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Hessian Camp also known as Mt. Penn Hessian Camp was a large prisoner of war camp located in the city of Reading, on Mt Penn during the American Revolutionary War. The camp was active from 1776 to 1783 and held up to 1100 prisoners at its most active point in 1781.
It was located originally on the banks of the Schuylkill River, where the prisoners of war were housed in Hut along the riverbank. These huts were not properly built, and this caused many problems that would later affect the camp's operation.
During the winter of 1776–77, Influenza spread widely among the prisoners and a large number died. These dead were buried at a burial site located at Potter's Field, in Mass grave where many men were buried after the waves of sickness swept through the camp.
Following the Battle of Saratoga, it was announced that a new shipment of prisoners was to be brought to the Reading camp. This angered the people of the city, and they demanded that a safer and more secured camp be built further away from the city.
The camp was soon relocated to the southern slopes of the nearby Mt. Penn, where a new, larger Prison would be constructed with proper barracks and better placement, to ensure safety to the people of Reading, but also to provide more proper shelter for the prison population, which had originally numbered around 1000 (comparable to the population of the city of Reading at the time) prior to the winter flu outbreak in 1776–77.
This new campsite, a 12-acre patch of land with a freshwater spring and bountiful lumber, was soon established and huts were constructed to house the remaining prisoners from the Schuylkill camps.
In 1780, the population of the camp was only about 100 people, both prisoners and personnel, following the devastation from a flu outbreak that ravaged the camp in 1777. This swiftly changed when in 1781, a large group of captured Hessians and British, numbering 1050 individuals, were brought to Hessian Camp. The prisoners arrived in Reading, guarded by the York County Militia and a few other local Militia to ensure a safe escort to the camp.
On Christmas in 1781, a group of prisoners fled the camp after being harassed by a small group of Lenape. A Court-martial was filed, but no one was punished.
In August 1783, the camp was officially de-established, and the prisoners currently held there were taken to prisons in Lancaster, escorted by local militias.
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