Hessians in the Rev. War - Chapters XXII-Appen.



CHAPTER XXII.
NEW YORK IN 1780 AND 1781.

When Sir Henry Clinton set sail for Charleston in December, 1779, he left 
the command of the garrison of New York to Lieutenant-general von 
Knyphausen. The regular troops in and about the city numbered some six 
thousand - Englishmen, Hessians, and Anspachers. By arming the 
inhabitant's and the sailors from the ships that were icebound in the 
harbor, Knyphausen succeeded in nearly doubling the number of his men, and 
the new recruits were such as could do good service behind fortifications. 
Washington, meanwhile, commanded a small, ill-fed and unpaid army, which 
in the spring of 1780 contained less than seven thousand regulars, only 
half of whom could be spared from garrison duty and made available for 
active operations.

The winter was an unusually cold one. The North and East rivers and Long 
Island Sound were frozen over, as was also the channel between Staten 
Island and the New Jersey shore. This state of things was favorable to 
expeditions, and these were constantly undertaken by both sides. In 
January, Lord Stirling landed on Staten Island, but found that the 
garrison there was expecting him, and returned to New Jersey, many of his 
men having suffered from frostbite. Knyphausen was preparing to send 
reinforcements to the island through the floating ice of the harbor. At 
the end of this month and early in February the British made expeditions 
against Elizabethtown, Newark, and Young's House, and took a number of 
prisoners.

Before the year 1780 a new spirit was brought into the conduct of the war. 
Howe and Burgoyne had hoped not only to conquer, but to conciliate. The 
homes and property of non-combatants had been spared, at least to some 
extent. Clinton and Cornwallis, acting under the instructions of Lord 
George Germaine, abandoned this conciliatory policy. Expeditions were 
undertaken with no other purpose than robbery and destruction. In these, 
also, the Hessians were employed. On the evening of the 22d of March, 
1780, for instance, a body of four hundred men, British and German, was 
sent across the Hudson. About three in the morning they reached 
Hackensack, then a beautiful and rich village. No resistance was made. Not 
an American soldier was in the place. There was no one to withstand the 
barbarities that were committed. The British and Germans broke into the 
houses and loaded themselves with spoil. They made prisoners of all the 
male inhabitants they could lay hands on, and having completed their 
robbery, they set fire to the Town-house and to some of the principal 
dwellings. At daybreak five or six hundred Americans came to the rescue 
from Pollingtown, and it might have gone hard with the invaders had not 
another detachment of about four hundred men, under the partisan Emmerich, 
advanced to support them. As it was, they were chased back to the Hudson. 
From the journal of the Anspach musketeer Doehla, Eelking makes the 
following quotation: "We took considerable booty, both in money, silver 
watches, silver dishes and spoons, and in household goods, clothes, fine 
English linen, silk stockings, gloves, and neckerchiefs, with other 
precious silk goods, satin, and stuffs. My own booty, which I brought 
safely back, consisted of two silver watches, three sets of silver 
buckles, a pair of woman's cotton stockings, a pair of man's mixed summer 
stockings, two shirts and four chemises of fine English linen, two fine 
table-cloths, one silver tablespoon and one teaspoon, five Spanish dollars 
and six York shillings in money. The other part, viz., eleven pieces of 
fine linen and over two dozen silk handkerchiefs, with six silver plates 
and a silver drinking-mug, which were tied together in a bundle, I had to 
throw away on account of our hurried march, and leave them to the enemy 
that was pursuing us." (Eelking's "Hulfstruppen," vol. ii. p. 86.)

