The Forgotten Soldiers of the Revolutionary War
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- Опубліковано 24 січ 2018
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Three accounts of the Hessians from the 18th century in one volume www.townsends.us/products/the-hessians
One of my ancestors (Grassmeyer) came over to America as a Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War, and he was part of a group that turned coat and fought under George Washington. We actually have a copy of a letter granting him a portion of land in Pennsylvania and thanking him for his service after the war was over.
BigZ7337 Wow! What an amazing family history. Thank you for sharing.
Same here, though we pushed on to more unsettled regions in what became Wisconsin
Steve Kaczynski It's not always that easy to desert since you live in conditions were many people keep a very close eye on you. Then you have the propagandapart from your own officers telling you that the enemy will torture you to death etc, so you are also afraid. Hard decision to make in any army...
My family comes from a Hessian merc (Leopold) too, they gave him some land in Canada for sticking around and ended up misspelling his name entirely. We had no idea we were actually Leopolds until about a decade ago.
Wow you mean the group that only exists in the television show sleepy hollow?
My first ancestor in America was a Hessian who fought for the British. When the war ended, he stayed in Pennsylvania. :)
Same here, my family "emigrated" to the United States in this manner.
A guy like this fe. could`ve also easily ended up in the British Army and in America.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_Br%C3%A4ker
@@saltyclanker604 that is not emigration my good friend.
I bet we are related! that is my story to a T!!! They then moved west to indiana.
I know I was being facetious 😛
My ancestor was a Hessian that came over to fight against the "rebellion." He liked what the "rebellers" were fighting for, and began fighting under Washington. At the end of the war Washington gave him 2 pistols that he kept hanging over his bed until his death. I thank you Jon for the information you provided. It is really cool to know I am decended from one of 5,000 men who stayed behind. I will be buying this book to learn more.
Is the pistol around?
@@jehuirasales3588 i doubt it is, but it sould be very cool indeed.
Same here. We stayed. Still carry the surname.
As do I michael todd
From all your fans here in Hessen Germany, thanks for such a wonderful and informative show!
My Great Grandfather is from your home, Holman came to the U.S. in 1867
Guten Tag Kristen. I grew up in New Rochelle, NY where Hessian soldiers landed in boats from Long Island Sound.
The fought in the battle of White Plains. I was a soldier in the US Army. I served three years in Giessen which is in the German State of Hesse.
I enjoyed my time in Germany and i found the German people very friendly. Also the food hat sehr gut geshmecht haha.
Old Man Jenkins You meant Ramstein with a single m.
Die Band Rammstein hatte den selben Fehler gemacht und sich verschrieben. Der Bandname wurde nicht mehr geändert. :-)
@Old Man Jenkins Herr Jenkins we did not have any checkpoint where I was stationed. To answer your question though I would much rather experience real German culture and food by meeting real Germans.. The first thing i did was to learn some basic German language so I could at least order food and get around. I found most German people were much more freundlich if they saw I respected their culture and was at least trying to learn their language. I learned much more as time went by.
My first Christmas in Germany I spent with a German family who spoke no English. They invited a neighbor from upstairs who was from Russia und was an actress in the Stadtteater. I studied Russian in High School so between some German and Russian and English we all got along fine and hat ein sehr gut Weihnachten. Please excuse my poor spelling or grammar.
My mom originally was born in Hessen, which she explained became part of Rheinland-Pfalz after WW2. She said there was a grassroots movement to have them returned to Hessen, but it never happened. I always wondered why during the Revolutionary War period the Hessians were noted for having long braided pony tails and big mustaches and hair dyed red.
This is how my family came to America, mercenaries for the British didn't get paid, Americans offered more money and land, that coupled with not wanting to take the long ship ride home.
Well if the ride home was as bad as the ride there, it's no wonder many wanted to stay.
This is how my family came to America too.
@Herbie Hessian troops were used as bargaining chips. Their Duke owed a pretty sizable debt to the English, so he agreed to send troops to cover his bill. The troops, being known as the most professionally trained killers of their day, went were they were told without question.
Largely because the nobility controlled their land claims. A soldier's family could be evicted simply because he refused the order to go fight. Similar to the way British burned pro colonist properties
Hi Herbie, Hope you're still around and doing alright now, 2021 already. Way back then, the Brits still had huge debts incurred from the Seven Years War, (that was the REAL first World War), plus they got more war debt from trying to hold onto the US portion of their new empire. They found it quite convenient to get soldiers for free from German princes. Makes me wonder how the individuals were scammed by their princes in Hessen to go to war in the colonies for Britain. You know something I realized, the centuries old horizontal red and white stripes of Hessen's coat of arms became the same horizontal red & white stripes of the US flag? I think maybe there is more than just a co-incidence!!!! It should be really researched. Anyway, I had friends whose ancestors were part of your ancestors group, from Hessen, and somehow decided to stay loyal to the Brits and were given land in Upper Canada (now Ontario), isolated and sort of segregated 25 km north of York (now Toronto), and that place became Markham, Ontario. I imagine the stories untold, of the privileged English in York, and the segregated others (Hessians in Markham, Scots in Scarborough)... The official historical plaque from the "politically correct BS" era of the very late 20th century says it was jolly multiculturism, when actually it was exploitation of Hessian soldiers, and dumping them in the boonies instead of affording their overseas return to Hessen. They did not have representation in parliament back then.
