German participation in the American War of Independence

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The German participation in the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783 extended over the entire duration of the conflict and was guided by various interests. The greater proportion of people of German origin took part in the fighting on the part of the British Army as regular soldiers hired out . These were generally called "Hessen" by the Americans, as the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel sent most of the soldiers . The smaller part fought on the side of the American, continental army for independence from the British crown . The German-born soldiers and militiamen in George Washington's army were mostly colonists and American patriots. A few came overseas directly from their German states to support the American rebellion against the British Crown. The most famous was the Prussian Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben , who successfully reorganized the continental army as inspector general .

British allies

Overall delivered Soldiers overall back not going back
Hessen-Kassel 16,992 10,492 06,500
Braunschweig-Lüneburg : 05,723 02,708 03,015
Hessen-Hanau 02,422 01,441 00981
Ansbach-Bayreuth 02,353 01,183 01,170
Waldeck 01,225 00505 00720
Anhalt-Zerbst 01,152 00984 00168
Total: 29,867 17,313 12,554

During the American War of Independence, today's Germany was divided into many small states, which came together in the supranational structure of the Holy Roman Empire . Some small states traditionally supported the British side, also because the British royal family had family ties to the ruling houses of several German states and interests complemented each other. When a rebellion against the British Crown broke out in the American colonies in 1775, contracts for the temporary rental of soldiers were concluded with several German states. Contrary to public opinion at the time, the income from these subsidy contracts was used not only for the maintenance of the court, but also to improve the infrastructure of the small states.

Numerous sources report that the soldiers sent by the German states were better motivated than their British allies. In general, the soldiers sent were proud to be allowed to field in America for their sovereign. From today's perspective, the motifs of the time seem strange and strange, as the text of a contemporary soldier's song from Hessen-Kassel proves:

Juchheissa to America, good night to you Germany!
Your Hessians, present the rifle, The Landgrave comes on watch.
Farewell, Mr. Landgrave Friederich, you pay us schnapps and beer!
If you shoot your arms and legs off, England will pay you.
You lousy rebels, watch out for us Hessians!
Juchheissa to America, good night to you Germany.

As the war progressed , the practice of forced recruitment and rental was increasingly condemned and this attitude was used by the opposing party for its war propaganda .

Hessen-Kassel

Friedrich II., Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

The Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel , under the regent Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel (also: Hessen-Cassel), an uncle of the British King George III, initially sent over 12,000 soldiers to the war in North America. Hesse-Kassel entered into a so-called " subsidy contract " with the British Crown and undertook a fee for posting of fifteen regiments , four Grenadier - battalions , two hunters - and three artillery - companies . Hessen-Kassel thus provided by far the largest contingent of German soldiers for the British crown. This affected practically all infantry regiments, only the guard regiments remained in Hesse. The hunters in particular were carefully recruited, well paid and equipped, and were relieved of manual labor services. If they were successfully recruited, hunters received a special bonus of a Louis d'or , which was increased to up to four when the Hessian hunter companies had an increased need for well-trained riflemen and foresters in order to survive against the American "riflemen".

German princely settlement bill for German participation in the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783
Prince compensation bill

Like their British allies, the Hessians had problems adapting to the external conditions of the theater of war. The first contingent of their soldiers suffered in large numbers from a wide variety of diseases, which delayed the attack on Long Island . From 1776 Hessian soldiers were integrated into the British army in North America and fought in many battles and skirmishes, such as B. in the first campaign for New York and New Jersey, the battle for Germantown , the siege of Charleston and as a defender in the final siege of Yorktown where approx. 1,300 German soldiers were taken prisoner.

It is estimated that Hessen-Kassel sent a total of over 16,000 soldiers to the American War of Independence and lost 6,500 in the process. The Hessian hunter officer and later General Adam Ludwig von Ochs counted 1,800 Hessian dead. The remainder died of disease or deserted and stayed in America after the war ended.