Knyphausen claimed to have inflicted on the Americans a loss of sixty-five 
killed and three hundred and twenty prisoners during the winter (Eelking's 
"Hulfstruppen," vol. ii. p. 87.) The beginning of the summer brought round 
the time for more important action. On the evening of the 6th of June, 
1780, the first of the five divisions of a British expeditionary force was 
landed in New Jersey at Elizabethtown Point, and the four other divisions 
followed the next day. They comprised almost all the regular soldiers at 
Knyphausen's disposal. The first and second divisions pressed on through 
Elizabethtown and Connecticut Farms, meeting with some resistance. At the 
latter place the army halted, and the chasseurs were thrown out towards 
Springfield. The chasseurs were but three hundred strong at this time, a 
part of the corps being at Charleston, and another part being turned into 
cavalry, or, more properly, mounted chasseurs. On these three hundred fell 
the brunt of the fighting on that day. The Americans showed great 
pertinacity, and charged repeatedly with the bayonet. About one o'clock 
the chasseurs received reinforcements, and the enemy were driven back to 
Springfield. A cannonade was now begun, but at about four in the afternoon 
the chasseurs were ordered back to their first position, and the army 
encamped. The pickets were posted in some houses in front of the line, but 
were presently attacked. The chasseurs charged and drove the Americans 
back a long distance, and the houses were burned. Three cannon were 
brought up, but the enemy did not renew the attack. The chasseurs lost 
fifty-five men killed and wounded during the day. At dusk news was brought 
by deserters that Washington with his main army was expected at 
Springfield during the night. Thereupon Knyphausen started at eleven in 
the evening and returned to Elizabethtown Point. On the following day Lord 
Stirling, with the American advance guard, attacked an English regiment, 
but this was supported by two regiments of Germans, and the Americans were 
driven back to Elizabethtown. During the days that followed there was 
continual skirmishing. On the 13th, the mounted chasseurs made an attempt 
to surprise and capture an American cavalry picket, but their purpose was 
betrayed and the picket escaped. "It is almost impossible to surprise the 
enemy on any occasion," says the journal of the Jager Corps, "because 
every house that one passes is an advance picket, so-to speak; for the 
farmer, or his son, or his servant, or even his wife or daughter fires off 
a gun, or runs by the foot-path to warn the enemy."

On the 19th of June Sir Henry Clinton, who had just returned from 
Charleston with the Hessian grenadiers and detachment of chasseurs, the 
British grenadiers and light infantry, and the Provincial Queen's Rangers, 
reviewed Knyphausen's army. Preparations were made for an advance, and on 
the 23d, four German regiments besides the chasseurs, and six regiments of 
Englishmen and Tories marched out towards Springfield. For a time the 
Americans held their ground at Connecticut Farms, but soon they fell back 
to the battlefield of the 7th, and the English army was drawn up on the 
heights on this side of Springfield. The Passaic River lay between the 
opposing forces, and the Americans, under Major Lee, held the bridge. The 
Hessian chasseurs waded through the stream in the face of a brisk fire, 
while an English regiment charged on the bridge, and Lee was driven back 
to the heights beyond the town, where he joined a larger corps. The town 
of Springfield was occupied, and for an hour the chasseurs in the advance 
guard were skirmishing with the enemy beyond it. Then the British set fire 
to the town and retreated. The chasseurs now formed the rear guard, and 
could hardly pass between the burning houses. The Americans pressed hard 
upon them and harassed their retreat. About two miles from Elizabethtown 
the chasseurs were relieved by an English regiment, and the retreat 
continued to Elizabethtown Point. Here the troops took up their old 
positions, but were, during the night, ordered to break camp and pass over 
to Staten Island. This was done, and the bridge of boats which had been 
built on the 11th between the island and the mainland was immediately 
broken up, one Hessian regiment remaining in the tete de pont on the 
Jersey shore until the operation was completed. At about three o'clock in 
the morning the whole army had crossed. The loss of the chasseurs during 
the day was considerable, twenty-four being killed and wounded at the 
attack on the bridge over the Passaic, and perhaps as many more beyond the 
bridge and during the retreat (See MS journal of the Jager Corps; also 
Greene's report to Washington, Washington, vol. vii. p. 506 et seq., and 
Lord Stirling's report, Sparks's Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 5.)

This expedition to Springfield was the last attempt made by Sir Henry 
Clinton to attack Washington's main army in New Jersey. The remainder of 
the year was uneventful in the Northern States, except for the treason of 
Arnold and the execution of Andre; nor was the first half of 1781 marked 
by any engagement in that region more important than a skirmish.

