Lancaster, an important agricultural center, a producer and supplier of wartime provisions and materiel, and a gateway to the western frontier, saw no battles during the American revolutionary war. Except for the Continental Congress alighting in town for a day, the momentous events of the war for independence took place elsewhere and Lancaster became not a battle ground but a prison yard, housing thousands of prisoners of war. This talk explains how that experience changed Lancastrians, moving them away from loyalty to Britain and towards a shared identity as Americans.