In order to make up for the losses during the war, more soldiers had to be constantly recruited and sent to North America in order to keep the contractually agreed headcount. The losses on the American continent could not be compensated immediately because one had to wait months for a replacement from Europe. Hessen-Kassel therefore also recruited black slaves locally as servants and soldiers. A total of 115 black soldiers served in Hessian units, most of them as tambour or pipers to transmit orders on the battlefield.

General Wilhelm von Knyphausen

The most famous officer from Hessen-Kassel was General Wilhelm von Knyphausen , who commanded his Hessian troops in most of the battles of the War of Independence. Other notable officers were Karl Emil von Donop and Colonel Johann Rall , who was fatally wounded in the Battle of Trenton . After this battle, the Rall regiment was largely captured and sent to Pennsylvania to work on farms until the end of the war. The hunter officers Johann Ewald and von Wreden were awarded the order “ Pour la vertu militaire ” for their achievements at the Battle of Brandywine . Ewald kept a diary in which he described his experiences, analyzed tactics and thus provided an exact picture of the course of the war from the Hessian point of view. The writer Johann Gottfried Seume describes his experiences as a Hessian soldier in Canada in the autobiography Mein Leben , published in 1813 .

Deployed troops

Hessen-Hanau

Hessen-Hanau was an independent principality in Hessen, ruled by the Protestant Wilhelm IX, Count von Hanau , the eldest son of the Catholic regent Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel. When Wilhelm IX. learned of the outcome of the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, he served his cousin, the British King George, a regiment for the war in North America. During the war, Hanau sent 2,422 soldiers and volunteer corps members to America, and at the end of the war, 981 were killed. Colonel Wilhelm Rudolph von Gall (1734–1799) was a well-known officer from Hessen-Hanau, he commanded a Hanauer regiment under the supreme command of General John Burgoyne . The units sent to North America included an infantry battalion, a hunter battalion, an artillery company and a non-regular unit, the Janecke Freikorps Battalion.

Deployed troops

  • Regiment Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Hanau
  • Jäger Corps from Creuzbourg
  • Artillery Company Package
  • Janecke Free Corps Battalion

Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

Duke Karl II. Wilhelm Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , copy after Ziesenis , around 1780, Gleimhaus Halberstadt

Until 1804, Braunschweig-Lüneburg was a duchy divided into several principal principalities, and until 1773 it was ruled by Duke Karl I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. His son and heir to the throne Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand was with the eldest sister of the British King George III. , Princess Augusta of Hanover , married.

In 1775, Charles II offered his brother-in-law King George III. military aid to put down the rebellion in the American colonies.

On January 9, 1776, a corresponding contract was signed. Braunschweig was thus the first small German state to support Great Britain in the American War of Independence. Braunschweig sent a contingent of 4,000 soldiers: four infantry regiments, a grenadier battalion, a dragoons regiment and a light infantry battalion. The contract with the Braunschweig residents provided that the troops would receive their wages in German thalers , including two months of extra payment. For this all Braunschweig troops had to take an oath on the British king.

The Braunschweig soldiers included a cavalry regiment of 350 dragoons . However, this left their horses in Europe back because it was felt that there was in America remounts in sufficient numbers. Because of this misjudgment of the local conditions, the dragoons had to take part in the war on foot. The Brunswick troops were commanded by General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel . His soldiers made up the bulk of the German troops under the command of General John Burgoyne during the Saratoga Campaign in 1777, and were commonly referred to in America as the "Brunswickers". Combined units from Braunschweig and Hessen-Hanau made up almost half of the soldiers in Burgoyne's army, and the "Brunswickers" were known for their good training. General Riedesel's wife, Friederike , followed her husband with their children to America and wrote down their experiences there. Together with the couple's correspondence, the diaries represent an important contemporary source of information for the Saratoga campaign . After Burgoyne's surrender, 2,431 surviving Braunschweig residents were interned with the Convention Army until the end of the war and were no longer allowed to take part in the war "on word of honor" .