@@MrSniperdude01 Hey Mr Sniperdude, I just read your comment just after I posted mine. That is interesting that the reason Hessian troops were used were to cover a big debt. How did that big debt come about?
"I'm a Hessian without no agression" ~Yosemite Sam
Lol
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Is forgotten about that one! I loved Yosemite Sam. 😂❤️👍
Ya lily livered floppy eared varmint. Sam
Yes! "Bunker Hill Bunny"!
"If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
My direct ancestor came over to America as a Hessian. He basically told the British to go fight their own war, walked off and founded a farm.
Some other notes about the Hessians in North America:
-The British soldiery generally despised the Hessians because they could not speak English, and despite explicit orders from commanding officers typically refused to treat them as brothers-in-arms; there were even a number of attacks by British soldiers on Hessians.
-In order to make the Hessians more aggressive in battle, British officers spread the rumor that the Americans gave no quarter to German soldiers.
-Some records state that Americans preferred to surrender to Hessians, who were ideologically indifferent to the war, because they were treated better than by the British, who were much harsher to "rebels and traitors." Hessian prisoners were known to be more compliant and agreeable than British prisoners, for the same reasons.
-During the 19th century, American historiography of the Revolution focused on the misdeeds and abuses committed by British soldiers, but many of these were "transferred" to the Hessians during the years leading up to WWI in a conscious effort to make the American public more anti-German.
mrleedra I always thought what happened to the German American culture. It kind of disappear after WW1. Large German immigration but no German culture. Which is odd.
German culture was suppressed due to the two World Wars. Before World War I, most towns with significant numbers of people of German origin had “Bunds,” which were social, cultural, and mutual aid organizations. A few of these still exist, but many of them fell victim to the desire of German-Americans to seem less German and more American during and after the wars. Many people and even towns also changed their names, or at least how they spelled their names.
References and citations including page numbers would be good...
My paternal grandfather was a Lutheran minister who was in an area where Lutherans were scarce. He maintaiined that he was being followed during WW I because Lutherans were associated with Germans (true, but his Lutheran ancestors came over between 1720 and 1760. If he was a threat, it was because his father moved south after the Civil War as a minister, and married a daughter of the South Carolina Plantation Aristocracy.) Remember that the British Royal Family changed their name from Battenburg to Windsor to remove any hint of their German ancestry.
James Horn “Windsor” same as the Royal family? Is that the default English name for Germans to seem more English? lol.
I came from Hessian Soldier that settled in Texas and married another German immigrant woman that already lived in that state. This is a book I'd love to read! So, generations later, here I am😊 pretty interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Texas was Spanish....
Christopher Ellis
Well, that's where He ended up, from Missouri, Illinois, to Texas.
+Christopher Ellis In theory. Even before the Texan revolution, the Americans there acted like the place was theirs.
Evocati
Yes, we are from marble falls , oatmeal areas
Yes, Texas was Spanish at the time of the American Revolution. However, many European immigrants and American settlers came in to establish settlements, well before Texas became an independent republic, and then joined the United States. People like Stephen F. Austin (an American) led colonies there, and Americans and Europeans were required to swear loyalty to Spain and then Mexico, and to convert to Catholicism. (Not all did, or did so in name only.) Th4n after Texas independence, lots of Americans and Europeans came in to settle. -- So Texas has always had a high number of German and various Slavic nationalities, including names for nationalities that no longer exist, like Bohemians and Prussians. There are still major towns, like New Braunfels, and the yearly Oktoberfest, that go directly back to German settlers, and there are still small country churches that have German fractures and baptismal and birth/death records, stained glass, and needlework done by German immigrants and their direct descendants. (Yes, also Austrians, Swiss, etc.) Texas was, by the 1830's and the Texas Revolution, already becoming not just Mexican, but also Anglo and others, as well as blacks and many Native American Indians either native to the area or who migrated back and forth and lived in Texas, like Comanches and others. The early history is really something. Many Americans ignore or were never taught the major contributions Mexican Tejanos made to the revolution and the early republic and state, and many only see the portrayal of hostile Indians, and not the full story, like the complicated things that arose, good and bad on both sides of that.
When you consider the length of history, not to mention prehistory, the 1700s are not really so long ago.
My father is 90 years old. Three of his lifetimes ago was the middle of the 1700s. Practically just the blink of an eye.
It was President Tyler whose grandson was still alive last I checked.
I agree with that. I like to research a lot about history, so when I read about things that happened 300 or 500 years ago. It's not so long ago considering the average lifespan of a human being in between 70-80 years of course back then it was harder to keep records of families, so that makes it kinda hard to research.
There's a place here in South Jersey(across the Delaware River from Philadelphia), called Red Bank Battlefield. The Hessians fought there in the Battle of Red Bank. The road the tourist home is on is literally "Hessian Avenue." Definitely one of my favorite spots to go to still, as they do reenactments throughout the year.
