Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War | Friederike Baer
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- Between 1776 and 1783, Great Britain hired an estimated thirty thousand German soldiers to fight in its war against the American rebels. Collectively known as Hessians, the soldiers and accompanying civilians, including hundreds of women and children, spent extended periods of time in locations as dispersed and varied as Canada, West Florida and Cuba. They penned a large body of private and official records that provide detailed accounts of the American war as well as descriptions of the built and natural environment, local customs and manners, the prevalence of slavery, and encounters with Native Americans. Based chiefly on these writings, Friederike Baer’s new book, Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, offers a ground-breaking reimaging of Britain’s war against American independence from the perspective of the German soldiers, a people uniquely positioned both in the midst of the war and at its margins.
About the Speaker:
Friederike Baer is an associate professor of history and the division head for arts and humanities at Penn State Abington. She earned a Ph.D. in early American history from Brown University. Her research focuses on the experiences of German-speaking people in North America from the 1770s to the late nineteenth century. Among her publications is the book, The Trial of Frederick Eberle: Language, Patriotism and Citizenship in Philadelphia’s German Community, 1790-1830, which used the 1816 legal trial of around five dozen German Americans as a prism through which to explore prevalent notions of citizenship, language, and patriotism in the first four decades after the Revolution. Her research has been supported by various grants and fellowships, including a Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Grant for research in the Society of the Cincinnati’s library collection at Anderson House.
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Ive got hessian soldier heritage, and my dad, grandpa, and uncle were all nicknamed "The Hessian" by their classmates when they learned about them in their US history classes. I'm taking US1 Honors this school year, hopefully i get the nickname too
and yes im from NJ. Between trenton and north delaware. Besides family records, that helps up almost guarantee we're hessian descent
O.K. Hessian! (lol)
I was a member of the Hessians outlaw motorcycle club.
I too have hessian heritage, we actually own one of the muskets that was used by my relative.
@@Godyjail1 do you know which hessian unit he was with?
Enjoyed the talk and will be getting the book. I also have a 5th great grandfather that served in Regiment von Rall. He and his brother were captured and sent to Winchester. His brother went home but he stayed and married the daughter of a local patriot.
A great many Hessian soldiers stayed in America after the Revolution because they were a great addition to the colonies.
Yes. And quite a few planned on deserting. Ohio was not part of the colonies then, it was a territory, and many of the Germans deserted and went there, because no one could go after then. Isn't Columbus, Ohio supposed to have been originally settled by Hessian deserters?
Excellent presentation. This talk gave the perspective of the Hessian soldier leaving Europe, coming to America, and surviving the American land and climate.
I have the book. Interestingly, Friederike does not mention the fact that George III's sister Augusta was the wife of the Karl, Duke of Braunschweig, from whom he contracted the first body of German troops.
Excellent presentation and great insight into The Cause and the American experiment. I shall buy the book. Thank you..
Great presentation. I learned a lot.
I have an ancestor who was a Hessian soldier. From Hesse-Cassel. Who was captured at the battle of Trenton.
Maybe he came from my home village Ziegenhain or from the surrounding area. There is a water fortress in Ziegenhain where the Rall regiment was stationed. Greetings from Germany
I learned a lot thank you!!
I just found out on my fathers side of the family is a Hessian Aux who joined the American side when he was offered land in Pennsylvania. Pretty cool.
mine also, their land in the Cherry Valley, south of the Mohawk river, NYS
My History Symposium class paper at University was titled: "American Society as Seen by the German Auxiliaries of the British Army in North America: 1775-1783". The majority of our sources had to be primary sources, or contemporaneous secondary sources. I especially enjoyed reading the diary of Johann Ewald, Captain of Jägers. I keep in mind, to this day, a quote of his (of Boileau):
"Honor is like an island,
Steep and without shore:
They who once leave,
Can never return."
Excellent
Most wealthy Colonials were loyalists they had little to gain from independence. Were as the Revolutionarys were tradesmen and farmers who bore the brunt of the burden of taxation.
Though only garrisoned there were Hessians in East Florida. They were actual Hessians from Hesse-Cassel under Colonel Friedrich von Porbeck. They were 85 men, including a surgeon from the Knoblauch Regiment. They arrived in April 1781 in St. Augustine due to fears of a Spanish attack.
The assertion starting at 8:58 is incorrect. Hesse-Hanau Jagers were on the Fort Stanwix campaign that passed through the Great Lakes.
HAHAHh
I ADORE the Germans when they speak English
Learning German right now
so beautiful language
and such a beautiful culture
Good luck
I enjoyed this much, especially enriching my own encounters with accounts by German soldiers in America describing Blacks, both enslaved & free. One source, of a German soldier, captured at Saratoga and taken to Massachusetts, noted with horror the treatment of slaves on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley. Entering western Massachusetts, he described small numbers of Blacks, some in family groups, free and in service or bondage. Also memtio0ned was that every American military regiment he encountered contained Black soldiers.
My great, great Grandfather came over from Darmstadt, which I believe is in Hesse. Though he came over in 1832. He landed in Baltimore. He settled in Somerset, county, Pennsylvania.
There are much German ancestry there. I have always wondered why he came over
yes, Darmstadt is in Hessen. Greetings from Germany near Darmstadt
@@JW02602 Hello from Indiana.