Braunschweig sent a total of 5,723 soldiers to North America in the course of the conflict, of which 3,015 did not return to Europe in autumn 1783. Some died on the battlefield or fell victim to disease. Others deserted, especially when they marched twice with the Convention Army through Pennsylvania, which was inhabited by many settlers of German origin. When the war ended, these deserters got permission from both their officers and the American Congress to settle there.

Due to the contractual regulation that the Duke of Braunschweig should receive a compensation payment from the British for every soldier who died in America, the latter had an interest in expelling deserters as fallen. On top of that, the Duke of Braunschweig offered every soldier remaining in America or returning there a bonus of 6 monthly pay payments.

Deployed troops

Ansbach-Bayreuth

The principalities of Ansbach-Bayreuth , with their regent Margrave Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander , sent two infantry battalions, a company of hunters and an artillery battery to North America, a total of 1,644 men. On the way from Franconia to embarkation for Dordrecht it happened on 10/11. March 1777 in the Prince Diocese of Würzburg near Ochsenfurt to a mutiny; After a two-hour exchange of fire between the Jäger company and the Ansbach grenadier company and material promises, the mutineers were forced to continue their journey on the Main. On June 4th, the Franks entered American soil near Staten Island . Since reinforcements were requested during the war and the loss of 461 men had to be compensated, at the end of the conflict there were a total of 2,353 soldiers from the Principality of Ansbach-Bayreuth. These troops were integrated into General Howe's British army in New York and took part in the northern campaign. Ansbach-Bayreuth soldiers were also involved in the Battle of Yorktown with about 116 men under the command of General Cornwallis .

Open mutiny occurred within the Ansbach-Bayreuth regiments during their departure from Ochsenfurt . The soldiers were loaded onto barges to be driven down the Main towards the Rhine . However, the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg , Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim , refused to continue the journey by not letting the Main bridges open on his territory. On the morning of March 8, 1777, despite the concerns expressed by officers, some men swam to the river bank and landed the transport ships that were already on the Main. After the first soldiers took the opportunity to desert, hunters were set up as guards and initially fired warning shots. The mutineers returned the fire. The Margrave of Ansbach was informed immediately about the outbreak of the unrest and reacted immediately. He rode to the scene of the event in Ochsenfurt that night, ended the uprising, had the bridges opened without the prince-bishop's permission and accompanied the transport of his soldiers to Mainz .

The Margrave of Ansbach-Bayreuth was heavily in debt at the beginning of the American War of Independence. He was able to raise more than £ 100,000 by leasing his soldiers to the British Empire. In 1791, only 6 years after the end of the war, he sold his land to Prussia and lived in Great Britain on Prussian pension payments for the rest of his life.

Deployed troops

Waldeck-Pyrmont

The Principality of Waldeck signed a military support agreement with the British Crown in London on April 25, 1775, one week before the first battles of the War of Independence in Lexington and Concord . Prince Friedrich Karl August von Waldeck-Pyrmont made three regiments available for the fight in America against payment. The first regiment, consisting of 684 soldiers and officers, sailed from Portsmouth to America in July 1776 and took part in the fighting of the northern campaign. During the campaign, the Waldecker Regiment captured wines and spirits from the personal property of the American General Charles Lee . He complained to the British Supreme Commander General Howe, who then ordered the destruction of the booty.

The Waldeck troops were integrated into the Hesse-Kassel association under the command of General Wilhelm von Knyphausen . Waldeck sent a total of 1,225 soldiers to the American theater of war and at the end of the war had to mourn the loss of 720 men.

Deployed troop unit

Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg

Since the British King George III. was also Elector of Braunschweig-Lüneburg ("Kur-Hannover") at the same time , five battalions of Hanoverian troops were sent to Gibraltar . The troops of the German middle state replaced the British troops stationed there, which were then assigned to America. This was not ordered directly by King George, but was part of a contractual agreement between the British Parliament and the German Electorate. It was agreed that Great Britain would bear all the costs of the war - and also protect the German allies.