Years ago my Dad travelled to Germany on a vacation. He was interested in following up on his research into his family. Our family name is Kann. He shared with me that we had two ancestors from the Landgraf of Hesse-Cassel. Much later while I continued to research the two ancestors my Dad had spoke about, I discovered the names of the two men, probably brothers, who were captured and listed on a POW document. The POW info recorded their names and their unit. As it turned out they served in a Brigade under the command of Johann Rall and were captured at the famous battle of Trenton. One of them apparently died in captivity after a couple of years and the other survived and was released. Pretty cool stuff.
my ancestor was also captured at the battle of Trenton! family name is Schmeiss. Johannes was a POW from 1776-1783.
Thank you for this video, the hessian soldiers were in great numbers caught by recruiters using brutal methods. There is a book, "My Life ", by Christoph Gottfried Seume, a german student, who was recruited by force, while travelling, by the hessian army, he was sent to America 1781 and arrived in Halifax in 1782, he and his comrades got no more involved in military actions, but he was much impressed by the native inhabitants he met. He managed to return to Germany in 1783, and then was sold from the hessian principal to the prussian king, some years later he could escape military service, and became a well known author and scientist, in his book "my life " he gave a very impressive description of his transfer to america. I´m afraid, that there is no english version. Here in Germany he is almost forgotten, a still known book by him " Ein Spaziergang nach Syrakus",meaning a stroll from Leipzig to Syrakus. He walked from Leipzig in Germany to Syrakus in Italy, describing in a fascinating way the political and social circumstances in the time of the napoleon wars.
🙏
I wanna thank you for this curious info!
Amazing .. kudos !
An ancestor of mine, Johannes Meerbodt, from Hanau in Hesse, was one of these fellows. His group landed in Canada, and was mostly captured at Saratoga. After a year in a prison camp I’m Massachusetts, they were moved to Charlottesville VA and we’re detained there until the war ended. During that time many were rented out as laborers to the local community, including him. At war’s end, he stayed in America, married a Quaker girl from PA, moved to SC, where he became a citizen in 1817. He lived out his days there. 200 years later I lived in Charlottesville in an apartment complex which stood on the site of his prison camp. Small world.
returning to Hanau is never an option
we have a saying "do you know where the entrance to hell is? well you know Hanau"
the brothers Grimm are also from this town , but moved to Kassel
You make the best case for historical study, Jon. Without you, our enthusiastic mass public teacher, it all would remain distant and dusty to me.
Conditions on the ships were so bad that dudes actually killed themselves. Wow that’s tragic and, just wow.
Actually forester paints a very good picture at the start of the first book in the Hornblower series.
Some Commonwealth soldiers did the same during the first world war, waiting to disembark ships outside Turkey.
Do you guys have a link where I can read more about this?
Try an Irish "coffin ship "...
More revolutionary soldiers died on prison ships than on the battlefields.
I had a 5x great-grandfather, Ensign Johann Julius Specht, who was a "Hessian" soldier (actually from Brunswick, north of Hesse) who was sent here to fight against the Americans. Shortly after he arrived, he was wounded near Bennington, VT and taken prisoner. Instead of going back to Germany when the war ended and he was released, he became a British subject, settled down in St. Mary's Bay, Canada and had a large family.
Karen K you are so blessed to know your family history. I wish my family had held on to our family heritage☺️
Thanks for sharing. Brings it even more to life.
Thank you, Mary. Many branches of Mom's side have been really easy to trace, since they've been in the U.S. since the 1600's. My father's side is Irish and Jewish, and those lines are much more difficult to go back on.
Cool my 5th great grandfather was Henri Schreiber, he went to Canada and married and stayed there. Don't know where in Germany he was from though.
Karen ,many people would be unaware how far the roots go back here . Look up the history of the Palatine groups that were sent to The Colony of New York well before the Revolution . When you say 1600s it is not far off . I had a Neighbor who was proud that his Wife's family had B . Arnold as an ancestor .
Through my mother, i'm descended of one of 7 Bavarian brother who were Hessian Mercenaries for the British. Six brother settled between what would be Cleveland and Chicago, one went back to Bavaria. I learnt all this in HS when i met a girl whose last name was my mother's maiden name. She and i have (patrilineal for her, matrilineal for me) great-great-grandparents who were brother who married sisters.
They rode black horses, had pointed teeth and a detachable head.
buineto
That's exactly what I thought 😭
buineto funny 👍💀
Exactly my first thought lol
Iunderstoodthatreference.gif
Arrrggghhhhh was also the only thing they could ever say.
My old college classmate, named "Hess" is/was a blonde, blue-eyed sort, who said that his ancestor was indeed, a Hessian who stayed in what became the U.S.A. after the Revolutionary War.
This is a book I am definitely going to have to add to my library. My 4th Great Grandfather, Daniel Hilgenburger was a Hessian soldier. He was in the first group recruited March 3, 1776 and told they were going to America to fight. They sailed from the Port of Bremerlehe on May 10, 1776 and arrived at Staten Island on August 14, 1776. They were marched through the Bronx in October and met up with their first battle, a skirmish. They continued to skirt around New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Daniel was captured at Trenton and 800 Hessian Soldiers were marched and housed at a stockade in Lancaster Pennsylvania. After Daniels release he deserted and joined with the Americans in the fight. Later he settled in Wythe County, Virginia.
