The Involuntary American

A Common Man's Survival After Being Captured at the Battle of Dunbar and Sold into Servitude in America In the winter of 1650–51, one hundred fifty ragged and hungry Scottish prisoners of war arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony, where they were sold as indentured laborers for 20 to 30 pounds each. Among them was Thomas Doughty, a common foot soldier who had survived the Battle of Dunbar, a forced marched of 100 miles without food or water, imprisonment in Durham Cathedral, and a difficult Atlantic crossing. An ordinary individual who experienced extraordinary events, Doughty was among some 420 Scottish soldiers who were captured during the War of the Three Kingdoms, transported to America, and sold between 1650 and 1651. Their experiences offer a fresh perspective on seventeenth-­century life. The Involuntary American: A Scottish Prisoner's Journey to the New World by Carol Gardner describes Doughty's life as a soldier, prisoner of war, exile,...