In keeping with our America 250 theme this year, we'll move into the Revolutionary War, and if you are of a certain age, you likely learned about the Hessians in a high school social studies or history class. These were the "bad guys" in the American Revolution, German mercenaries, as we were taught, only interested in money and out for blood and sport. Now that we are grown, and many of us have an avid interest in history and may, in fact, be descended from those soldiers, it's time to rethink what we thought we knew about the Hessians. You may be surprised at how much we got wrong!
First, some background. When war with the American colonists began in 1776, Great Britain was hard-pressed to raise a sizable, well-disciplined, properly armed army. Because Britain had been at war repeatedly for decades, they lacked enough men to sustain a large army overseas. Hence, the call went out to other countries for soldiers. Hiring soldiers was commonplace in Europe. At the time, Germany was not yet unified, and ongoing conflicts between the German states resulted in well-trained and experienced soldiers. Hiring those men out to other countries was a profitable way for German princes to raise revenue. German troops fought for Spain, Italy, France, and Great Britain during the early 1700s. In fact, during the War for Austrian Succession in the 1740s, "German troops fought on both sides, some hired by Great Britain and others by France." ("Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolution," American Battlefield Trust, revised 19 December 2023, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/hessians"
Who Were the Hessians, and What Happened to Them?
These men were called Hessians because almost half of the 30,000+ soldiers that Great Britain hired were from the Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Hanau areas of today's Germany. They were indeed mercenaries, as the definition of a mercenary at that time was "a private individual hired for armed conflict" without the connotation it has today. Many people came to believe these soldiers grew rich from serving because they received money, but the truth is they had no choice; they were in the army of their royal masters, and if the prince decided to rent out his army, they had to go. Yes, they did get paid, but it was their regular salary with no bonuses for being shipped to another country or shot at.
The Hessians served in many battles and fought admirably despite being hated because of how they got there. In the end, about half of them never returned home. A little more than 1,000 were casualties, but almost 6,500 died of disease. Some of the men deserted, and many chose to stay, as they recognized opportunity and the lure of freedom in the new country. Most of them remained in the eastern U.S., particularly in German-speaking areas of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. About 2,500 moved north into Canada, settling in the eastern provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
Are There Existing Records of These Soldiers?
Yes, and you can find links to many of them in the FamilySearch wiki. (See below.) There are databases of soldiers who served as well as those who went to Canada, and there are compiled genealogies and biographies.
Historian Fredericke Baer, author of Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, presented a fascinating lecture at The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati in Washington, D.C., "the nation's oldest patriotic organization," after her book was published in 2022, which you can watch here.
And Learn More . . .
Wiki article: "Hessian Soldiers," FamilySearch.org
A class on video: "Hessian Soldiers: Their History and How to Find Them in America and Germany," by Gina Palmer, 9 lessons, FamilySearch.org
https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/lessons/hessian-soldiers-introduction
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