For everyone not finding Bremerlehe on any map: today it´s called Lehe and is a district of the port city of Bremerhaven
I have an ancestor who was a Hessian soldier in Jaeger Corps. Co. 4, Under Lt. Col. Carl Adolf von Creuzbourg. He settled in Quebec with his wife after the war. The story of these men is one that deserves far more attention than a simple "footnote" in history.
The first "American" ancestor of a friend of mine was a Hessian soldier. The family story was that the night before he was to board the ship back home he went out celebrating & got drunk. The next day when his hangover passed he found he had missed the ship & had no way of getting on another one.
That sucks!!!
For him, I meant
Like many commenting here, my 5th great-grandfather (Caspar Goebel) was one of these young Germans. He was captured by Washington at the Battle of Trenton, and later paroled to join the American Army. He fought the remainder of the war in the Carolinas, and received a land grant in North Carolina after the war.
Getting these history lessons between recipe walkthroughs is great. I love it. They're often on topics we know nothing about; it's one thing to look into stories and topics you know something about, but when you know nothing of their existence, it's nearly impossible to find out about it. These sources and your telling of them are fantastic.
Hesse-Cassel was held on retainer by the British gov't for iirc 30k troops. This contract precedes the American war of Independence. Many hessians freed up britsh regiments for service in the colonies by garrisoning places like gibraltar. The state of Hesse-Cassel was run like an 18th century version of Sparta. It's only export was trained soldiers.
As someone descended from those German Mercenaries, I am super appreciative of this video! I am most definitely going to be buying the book! I also want to take the opportunity to tell you how happy I am to have discovered this channel. Historical cooking is a new hobby of mine, though mostly I've been sticking to the 14th century. I'm very inspired to try some of your recipes and learn from you :) I suffer from IBS and other medical conditions and we have found I can handle historical food better than most modern food. We already make old fashioned sourdough bread from levan every week. Its the only bread I can eat!
@Thryza Hess You are mistaken, cousin. The Hessians were not mercenaries.
Their respective princes routinely rented out portions of their armies to other nations in exchange for a fee as a way to generate income for the principality.
The Hessian soldiers themselves had no say in the matter - they were simply following orders.
A mercenary is someone who willfully hires themself out, as an individual, to fight in a war in exchange for monetary compensation.
See the distinct difference now? 😉 They didn't volunteer.... they were essentially pimped out by their prince.
Jon you could very well be an audiobook reader. When you were describing the condition that sea I close my eyes and I could just imagine what they were going through. Excellent reading sir thank you again.
History comes to life ! What a great teacher and channel.
Iam from Hessen and it is very nice that you tell the story of our Soldiers 👍🏻
Die Hesse komme!
Sharp I've studied all the wars the U S were engaged in and I can tell you that your countrymen have always fought with skill and honor. You should be very proud of your heritage.
Agree. My Uncle has compiled a list of German immigrants in the early 1900s and when the US entered WW1, they turned around and went back to Germany to fight their own relatives! Such a committed and potent fighting force.
I was stationed in Giessen (Hesse) when I was in the US Army. I loved the food, people and culture! Best year of my life 1988!
👍
Great stories i just love history and thankful people like you at Townsends work tirelessly to bring that history back to life. My family is documented as coming over in 1666 at Leedstown VA.
I understand that quite a few of them just dropped their coats and blended into existing German communities all along the Delaware Valley into Pennsylvania.
i didn't realize there were Deutsche communities that early on. my grandmother's German family came here via New Orleans in the 1860's and lived in St. Louis. my Mom was born in 1916. her Dad was Greek and came with his brothers also via New Orleans at the turn of the century. that's America for you :)
@@feralbluee Yeah, I read somewhere that around 1700 to 1760, 1 third of newly arriving colonists were German. My own ancestor settled (west) Virginia, the modern town of Weston is built on his old land.
@@ProfessorShnacktime There is a huge amount of people in the US which have german ancestors in the US.There are like 6 states where the amount of people with german ancestors is around 30-40%
Its very intereting to hear something about german soldiers. Hessens border is nearly 15 km away from here. Those poor guys where forced into the army and selled to everyone who has enough money to pay them. And the money goes to the ruler of the state they came from.
But this time, especially the hessian soldiers and their battles in the US is well recognised here in germany by a tale written by the Grimm brothers. Its the "Sternentaler" or Star Taler in the US. Its because families of fallen hessian soldiers got one ore more talers as compensation and there where stars on it. Townsends sell copies of those Talers. So, the tale has a good end, but the backstory of it is very sad.
When I was in school, we read the treaty between George III of Great Britain (who retained his German title of Elector of Hanover) and his cousin, the Proctor of Hesse-Kassel, contracting for the use of Hessian regiments in the American war. It comes off in the contract as one royal requesting a small favor from another, and of course doesn't mention the real human or social cost. As I recall, something like a full third of Hesse-Kassel's fighting strength was committed to the campaign, over half of whom died either fighting or from disease, starvation or exposure, and a significant chunk of the remainder opting to stay in America. That had to have had a major impact back home.
