The Hessians ( /ˈhɛʃən/)[1] were 18th-century German soldiers hired through their rulers by the British Empire. Despite their name, they were not all from Hesse. They were not mercenaries, although their German rulers profited from their use. Though used in several conflicts including in Ireland, they are most widely associated with combat operations in the American Revolutionary War. They provided extensive manpower to support the American loyalist cause, but the fact that they were not British provided the pro-independence side with opportunities for propaganda and may have aided pro-independence recruitment.
Contents |
John Childs wrote:
Between 1706 and 1707, 10,000 Hessians served as a corps in Eugene of Savoy's army in Italy before moving to the Spanish Netherlands in 1708. In 1714, 6000 Hessians were rented to Sweden for its war with Russia whilst 12,000 Hessians were hired by George I of England in 1715 to combat the Jacobite Rebellion. ... In the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744, 6,000 Hessians were fighting with the British army in Flanders whilst another 6,000 were in the Bavarian army. By 1762, 24,000 Hessians were serving with Ferdinand of Brunswick's army in Germany.[2]
During the American Revolutionary War, Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel (a principality in northern Hesse or Hessia) and other German leaders hired out some of their regular army units to Great Britain to fight against the Patriots in the American revolution. About 30,000 of these men served in America. They were called Hessians, because the largest group (12,992 of the total 30,067 men) came from Hesse-Kassel. They came in entire units with their usual uniforms, flags, weapons and officers.
Units were sent by Count William of Hesse-Hanau; Duke Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; Prince Frederick of Waldeck; Margrave Karl Alexander of Ansbach-Bayreuth; and Prince Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst.
The Hessians did not act individually. The decisions to hire them out was made by their princes. Many of these men were gang-pressed into Hessian service. Deserters were summarily executed or beaten by an entire company.[3]
Hessians comprised approximately one-quarter of the forces fielded by the British in the American Revolution. They included jäger, hussars, three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers. Most of the infantry were chasseurs (sharpshooters), musketeers, and fusiliers. They were armed with smoothbore muskets, while the Hessian artillery used three-pounder cannon. Initially the average regiment was made up of 500 to 600 men. Later in the war, the regiments had only 300 to 400 men.
About 18,000 Hessian troops first arrived in America in 1776, with more coming in later. They first landed at Staten Island on August 15, 1776. Their first engagement was in the Battle of Long Island. The Hessians fought in almost every battle, although after 1777, the British used them mainly as garrison troops. An assortment of Hessians fought in the battles and campaigns in the southern states during 1778–80 (including Guilford Courthouse), and two regiments fought at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781.
The British use of Hessian troops rankled American sentiment, and pushed more loyalists to be in favor of the revolution. The British use of non-English speaking foreign troops to put down the rebellion was seen as insulting, as it treated British subjects no differently than non-British subjects. Pro-British Tories believed that the British nature of Americans should have subjected them to something other than mercenary foes.
One of the most famous incidents involving the Hessian soldiers was the Battle of Trenton, where the force of 1,400 was surprised and virtually destroyed, with about 20 killed, 100 wounded, and 1,000 captured as prisoners. General George Washington's Continental Army crossed the Delaware River to carry out a highly successful surprise attack on the early morning of December 26, 1776.[4] Family records of Johann Nicholas Bahner(t), one of the Hessians captured in the Battle of Trenton, indicate that some of the Hessian soldiers enrolled in the service of King George III of England under the false pretense that they were needed to defend the American Colonies against Indian incursions. It was not until after they arrived on American shores that they discovered they were enlisted to fight against the colonists, rather than the Indians.[5] It is rumored that these Hessians fought only under force of arms, later deserting their regiments or voluntarily allowing themselves to be taken prisoner. The Hessians captured in the Battle of Trenton were paraded through the streets of Philadelphia raising American morale, and greatly increasing the Continental Army's ranks.[6] They were then marched through the snow to Lanchester where many of the men were allowed to work among the farmers, merchants, and other trades people.[7] By early 1778, negotiations for the exchange of prisoners between Washington and the British had begun in earnest. On a one-for-one exchange if a Hessian soldier deserted, there would be one less American who would return home.[8] Nicholas Bahner(t), Jacob Strobe, George Geisler, and Conrad Kramm are a few of the Hessian soldiers who deserted the British forces after being returned in exchange for American prisoners of war.[9] These men were in a vulnerable place being both hunted by the British for being deserters, and hunted by many of the colonists as an enemy.
In addition to firepower, American rebels such as Andrew Norman Martin used propaganda against Hessians. They enticed Hessians to desert and join the large German-American population. In addition to offering land bounties to colonial recruits, the US Congress authorized the offer of 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land to individual Hessian soldiers to encourage them to desert. They offered 50 to 800 acres to British soldiers, depending on rank.[10]
In August 1777 a satirical letter, "The Sale of the Hessians", was written and widely distributed. It claimed that a Hessian commander wanted more of his soldiers dead so that he could be better compensated. For many years the author of the letter was unknown. In 1874 John Bigelow translated it to English (from French) and claimed that Benjamin Franklin wrote it, including it in his biography, The Life of Benjamin Franklin, published that year. There appears to be no evidence to support this claim.[11]
When British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American General Horatio Gates during the Saratoga campaign, his surrender involved around 5,800 troops. The surrender was negotiated in the Convention of Saratoga, and Burgoyne's remnant army became known as the Convention Army. Soldiers from Brunswick-Lüneburg under General Riedesel comprised a high percentage of the Convention Army. The Americans marched the prisoners to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they were imprisoned in the Albemarle Barracks until 1781. From there they were sent to Reading, Pennsylvania until 1783.
After the war ended in 1783, some 17,313 Hessian soldiers returned to their German homelands. Of the 12,526 who did not return, about 7,700 had died. Some 1,200 were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accidents, mostly the former. Approximately 5,000 Hessians settled in North America, both in the United States and Canada. In some cases, their commanders refused to take them back to Germany because they were criminals or physically unfit. Most of the former Hessian soldiers married and settled amongst the population of the newly formed United States. Many became farmers or craftsmen and were able to take advantage of opportunities in the new country. The number of their direct descendants living in the U.S. and Canada today is a subject of debate. One persistent story is that George Custer may have been the grandson of a Hessian ancestor.
After the Battle of Mainz in 1795, the British rushed Hessian mercenaries to Ireland in 1798 to assist in the suppression of rebellion inspired by the Society of United Irishmen, an organization that first worked for Parliamentary reform. Influenced by the American and French revolutions, its members began by 1798 to seek independence for Ireland. Baron Hompesch's 2nd Battalion of riflemen embarked on 11 April 1798 from the Isle of Wight bound for the port of Cork. They were later joined by the Jäger (Hunter) 5th Battalion 60th regiment. They were in the action of the battles of Vinegar Hill and Foulksmills. In 1798 the Hessians were notorious in Ireland for their atrocities and brutality toward the population of Wexford.
Ansbach-Bayreuth