 As a ranking prisoner @-@ of @-@ war , Colonel Stacy was the subject of high @-@ level correspondence and actions of General George Washington and other leaders of the Continental Army . During April 1780 , General Lafayette , who fought with the Americans during the Revolution , hand @-@ carried a letter from General William Heath to General Washington , describing a reported Loyalist and British strategy concerning Stacy . The strategy was to continue holding Colonel Stacy as a prisoner @-@ of @-@ war , and to use Stacy in a prisoner exchange , should Colonel Butler or another ranking Loyalist officer , Sir John Johnson , be captured by the Continental Army . During September 1780 , General Washington attempted to arrange a prisoner exchange for Colonel Stacy , but was unsuccessful . On November 1 , 1781 , the General Assembly of Massachusetts passed a Resolve urging Governor John Hancock to encourage General Heath to pursue a prisoner exchange for Stacy . 