Sorry, I meant Hessen-Kassel.
Jep, a human life war not woth much at this time. And if more soldiert where needed, they forced just some men into the army. Many rulers saw their population as their property.
Yes, that was very common at this time. Even under Napoleon. Defeated enemy soldiert had 2 choicec: Prison or fight for the former enemy. And those countrys had to send soldiers if needed to his army. In Russia died many german soldiert under the command of Napoleon in 1812.
Correct. The first german state as a whole was founded in 1871 with the Imperial Proclamation in Versailles.
Until 1806 there was only the "Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation" directly translated into: Holy Roman empire of german Nation. And in there, ervery principality tries to be as souvereign as possible.
Get your copy of today's journal here! ▶ www.amazon.com/Art-Cookery-Made-Plain-Easy/dp/0999762001 ▶▶
Townsends Very interesting! Thanks guys.🇺🇸😀
Pretty neat! Uh, how did "hessian" come to mean "burlap"?
A rough cloth was made by weavers in Hesse Darmstadt, when the real burlap was introduced from India the material it most resembled was the Hessian fabric. Or so I have read.
I just found your channel and I really enjoy it. I live about 12 miles from Mt. Holly, NJ and the Hessians would have been all over the place, It is hard to find out anything about them, so I am very interested in the book. Do you have any plans to sell it from your website>
Townsends Hey James I love your Channel and food vids but I like these historical vids the most I live 3 minutes away from MOUNT VERNON in VA hope to see you in person one day wish you would do a vid on Lord Fairfax and Washington's early life may you live a long and very happy life with your family 😊👏🖒
Thank you for making this video. One of my ancestors was a Hessian who was originally quite displeased to come over. His name, I believe, was Jakob Ruhrschnik and I've always been told he was essentially dragged of his family farm. He later settled in SW Virginia, where I still live, and the name Ruhrschnik later became Rasnake and Rasnick. I don't recall much more than that so it's very interesting to hear more of the story.
Cameron Edwards
Sounds plausible. Especially if he really was in the Hessian contingent. The landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was notorious for his misconduct. Travelers in his realm could be abducted and forced into military service (shanghaied essentially). The fortress where the regiments were mustered is now a prison.
Can't forget about the Headless horseman.
I really really enjoyed this video. The info mixed with readings of journals was especially engaging .
my family has paper work that traces my family back to this. my last name is Altman, I know my great x5 grant father settled in Pennsylvania after the war and then around 1820s my family went down the Ohio to Cincinnati
Probably your family traveled on the Forbes Road (near my hometown of Irwin Pa ) then built a raft near at nearby Elizabeth Pa. to float from the Monogahela River to the Ohio.
The German (Luther) side of my family descended from a Hessian soldier who came to America with his two brothers and I don't believe they left and written accounts sadly. The story is that my ancestor deserted and traveled with a young lady he met in Lancaster, Penna., They married in the Dutch reformed Church there, and traveled to the Appalachian mountains of Western Penna. There we've been for generations now. I used to wonder why sign up to fight as a Merc only to desert when your feet hit the sand. Well now we know.
Greetings from Irwin (W , Pa.) I remember from somewhere that Gen. Custer had a Hessian ancestor (Kaster)
Pretty sure those hessians were more than likley catholics, it was part of the habsburg holy roman empire, the lutherns were from northern germany which I think was the empire of prussia.
Most people do not realize that Pennsylvania had so many Germans settle here because it resembles their homeland (Vaterland).
They also stayed because they can actually own land and be a part of something new and different in the world. It gave them growth.
The first member of my family to come to North America was one of those Hessians from Brunswick! He was a really talented cavalry officer, but also the illegitimate son of the Duke of Brunswick and so he kind of got shuffled off to America. He never got a chance to see battle, because his first engagement was under Burogyne at Saratoga. After the end of the war he moved to Canada, and became a land surveyor in what would become Bytowne and later Ottawa.
Great stuff!
My grandmother’s family was Hessian, our progenitor Johannes Diehm left the town of Wald-Michelbach, Hesse in the late 1740s or early 1750s for the colony of Maryland, his son my Great^6 Grandfather Adam served in the Pennsylvania Line of the Continental Army at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown; often against his fellow Hessians. After the war he was awarded a land grant in what was then Virginia (now West Virginia) that land is still in the family and we still use the old family cemetery to bury our kin.
One of my ancestors (Imhoff) came over to America as a Hessian soldier during the Yankee Rebellion, and he was part of the group that fought that wooden toothed rebel George Washington. We actually have the deed granting him a portion of land in Quebec and thanking him for his service to the rightful King of the Yanks. ( Always interesting to compare different historical versions, no ? )
I absolutely LUV how you tie in your mini history lessons with the channel. Great stuff. Keep it going
This is one of the most wholesome channels in UA-cam i love it.
Sounds like a journey of misery. I feel bad for all those young men who were drafted and torn from their families, never to return.