Anhalt-Zerbst

The regent of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst , Prince Friedrich August , signed a subsidy contract with Great Britain in 1777 and committed to sending 1,160 soldiers in return for payment. A regiment of two battalions was set up within five months, with 900 new recruits to be recruited. A battalion of 600 to 700 men was posted to Québec in May 1778 to protect the city. The other battalion consisted of about 500 so-called Pandours , who were recruited from the Slavic parts of Austria-Hungary . These were stationed in the British-occupied city of New York from 1780 . It is still controversial today whether the light infantry of the Pandours should be classified as “regular” or “irregular” troops.

Deployed troops

American reactions

The American colonists viewed the use of hired German troops in North America as treason by the British king. Some members of Congress threatened to declare independence if King George used German soldiers for the conflict. The hiring of German troops provided the American side with sufficient arguments for the war propaganda. The regular German soldiers were disparagingly referred to as " mercenaries " and were also mentioned as such in the American Declaration of Independence:

" He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. "

The American side also often used propaganda to undermine the morale of the German subsidiary soldiers. They tried to persuade the soldiers to desert and join the numerous German-American population. So was z. B. Promised every deserter 50 acres (20 hectares) of land. The satirical text "The Sale of the Hessians" , written in August 1777 , claimed that the Hessian commanders had an interest in having more fallen soldiers in their own ranks, as they would then be better paid. Benjamin Franklin is believed to be the author, but there is still no definitive proof of this.

The reputation of the German subsidiary soldiers also suffered among the American civilian population as a result of the usual practice of confiscation, compulsory billeting and looting among European soldiers. Often the European soldiers were paid their wages only minus the food allowance. However, since food could not always be guaranteed, the soldiers had to take care of themselves for long periods of time. In addition, European money was mostly not accepted by the American colonists. Some soldiers were also accompanied by their wives and children, who went with them from battlefield to battlefield, or stayed behind in the garrison town and had to be cared for there.

German colonists participated in the war and German military supported the Continental Army

Immigrants from German states began to immigrate to North America shortly after the establishment of Jamestown by British colonists . German settlers set up the first paper mill on the continent in 1690 and the Bible was first printed in German in America and only later in English. In the mid-18th century, around 10% of American settlers spoke German. During the French and Indian War, Great Britain in North America only recruited settlers of German origin for the Royal American Regiment . The regiment was later commanded by the British General Howe. A remarkably large number of German-born residents were in the city of New York during the war.

Frederick Muhlenberg , First Speaker of the House of Representatives , was the son of a German-born settler

Like other ethnic groups in the British colony, the German-speaking colonists were split into two camps. One side supported the American side as patriots, the other side sympathized with the British crown as loyalists. German loyalists fought in the local militia units of the 13 colonies during the war of independence . In the course of the War of Independence, some returned to their German countries of origin as exiles .

Colonists of German origin in the Continental Army

On the American side, German regiments were set up in the 13 British colonies in North America or the ranks of the local militias were filled with German-Americans. For example, For example, German settlers in Charleston (South Carolina) started a fusilier company in 1775 or served under General Anthony Wayne in Georgia .

Best known was the extensive use of German-born colonists on the American side in Pennsylvania. The reasons for this lay on the one hand in the favorable immigration conditions for immigrants in this colony, on the other hand the immigrant Germans stood in contrast to the large and pacifist portion of the population of Quakers , who rejected any war effort. For example, the brothers Peter and Frederick Muhlenberg were first-generation Pennsylvanians. German-Americans from Pennsylvania were used in the American Provost Corps for military police tasks. The corps was commanded by Captain Bartholomew von Heer, a Prussian officer who had immigrated to Reading (Berks County, Pennsylvania) before the war began .

