The HessiansThe Hessians are infamous in American history for their role as part of the British forces sent to crush the colonists' rebellion in 1776. Yet these German auxiliaries, or mercenaries were only one instance of a frequent military practice, approved by international jurists of the time and used by the British in all their eighteenth-century wars. This study (dealing with one of the six contingents known inaccurately as the Hessians) is the first to make extensive use of manuscript sources in Germany, Britain and America to put the Hessians in their historical context and to examine a number of the myths about them. The encounter of the Americans with the Hessian troops from a disciplined paternalistic society organized for war, with special thoroughness, was not merely the meeting of two military systems, but also of two ways of life, and is thus worthy of study in an age of conflict. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Hessians go to America | 22 |
The victories of 1776 | 58 |
The Battle of Trenton | 84 |
The campaigns of 177781 | 117 |
AngloHessian relations | 144 |
The Hessian view of the American Revolution | 158 |
Hessian plundering | 171 |
Hessian desertion | 184 |
Other editions - View all
The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution Rodney Atwood No preview available - 1980 |
Common terms and phrases
American Revolution April army attack August auxiliaries Bardeleben Battles of Trenton Baurmeister Bose's Braunschweig Bremerlehe brigade British campaign Captain Charleston Clinton command Cornwallis desertion Dinklage Donop enemy English Erbprinz Ewald expedition fasc Faucitt to Suffolk fire Fort Washington French Friedrich Friedrich II Garrison Regiment George German Geschichte grenadier battalions grenadiers Hannoverian hass Heister Heringen Hessen Hessen-Kassel Hessian Hessian corps Hessian officers Hessian soldiers Hessian troops hessischen Hinrichs Howe's Ibid infantry Jäger Jersey Johann Journal June Jungkenn Kapp Karl Kassel Knyphausen Krafft Krieg land Landgraf LB Kassel Leib-Regiment letter London Long Island Lossberg Loyalists LtCol Major Malsburg Marburg March mercenaries military Mirbach Münchhausen O'Reilly October Offiziers Philadelphia plundering princes prisoners Prussian Quartermaster Rall Rall's ranks rebels recruits Redbank reported Reuber Rinteln Schlieffen Seven Years War Soldatenhandel StaMarburg 4h.410 Staten Island Suffolk Tagebuch talers Washington Wiederholdt Wilhelm wounded wrote Wurmb York
Popular passages
Page 268 - Andre's Journal : an Authentic Record of the Movements and Engagements of the British Army in America from June, 1777 to November, 1778, as recorded from day to day, by Major John Andre.