It wasn't just those poor souls conscripted and sent abroad. That was a very common practice in Europe, especially Germany for centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars and the Religion wars each Principality would conscript all men and boys from the peasant class (farmers, etc.) to fight for the Prince and Nobles. None were safe from constant conflicts most had no clue as to cause. So many German immigrants to the USA from 1700s to 1900s came to escape the tyranny of home regions.
@@joepangean6770 Then Mr. Mustache came in and ended that.
@@joepangean6770 My family has an ancestor from Prussia who may have immigrated to America for that reason. He came here with his wife in 1866, just around the time the Austro-Prussian War was breaking out. Since the war was very controversially against fellow German peoples (Bismarck basically provoked the Austrians), he may have come here to escape conscription into King Wilhelm I's army. They settled in Pennsylvania IIRC before moving to the Midwest (most of my ancestors historically lived in Iowa).
I just finished Woodmason's journal on the commute this morning, so now I'll have to read this!
John, I am so grateful for you videos. I live in a historic park, and I love history. I never tire of the nuggets you dig up from history. Thanks for all you do!
Great talk! Thanks for venturing into the snow for us.
One of my many great grandfathers was a German soldier; not Hessian. He came from the Rhineland and fought for the American side. He and his brother both fought during the Revolutionary War and lived. They were each given many acres of land in Virginia when the war was over. It should be noted that the Germans on both sides came to the agreement, they were tired of killing their own countrymen, and many of the Hessians 'turned coat'. The German soldiers is quite an interesting story, and sadly its not taught too much in school, but the German soldiers played a huge role in America's win in the Revolutionary War.
@sandismith i live in rihneland its beautifull
Sounds exactly like my family's history, save the part of Virginia. My family stayed in Pennsylvania
@, the German identity existed. There were many German states at the time, be it Prussia or Austria, and Germany had yet to be unified (it still isn't) but the German nation had already existed.
Great story! Most don't realize how many Hessians stayed after the war.
Or how many British soldiers did the same
You know... This is a really a wonderful channel. I love hearing about the old days.
I am loving these historical context videos! Please keep them coming!
Those poor fellows. All that suffering on the way over and then Washington ruined their Christmas/Boxing Day.
@Marshmallow Man My good man, you must proceed immediately and have your sarcasm/facetious meter re-calibrated.
The first time I ever heard of the Hessians was from a Bugs Bunny Cartoon. Yosemite Sam was Sam Von Something the Hessian, and Bugs Bunny was fighting for the Colonies.
I'm a Hessian without no aggression.
Sam Von Spam
Looney tunes: Bunker hill bunny
Thank you for your postings. To study history by the way the people lived, as detailed in the primary sources, is in my opinion, the absolute best way to study history. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for your genuine passion for retelling history to the masses. You should be proud of what you do for sure. Your presentation style and manner of speaking is fantastic!
My German grandmother used to brag that we had an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution, of which we were skeptical because her part of the family didn't immigrate to the United States until her parents' generation late in the 19th century. Then we realized she must be talking about a Hessian. Yeah, not exactly a ticket to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.
My aunt got denied a DAR Scholarship because of this.
My mom tried to get me a DAR Scholarship through one of my 6 ancestors who fought in the Revolution. My rejection letter essentially said, "Hessians and British don't count."
Good story though
@@brennathompson3854 🤣 that's too funny!
@Marshmallow Man LOL! Not me! Just my ancestor! (That's the whole thing that makes organizations like the DAR dumb, anyway. None of us picked our ancestors, so we have no more right to claim superiority because of them than we have any duty to feel inferior of them. They were who they were. We are who we are.)
Awesome as always
I received a copy of the book from Amazon in Great Britain this morning. I took a quick look at the content and ended up reading for over an hour. Brilliant reading for anyone interested in this regrettable conflict between us. Thank you so much for your excellent videos, always much looked forward to. My wife and I particularly enjoy trying out the recipes. Keep up the good work!
Jon I really enjoy all the episodes you read for the different books. History comes alive. Thank you! I'm working on my family geneolgy and your history helps me imagine life for my revolutionary war ancestors.
I grew up in and around Frederick, Maryland (USA), the home of Barbara Frietchie, burial place of Francis Scott Key, and site of the Maryland School for the Deaf campus which preserved a Hessian troop barracks. It was one of 2 and is still there; the other was destroyed shortly after the Civil War.
Same I am in chevy Chase
They had luxurious mustaches.
It was the military fashion on the Continent, that the ordinary soldiers should grow mustaches to appear more warlike. However, their officers did not; they were gentlemen, and the style of the time was that gentlemen didn't wear facial hair, except for some rare exceptions. And for some reason, which I haven't yet found out, the British did not follow that fashion, even after installing a Hannoverian king. Facial hair wasn't fashionable in Britain.
Brilliant as always. Thank you so much
This sounds wonderful. I can't wait to add it to my book collection. Thanks for sharing!
I am walking everyday to Hessen to work, living in Lower Saxony right on the border to Hessen, gotta tell you The People of Hessen nowadays are a grumpy bunch even without being stuck in ship for months.