On June 27, 1776, the Second Continental Congress decided to set up a German regiment and integrate it into the Continental Army . The regiment initially consisted of eight companies, four from Maryland , and four more from Pennsylvania. A fifth company from Pennsylvania was later added. Nicholas Haussegger , a major under General Anthony Wayne, was promoted to colonel and regimental commander. The regiment fought u. a. in the battles of Trenton and Princeton and in the campaigns against the Indians who fought on the British side. The regiment was disbanded on January 1, 1781.

"German" Foreign Regiment Royal Deux-Ponts and German military as supporters of the Continental Army

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Inspector General of the Continental Army and Prussian officer

In order to support the American side, Germans from other European countries came to North America. B. the French officer Johann de Kalb , a native Bavarian who served in the Continental Army in the rank of general.

Above all, German officers and soldiers served in the French regiment " Royal Deux-Ponts " (also known as Zweibrücken ), officially called "German" , which fought very successfully in North America and ultimately contributed decisively to the surrender of the British in Yorktown .

Other Germans came to make their military and political skills available. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Woedtke , for example, was a Prussian officer who was placed in charge of a congress commission early in the war. Baron von Woedtke died in New York in 1776. The German Baltic Gustave Rosenthal from Estonia became an officer in the Continental Army, but had to leave the country after a duel and returned to his homeland after the end of the war. Other Germans, such as David Ziegler , stayed in the newly founded United States of America and became citizens of the state they fought for.

The most famous German in the American War of Independence was the Prussian Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben , who came to America on his own via France. He brought his military skills, which he had acquired as a Prussian officer, into the Continental Army. As Inspector General, he wrote the first drill manual for the American Army and ensured that the continental troops received up-to-date military training. The traditional German-American parade in New York was named Steubenparade in his honor .

Von Steuben's homeland, Prussia, joined the coalition of armed neutrality and Frederick the Great supported the American side, especially in the early years of the war. He was interested in maintaining direct trade relations with the American colonies, bypassing the British. He allowed American agents to buy weapons in Prussia. Frederick anticipated American success and promised to recognize the United States and its diplomats as soon as France did too. Prussia did its best to hinder British recruitment attempts in Russia and the German states. Friedrich forbade any recruitment for the American theater of war in his domain. The subsidiary troops from Anhalt-Zerbst were forbidden to march through Prussian territory. This delayed the arrival of reinforcements for the British Army under General Howe who had been called in to combat Washington's army at Valley Forge's winter camp .

When the War of the Bavarian Succession broke out, Prussia's attitude towards the British crown changed. American ships were banned from calling at Prussian ports and Friedrich refused to recognize the United States of America until the Peace of Paris in 1783. After the war, Frederick the Great took the view that the United States was too big to function as a republic and recommended a return to the British Empire with its own representatives in Parliament.

After the war

After the war ended in 1783, 17,313 German soldiers returned to Europe in British troop transports and then back to their home countries. Of the 12,526 men who did not return, approximately 7,700 had died. About 1,200 were killed in combat. Most of 6,354 men died of illness and some in accidents. About 5,000 men remained in North America and settled in the newly formed United States or Canada . Some also had to stay behind because their commanders refused to return because of illness or criminal acts. Most, however, integrated into the population, married and lived as farmers or artisans.

After the war, the downsizing of their armies for cost reasons was the top priority for the small German states. Soldiers from outside the country were usually compensated with multiple wages, while large numbers of local soldiers were honorably discharged. Whole companies were dissolved because they were no longer needed. However, the military experience gained in the battles and skirmishes in North America was preserved and was still used in the Napoleonic Wars .

