts of retaliation.
Asgill's captivity
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. In reporting the result to Carleton, Gordon also noted that "The delicate manner, in which General Hazen communicated his orders to the British officers, shows him to be a man of real feeling, and the mild treatment the prisoners have met with since we came to this place deserves the warmest acknowledgements of every British officer".
According to William M. Fowler, as soon as Washington had given the order to take a hostage, he realised that what he had done was morally suspect and likely illegal. While Congress endorsed Washington's actions, others disagreed and Alexander Hamilton considered them "repugnant, wanton and unnecessary". Historian Peter Henriques described it as a serious error of judgement - "Indeed the general's major error in judgment triggered the ensuing crisis."