~ ROTFL ~ :}
My GGGG? Grandpa was one of those guys that said he wasn't going back... I am really Glad he didn't
Such an informative channel, thank you all for your hard work, most interesting and lost history and common day needs that you all present, thank you.
Many thanks John , I really enjoy your show on our history ! Keep it coming !👍👍👍
I like that I'm watching a dude read me a book, out in the snow, in a colonial uniform. And, I'm enjoying it.
My behind is cold just from watching you sit outside. I live about 14 miles from Pierceton. Ain't the weather been lovely?
Thank you! Great information on the Hessians. Helped to fill some gaps in my historical knowledge. I appreciate it.
I grew up in New Rochelle, NY. During the Revolutionary War. Hessian soldiers were landed at New Rochelle at what we later called
Davenport Neck on Long Island Sound.
I served in West Germany after I enlisted in the US Army in the 70's and 80's. I was stationed in Giessen which is in
the German state of Hesse.
Some German POWs during WW2 were sent to the Bushnell Hospital in Brigham City, Utah to work there.
The local histories tell of the respect and trust that the German POWs gained. It also says that many of the German POWs married the local girls and settled in the area to raise a family rather than go home to Germany after the war ended.
Hi Hu same here in Medicine Hat Alberta.
They built great barns.
Same in Texas.
That's how a friend's grandfather came to the US. Captured in North Africa at 21, sent to do farm work in California, made friends with the farmer, remained after the war (or returned very soon after) because none of his immediate family survived, married the farmer's daughter.
A work camp? I thought only EVIL NotSees did work camps.
good to bring that up! i have aa hessien ancestor who was amoung those who stayed behind. he helped protect empire loyalist refugees that were fleeing from the small but (from my canadian point of view) brutal american extremist mobs to what is now coincidentally the Canadian province of New Brunswick. he settled across the bay of fundy along the russia road in nova scotias north mountain. changed his name from Tucshaer to Dukeshire. its was north americas dark ages but hope this helps to fill in some of the gaps. The starvation and lack of food amoung the germans, prussians, and refugees, may explain the great emphasis on the canadian thanksgiving and why it was so readily adapted from the acadiens and Mik'maq Order of Good Cheer. more in this later. i really must look for some of the old recipes that we kept in a few cards along with the dutch oven cookbook . for they also might help fill in the connections between the rhide island knowles settlement to nova scotia in the 1747 to 1750s and in to the early 1800s into new brunswick.
typo, should be Rhode Island settlement in the 1600s to ...
New subscriber - love your channel, how you truly make this time period come alive. Thanks for all you do!! Keep it all going...
Fascinating history. I love the books Townsend's offers.
My home town (Kassel) has a few beautiful buildings that were financed with by "renting out" soldiers.
Those soldiers are not forgotten by Veterans.
That is so true! Always honoured no matter what era.
Tina Gallagher ooh rah
There's a good deal of veterans that are totally ignorant of history. I say that as an OIF vet.
A little confused by your comment, assuming you're American. Why would our modern veterans specifically remember the intricate details of the lives of a "mercenary" force that fought against their predecessors over 200 years ago?
"Not forgotten by veterans?" In which way? The Hessians had contempt for American colonial troops and didn't consider them soldiers. Read about the U.S. disastrous defeat in the Battle of New York in 1776. Time after time, Hessians bayoneted and shot surrendering American soldiers. Brit troops did a little as well but not nearly as much.
That is what makes George Washington's actions after crossing the Delaware and crushing the Hessians the following Christmas Day all the more admirable, All the Hessians were allowed to surrender with their lives spared.
Maybe the Hessians learned and stopped killing surrendering Americans after that event. The Brits still committed atrocities but mostly in the South.
First relative on my fathers side to come over was a Hessian soldier but he was stationed in Nova Scotia. For some reason he stayed in NS and settled there.
Jon, thank you soooo much for the history videos. And for printing and publishing books that are hard to come by. All of it is made more real by your dress and the snow (sleet?) dripping around you. Thanks again.
Nice piece of history thank you
Jon sits out in the snow like nothing is happening, I'm from South Carolina, ain't no way I'm managing that! Lol
His uniform has several layers and is woolen.
Can you say Voyageur?
wait till you see the Ashley freeze over in the next year or so.
Wool makes all the difference
Not sure when this was filmed, but the temperatures here in Central Indiana have been cycling between unbearably cold and somewhat pleasant. There was a thunder storm here last night and most of the snow is melted now.
This is amazing!!! A UA-cam creator making and citing sources!!! We all need this. The pattern should repeat, less self-promotion and more emphasis on the side of intellectual self-defense through knowledge.
18th century history has always been my favorite. I'm so glad I found your channel! 👍🏻❤
Jon, I was stationed in Charlottesville VA and learned an interesting fact about some of the Hessian soldiers who stayed in the colonies after the Revolution. There is a common family name in the Blue Ridge of Shifflet which has its origin with the Hessian's, the story is told that certain Hessian's who at the end of the war upon finding themselves stranded by the British who sailed back to England without them, emigrated to the Blue Ridge Mountains i.e. the frontier where they were known by the name of the shippless people... And, as occurs many times the name stuck and some took this as a last name which over time has changed to Shifflet... True or not that is the story they tell in and around Charlottesville and in the Shenandoah Valley...