The "Hessen" in US pop culture

  • In 1819 Washington Irving 's book "The Sketch Book" was published, which contains various stories and essays . One of the stories, " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, " is about a character called "The Headless Horseman". This figure was described by Irving as the ghost of a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannonball in one of the nameless skirmishes of the War of Independence. Elsewhere in the story, the figure is also called "the galloping Hessian" (meaning: the Hessian messenger rider).
  • The horror film Sleepy Hollow is based on Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Directed by Tim Burton , actors Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci starred Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel. The actor Christopher Walken embodied the "headless Hessen" .
  • In 1909 , the short film The Hessian Renegades was made under the direction of DW Griffith , who also co-wrote the script, (meaning: The Hessian Defectors). In the film, a group of "Hessians" is portrayed as brutal mercenaries who pursued an American soldier in the early years of the American War of Independence.
  • In the 1950 animated film "Bunker Hill Bunny" by Looney Tunes, the inferior "Sam von Schmamm the Hessian" utters the sentence: "I'm a Hessian without no aggression."
  • In the computer game Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs , the player slips into the role of an American soldier who at times also has to fight against Hessian soldiers.
  • The term "Hessian" is also associated with the musical genre and subculture metal in the United States .
  • In the computer game " Empire: Total War " published in 2009, British and Hessian line infantry fight side by side.
  • "Hessian soldiers" also appear in British service in the US historical series Turn: Washington's Spies , which has been broadcast by AMC since April 6, 2014  .

Cinematic processing of the topic

See also

literature

Primary literature

  • Military Regulations for the Hessian Infantry, Cassel 1767.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Strieder, Basics of the military history of the Landgravial Hessian Corps, Cassel 1798.
  • Johann Conrad Döhla, A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution, ed. Bruce E. Burgoyne.
  • Johann von Ewald : Diary of the American War. Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin. Yale University Press. 1979.
  • Friederike von Riedesel: The professional trip to America. Letters and reports written by General von Riedesel during the North American War from 1776 to 1783. Edition Corsar, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-925320-00-8 (new edition annotated by Thomas Ostwald after the Berlin 1801 edition)
  • The Diary of Wilhelm Philipp Ludwig Beuschel - Experiences from the American War of Independence 1777-1783, edited by Horst Lochner and Marcus Mühlnikel, Bayreuth 2018, ISBN 978-3-9816862-1-0
  • Master Builder Journal