On the evening of the 2d of July, 1781, the partisan Emmerich, with a 
hundred men, had marched out to the Phillips House. During the night, word 
was brought to Lieutenant-colonel von Wurmb that the American army was 
approaching New York in force, and that its advance guard had been seen at 
Sing Sing. A lieutenant-colonel, with two hundred chasseurs and thirty 
cavalrymen, was, therefore, sent out at dawn to bring in news and to cover 
Emmerich's retreat. The lieutenant-colonel passed over Kingsbridge and 
continued on his march along Harlem Creek, sending a non-commissioned 
officer and ten men to explore the ruins of Fort Independence, which 
commanded his road. On reaching the heights on which the fort was built, 
Rubenkonig, the sergeant in command of the scouting party, saw men at a 
little distance. Unable to distinguish what they were in the gray of the 
morning, he advanced alone to meet them, and thought he recognized the 
blue coats and straw-colored trimmings of the Regiment von Donop, a part 
of which was with Emmerich's command. He had hardly wished them good-
morning, when half a dozen men sprang at him, seized him by the hair and 
by the straps of his cartridge-box, and tried to choke him. Rubenkonig 
twisted himself out of their hands, and with cries of "Rebels! Rebels!" 
made off to his own party.

The advanced guard of the chasseurs was already in the narrow pass between 
the hill on which the fort stood and Harlem River. The men had to make 
their way back across the morass. The ground where the main body was drawn 
up was narrow and unfavorable, and the first assault on the Americans was 
repulsed, the Germans falling back in a disorderly mass. The cavalry then 
attacked without success, but the Americans retreated to the ruins of the 
fort, and the chasseurs had time to form properly and on good ground. The 
Americans were at last driven from their position, perhaps by the approach 
of reinforcements to the Germans, for Lieutenant-colonel von Wurmb arrived 
at about this time. They fell back to high ground, about one thousand 
yards off, and appeared to be some six or seven hundred strong. Emmerich 
and his party, meanwhile, had retreated across Spyt den Duyvel Creek, and 
were cut off from the chasseurs, as the bridge was in the hands of the 
enemy. The whole corps with the cavalry therefore advanced to clear the 
bridge, and the Americans retreated slowly. Wurmb having accomplished his 
first object, and believing that the enemy was trying to draw him into an 
ambuscade, halted his command and reported to headquarters. In the 
afternoon the American army advanced and encamped on Valentine's Hill, 
extending over Courtland's Reach to Spyt den Duyvel. The Hessian loss in 
the engagement was thirty men killed and wounded (MS journal of the Jager 
Corps; Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. i. p. 5-8.)

On the 6th of July, 1781, the French army, under Rochambeau, joined that 
of Washington before New York, and for more than a month a skirmishing 
warfare was kept up, Sir Henry Clinton expecting to be besieged in New 
York whenever the French fleet should arrive from the West Indies. At 
last, on the 18th of August, 1781, the enemy was reported to be crossing 
the North River. Still Clinton's eyes were not opened. In vain did 
Lieutenant-colonel von Wurmb of the chasseurs; who had permission to send 
out spies on his own account, warn the commander-in-chief that the allied 
army was on its way to Virginia. The lieutenant-colonel had two grounds 
for believing this. The first was that preparations had been made to 
provide the Americans and Frenchmen with food and forage on the road 
across New Jersey; the second, that the lieutenant-colonel had been 
informed that an American woman, who was the mistress of a French officer 
of distinction, had been instructed to go to Trenton. General Clinton was 
not convinced until it was too late to oppose the movement (MS journal of 
the Jager Corps, August 18th.)

Even after Washington's plan had become clear to him, Sir Henry Clinton 
was unwilling to employ his whole available force in any operation 
important enough to have served as a diversion in favor of Lord 
Cornwallis. It is probably now impossible to say whether an expedition in 
force against Philadelphia, or up the Hudson, might not have caused the 
return of the allied army from their southern expedition (See Clinton's 
letters to Cornwallis, Tarleton, chap. vi. Notes A, M, O, Q, S.) Clinton, 
however, contented himself with preparing to embark a corps for Yorktown, 
and sending a party under Benedict Arnold, who had lately returned from 
Virginia, to the coast of Connecticut. Arnold, at the head of two English 
regiments and one hundred Hessian chasseurs, reached New London on the 6th 
of September and stormed the fort, whose small garrison made an obstinate 
resistance. Arnold burned part of the town, the magazines, and the ships 
on the stocks. Those in the harbor escaped up the river.