As I recall, several of the Hessian soldiers captured at Trenton, New Jersey were marched down to Charlottesville and held there for the rest of the war. That's why the city still has place names like Hessian Hills and Barracks Road.
Actually, it was more that some either did not wish to return because they faced at least as good prospects as colonists in America as they would as foot soldiers in their German homelands or that they could not do so because they had deserted and were thus risking harsh penalties if they returned. The desertions were encouraged by the Revolutionaries by promising deserters land grants.
It wasnt that they didnt want to go back, they could not go back. One of my ancestors was a blacksmith in the Hessian army, he was given a knife by General Burgoyne for fixing his saddle. When they surrendered at Saratoga, he was sent to the pow barracks in Charlottesville, then was given an option to either be sent back or they could stay, be given land etc. My ancestor chose to stay, married a woman of german heritage somewhere in the Shenendoah Valley and finally settled in Blacksburg, Virginia. Every American with the surname Linkous and its variations are descended from him. He built a cabin with a parlour room, fancy for that time, especially a cabin. Now it is a historical landmark in Blacksburg.
I think that choice would have been regarded as desertion by the British and German prince whose army your ancestor belonged to.
I have Shifflets in my family (from the Valley) The Brits didnt leave them behind, the Hessians that wound up in Charlottesville (as well as Winchester) were captured at Saratoga. Original terms of surrender were for them to return to Europe with the Red Coats. After Wintering outside of Boston, the Colonial Army reneged on the terms and refused to let them leave. The Hessians were then marched to Virginia making stops in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Along the journey some remained in Md and PA, some settled in very rough conditions in Winchester, the rest made their way to Charlottesville where they set up a very functional camp.
In the late years of the war, the Brits came North from South Carolina and pushed into Virginia, burning everything in their path and in their wake. When word came they were headed in the direction of Charlotesville Colonial troops gathered up the POWs and headed North to PA, along the way many POWs endentured themselves with farmers and the like to serve out their "sentances", usually for a term of 7 years. Once that time was up most stayed in the new land and made a new start for themselves. Its estimated 3500 Heasians stayed in America after the war. Many of which made their way into the Shenandoah Valley either from the POW camp at Charlottesville or from the Camps in Carlysle PA or Frederick, MD.
My Great Grandfather (6x)Johannes Frederich Kirchhoff was one of them...
It is interesting that these people are mostly thought of as mercenaries in America. Here, in Germany it is somewhat known that recruiting was somewhat violent at times. Here’s a link to a free version of another report written by to hessians. Edit: I closely read only after posting the link - it is actually Johann Gottfried Seume’s report that Jon is reading about.(end edit) This guy later came back to Germany and lived a calm life for a while. However, one day he had enough of his bourgeois existence and went out for a “stroll” from his home near Dresden, Germany to Syracuse on the Island of Sicily in Italy. But that is another book - of which I have not yet found an English translation.
This is the link: www.gutenberg.org/files/27230/27230-h/27230-h.htm
I hope you keep making these UA-cam videos for many more years! Been checking out your website, saving for a few camp cooking supplies!
This is really fascinating! Thank you so much for bringing history to life.
Revolutionary war drill Sergeant :
Fix your collar private!
My parents are from Hessen ^^ ... my grandparents still live there. My dad used to work in Braunschweig. It´s very interesting to hear about this.
I have a 5x great-grandfather who was sent over during the Revolutionary War, and that's where he was from (last name was Specht).
einfach nur Leo Braunschweig is Brunswick.
Braunsweigers make the best leberwurst in Germany.
i love learning more about the revolutionary era. such amazing people doing such amazing work that endures to this very day! please make this available in kindle.
I am from Hessia and I didn't know this. Thank you so much for making these videos.
I've been in storms so bad as walk don the passageway one sec. you're on the deck, the next on the bulkhead... that was on a modern ship. Waves so high they crashed over the bridge.
Holy cats! that's scary
I'm a Hessian without aggression.
- Yosemite Sam
So well done as always I truly enjoy your channel keep up the great work Sir. I have order from you in the past. Many thanks to you Jon!
Super interesting.
Always enjoy hearing about history.
Thank you for bringing it to life in an engaging way.
Many of the Hessians were simply the poor with really no other options than to join the army for food rations. They were basically 'rented' out by their aristocratic nobles who pocketed the money off of their soldier's blood, sweat, and tears. Almost 5,000 of the original Hessians sent to the colonies were unaccounted for. What that means is 5,000 Hessians liked it here and decided to desert (what the colonists were fighting for was mighty appealing to them in their own sad situation) or stay after the war and build their own lives in the new country. With so many Germans and people of German descent living here they had a similar culture and language which made integrating that much easier. (A big thanks for establishing most of the breweries here.)
Read about how many British soldiers did the same
My ancestors were part of a group of Hessian mercenaries that George Washington pardoned after the war, allowed them to stay.
TY for this video. Was stationed at Carlisle Barracks US Army War Collage, second oldest army base, and they have Hessian barracks still there. Love the history, keep up the good work.
Thank you for what you do Mr. Townsend