@@hisoverlorduponhigh90 Hello I'm happy. Indiana is a beautiful country. I visited Indiana in the 1980s. Kind regards
Second and third son often joined the army as a way of earning a living and becoming wealthy.
Many Hessian soldiers were actually Jews who were forced into conscription for longer terms by German States in exchange for ability to reside/work in them etc.. A list of German Troop War Rosters in New Jersey etc., shows Jewish origin names (Osterman, etc.) amongst Germans/Hessians and not so coincidentally - a lot of deserted Hessian and Prussian soldiers in the Revolutionary War (and names that show up in places in the U.S. that German deserters/prisoners ended up in), have Jewish or known Crypto-Jewish surnames (many hid their identities in the service). Many Jews of course didn't want to go back to Germany and were lower on the totem pole to rescue/exchange/evacuate from the colonies.
Anyone know much about Bunau regiment? In a database of hessian soldiers during the revolutionary war there was a soldier with my last name in that regiment
I know Garnisons Regiment von Bünau. I Think it is .
@@JW02602 I think I remember seeing that it was a garrison regiment. Do you happen to know where it was garrisoned at?
The Garnisons Regiment von Bürnau stayed in the town of Witzenhausen in Hessen(Germany)
The Regiment von Bürnau got the March order at 9.Mai 1776 to Amerika. I found two different names of Bartholmay.
@@JW02602 interesting my actual last name is Bramer. There was a guy name Johan Adolf Bramer in the bunau regiment. Don't actually know if there is a concrete connection. But I know my 4th great grandfather immigrated to America about 1850 and on a later census the region of birth is labeled as Baden
The first 3 George's were German so recruiting German soldiers as a no brainer. If you are fighting an enemy you ask for help from your friends, and King George's friends were germans.
The fist two Georges were German not George III, he was English born and raised.
What was the majority of the people and rulers complexion in 🇩🇪 in 1751?
Most of them had white skin color
How do you say, "I heard Amerikan girls are easy" in 18th-century German ?
In what context do you mean that?
In the 18th century, things were said differently in Germany.
Many greetings from Germany
What's the part?
The mother country literally bankrupted themselves to protect her English-speaking colonies for over 130 years from the French and her native allies.....who sent hundreds of raiding parties into the American colonies, killing and wiping out dozens of New England settlements.
This terror only finally ended with Wolfe's epic campaign and capture of the Citadel at Quebec....finally bringing the end of the French threat to the very livelihoods of her citizens.
16 years later...🔪
🩸
Mother country?....F* them...parle vous?
You are totally brainwashed by propaganda. ⚜
@@ordyhorizonrivieredunord712
Ring your nurse old man.
When's the last time you even bothered to read a book...to actually know about where the freak you came from?
Ready?...
Bring it.....Have I got a story for you.
42:07 This sounds exactly like what the Russians said about Germany and the Germans standards of living, homes and everything in them, when they finally got to Germany in WW2. Didnt understand why people who had so much would feel the need to invade an extremely poor country like theirs.
Those who remained in Canada were very succesfull in helping kill the savages, especially in Manitoba and quench the 1838 rebellion in Québec. They also captured Tecumseh. 🐺
The enemy is within now .
lol
usually
We have met the enemy. And, yup, it’s us. 😂
Hm ok
A 'small fleet' is a flotilla.
The Hassians were right about a few not wanting to pay taxes and were decadent and greedy.
Wealthy people didn't go to the colonies 2nd and 3rd sons went to the colonies to start a business or farm to create Wealth.
Premogeniture was a major driver of expansion inherited from the Normans.
Not all Germans were Hessians and none were mercenaries.
I could take all of those huns except for maybe ol dirty Sanchez in the middle there.
1. Huge Lecture Pro - YES. Hessians were Not mercenaries. Thank you for stressing that fact.
2. BIG Lecture Con - Germany didnt unite until 1871. How can there be German soldiers in the revolutionary war? If Germany didn't exist for almost another century.
It's a trivial matter of simplifying the linguistics. The language spoken was Deutsch. Collectively, the lands where this language was spoken were "Deutschland". Since Americans, generally, are way too poorly educated, to grasp this it's simpler to call the inhabitants of these 300+ duchies, landgraves, margraves, principalities, etc., etc., "Germans".
@@p51nion You are correct.
There was a German cultural identity, and while actual unification wouldn't come until 1871, there were various earlier attempts, including the German Confederation in 1815. (Still post Revolutionary War, but closer).
I am suspicious that "German Hessians" is in reality Zionist Yiddish speaking Communists hired by Lincoln to come and conquer America for the New World Order. Lincoln was an evil bastard, Rosicrucian freemason. The myth he was a good man is absurd.
Right, Germans were created not before 1871..
Very weak presentation, more focused on slavery than the Hessian troops. She fails to mention is existing German populations in North America and their impact on the conflict and the Hesssians.
The Hessian Mercenaries were paid to go to the 'New World' and "Conquer" the Colonists.... But, they failed and lost the war, and some stayed and were happily "Conquered".!!
Hmm here i was thinking the Hessians were a professional standing army for hire. When in reality they were mostly made up of dissidents and rebel-rousers lol
Second and third son often joined the army as a way of earning a living and becoming wealthy.