The Stephentown Historical Society Presents The History Of The Pittsfield Military Cantonment

Historian James Parrish will present an illustrated talk, “The History of the Pittsfield Military Cantonment,” at the Stephentown Historical Society meeting on Monday, November 5, at 7:30 pm.   The Cantonment was a prison which held British and Canadian soldiers captured during the War of 1812. The meeting will be at the Stephentown Heritage Center on Garfield Road, Stephentown. It is free and open to the public. The building is handicapped accessible. For directions or information, phone 518-733-0010.
Little is made of this 200th anniversary year of the War of 1812 and few know that Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was the site of the largest prisoner of war camp in the United States from 1812 to 1813.  The Pittsfield Military Cantonment held nearly 2,500 captured enlisted men and 40 officers. The 14th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry staffed the cantonment, under the command of Captain Thomas Melville, Jr., uncle of the author Herman Melville. The cantonment covered 13 acres in the Morningside-Maplewood section and got its water supply by means of an easement to Silver Lake.
James Parrish, of Great Barrington, is a former regional historic preservation planner and currently a Ranger for the U.S. National Park Service at the Springfield Armory.  While working on a survey for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, he found maps and other material related to the Cantonment. He found that the facility was not a locked prison and that the captives were allowed to come and go freely on their own recognizance.  A group of twenty-five other prisoners held in Cheshire “did errands for locals, worked in a local store and cooper shop.”