Paris in the 18th century the Marquis de Lafayette organized a "Garde nationale" to defend the city against the army. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides, acquiring thousands of guns, and stormed the Bastille, a symbol of royal authority, a prison which at the time held only seven prisoners, and was defended by eighty invalid soldiers, reinforced by thirty-six Swiss guards. About forty Revolutionaries were killed in the fighting. The governor of the Bastille, the Marquis de Launay, surrendered and then was killed, and his head put on the end of a pike and carried around Paris. The Provost of
Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War of war were, the less of an economic burden they were on the town. Towns that were unable to erect barracks for the prisoners were forced to house them in community churches and even citizens' homes. The Continental Congress forcing Americans to quarter prisoners was a major source of contention among the people. Even when British and Hessian prisoners of war were not being held in individual houses, they were still in public view, and this caused general fear, resentment, and anger among the townspeople. Prisoners were generally not confined to their quarters, and were able to remain in public