Secondary literature

  • Rodney Atwood: The Hessians. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 978-0-5215-2637-1 .
  • Bobrick, Benson: Angel in the Whirlwind. The Triumph of the American Revolution. . Simon & Schuster, New York, © 1997, ISBN 0-6848-1060-3 .
  • Commager, Henry Steele, Richard B. Morris: The Spirit of Seventy-Six. The story of the American Revolution as told by its participants . Castle Books. HarperCollins Publishers, © 1958, ISBN 0-7858-1463-9 LCCN  67-011325 .
  • Max von Eelking : The German Auxiliary Troops in the North American Wars of Liberation, 1776 to 1783 , digitized
  • Max von Eelking: The German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence, 1776–1783. Translated from German by JG Rosengarten . Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY. LCCN  72-081186 , 1893.
  • Howard Fast : The Hessian . Wm. Morrow & Co., New York 1972 (German: The drum boy . Molden, Vienna 1975; as Der Sohn der Söldner , Vienna 1978).
  • John Ferling : Almost a Miracle. The American Victory in the War of Independence . Oxford University Press, New York, © 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-518121-0 .
  • Huck, Stephan: Soldiers against North America: Lifeworlds of Braunschweig Subsidient Troops in the American War of Independence . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich, © 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-59742-4 .
  • Ketchum, Richard M .: Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War . Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, 1997, ISBN 0-8050-4681-X .
  • Edward J. Lowell: The Hessians and the other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War . Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, New York LCCN  2003-440991 , 1884th
  • Rosengarten, Joseph George: Frederick the Great and the United States . Harvard University, 1906.
  • Rosengarten, Joseph George: The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States . JB Lipcott Company, Philadelphia, 1886, ISBN 1-4286-5432-1 .
  • Smith, Clifford Neal: Brunswick Deserter-Immigrants of the American Revolution . Heritage House, Thomson, Illinois, 1973.
  • William L Stone, Hund, August, translators: Letters of Brunswick and Hessian Officers during the American Revolution . Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers, 1891. LCCN 02-003420 ISBN 0-945726-84-8 .  
  • Max von Eelking, (trans. By: William Stone): Memoirs, and letters and journals, of Major General Riedesel during his residence in America , digitized
  • Oskar Bezzel: The Ansbach-Bayreuth mercenaries in the North American war of independence, 1777–1873
  • Erhard Städtler, The Ansbach-Bayreuth Troops in the American War of Independence 1777 - 1783
  • Grete Weiskopf: mercenary without pay. A novel for the youth . 1948 (from the 2nd edition in 1951 under the title The great adventure of Kaspar Schmeck )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferling, 536.
  2. Eelking, 263.
  3. Eelking, Jan.
  4. a b c d Eelking, 16.
  5. Eelking, 100-101.
  6. ^ Ferling, 566.
  7. ^ Ferling, 538.
  8. a b c d e Eelking, 257.
  9. a b Eelking, 258.
  10. ^ A b The Revolution's Black Soldiers by Robert A. Selig, Ph.D.
  11. Fusilier Regiment von Knyphausen - History  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website as of October 29, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / us.1.p10.geocities.com  
  12. Numbering after Hans Bleckwenn - See list of the Hesse-Kassel regiments of the early modern period .
  13. ^ Lowell, Jan.
  14. Ketchum, 93; Manfred von Gall: Hanauer journals and letters from the American War of Independence 1776–1783 of the officers Wilhelm Rudolph von Gall, Friedrich Wilhelm von Geismar, his boys (anonymous), Jakob Heerwagen, Georg Paeusch and other participants. Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 41, 2003.
  15. ^ Lowell, Jan.
  16. Ketchum, 95.
  17. Eelking, 17.
  18. Ketchum, 32.
  19. Ketchum, 137.
  20. Ketchum, 131.
  21. ^ Smith, 2.
  22. a b Smith, 1.
  23. ^ Smith, 3.
  24. Eelking, 267.
  25. Cf. Max Döllner: Experiences of the Ansbach-Bayreuth auxiliary force in the war of Great Britain against the United States of North America (1777–1783) . In: Die Zinnfigur , No. 10-12 / 87, 1987; Pp. 311-315; 328-330; 354-361 . With diary entries by von Feilitzsch, Prechtel and Voigt.
  26. a b Lowell, 11.
  27. Eelking, 105.
  28. Eelking, pp. 203, 209, 214.
  29. ^ Lowell, p. 277.
  30. ^ Lowell, 48-50.
  31. Lowell, Dec.
  32. Eelking, 47.
  33. Eelking, 50.
  34. Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 62–63.
  35. Eelking, 238.
  36. Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cmhg.gc.ca
  37. Ferling, 114.
  38. ^ R. Douglas Hurt (2002) American Agriculture: A Brief History , p80
  39. Everett C. Wilkie, Jr .: Franklin and "The Sale of the Hessians": The Growth of a Myth . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , Vol. 127, No. 3 (Jun. 16, 1983), pp. 202-212.
  40. Bobrick, 41.
  41. a b Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 11.
  42. Bobrick, 482.
  43. Rosengarten, 18.
  44. ^ Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 10.
  45. Ferling, 340.
  46. Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 103.
  47. France had eight “German” regiments with over 2,500 soldiers in the 18th century. See Royal French Foreign Regiments . See also Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 110–111.
  48. Commager, 994.
  49. Rose Garden, Frederick the Great, 5.
  50. Rosengarten, Frederick the Great, 13.
  51. Rose Garden, Frederick the Great, 14.
  52. ^ Rosengarten, The German Soldier, 22.
  53. Lowell, 50.
  54. Rosengarten, Frederick the Great, 17.
  55. Rosengarten, Frederick the Great, 19.
  56. ^ A Brief History of Revolutions - W. Maitland .