It was not until the 19th of October that the British fleet put to sea to 
go to the assistance of Lord Cornwallis. The Hessian grenadiers and the 
other troops were carried as passengers on the men-of-war. On the 28th of 
October the fleet was off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, and received from 
the shore the news of Cornwallis's surrender. "This second Burgoynade," 
writes a Hessian officer, "will probably contribute much to bring the war 
to an unhappy issue." The prediction was certainly verified from its 
author's point of view, and we must now turn our attention to the events 
which led up to the catastrophe at Yorktown.



CHAPTER XXIII.
THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1781.

When Sir Henry Clinton sailed away from Charleston in June, 1780, two 
Hessian regiments were included in the garrison which he left behind him, 
and one more such regiment was brought from Savannah soon afterwards. I do 
not find any record of an active part taken by these regiments in the 
campaigns which Lord Cornwallis conducted in South and North Carolina. On 
the 16th of August, 1780, the American army under General Gates was routed 
at Camden, and on the 18th Tarleton surprised a party under Sumter. Six 
weeks later the tables were partially turned by the brilliant engagement 
at King's Mountain, where about fourteen hundred backwoodsmen surrounded 
and stormed a hill held by an equal number of British regulars and 
Provincials, killing and wounding two fifths of them, and taking the 
remainder prisoners.

In the month of October, 1780, General Leslie, with several English 
regiments, the Hessian Regiment von Bose, and a detachment of one hundred 
chasseurs left New York for the Southern States. They landed at 
Portsmouth, in Virginia, but shortly afterwards abandoned this post and 
proceeded to Charleston, where they arrived in the latter part of the year.

Having this reinforcement within reach, Lord Cornwallis started from 
Wynesborough, west of Camden, and marched against General Greene, who, at 
Washington's desire, had been appointed Gates's successor. The British 
army numbered about thirty-five hundred. Learning that Morgan, with a 
separate force (Morgan had from eight hundred to one thousand men.), was 
on the south side of Broad River, Cornwallis determined to cut him off 
from Greene's main army. For this purpose he detached Lieutenant-colonel 
Tarleton, with about a thousand men. Tarleton was to attack Morgan in 
front, while Cornwallis was to follow up the left bank of Broad River and 
capture the fugitive Americans. Tarleton came up with Morgan on the 
morning of the 17th of January, 1781. Hardly waiting to form his army, the 
gallant cavalry colonel rushed on his despised enemy. The American militia 
forming the first line gave way. The second line, formed largely of 
Continentals, stood firm. Tarleton ordered up his reserves. The Americans 
gave ground, then turned and poured in a vigorous and well-directed fire. 
This unexpected resistance threw the British into confusion. They wavered. 
Two companies of Virginia militia charged with the bayonet. The British 
gave way on all sides. Tarleton rallied about fifty horsemen, and, for a 
moment, checked the pursuit. Most of the British infantry were taken, but 
the cavalry escaped, and the baggage was destroyed. The Americans took 
about five hundred prisoners, and about a hundred Englishmen were killed. 
The American loss did not exceed seventy-five. Two standards, two cannon, 
thirty-five wagons, eight hundred muskets, and one hundred horses fell 
into Morgan's hands. The cannon had already been captured by Gates at 
Saratoga and by Cornwallis at Camden. Morgan's battle, fought almost in 
the wilderness, is called Cowpens, after the place where the inhabitants 
of that part of the country collected and salted their roving cattle.

Soon after his victory General Morgan was laid up with rheumatism and 
forced to leave the army (Lee, however, blames Morgan for leaving the army 
at this time. "Memoirs," pp. 237, 583.) Few men engaged in the 
Revolutionary War had done better service to their country. There is a 
legend which tells that the house he built for himself near Winchester, in 
the Valley of Virginia, was constructed of stones quarried by Hessian 
prisoners, who carried them for miles on their shoulders. The story is 
picturesque and not impossible, but I know of no German authority for it.

Cornwallis was disappointed but not daunted by the rout of his ablest 
subordinate, and of nearly a third of his soldiers. On the day after the 
battle of Cowpens he was joined by Leslie's division. In a few days he was 
marching across North Carolina, and Greene was retreating before him. The 
latter was driven out of the state and across the Dan River. Cornwallis 
called on the Tories to rise, and these at first showed an inclination to 
do so, but a party of them was attacked and dispersed by a superior force 
under Henry Lee and Pickens, and the others became discouraged and went 
home again.

[image caption: MAP FOR LORD CORNWALLIS'S SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS]

At last General Greene, having received reinforcements, advanced again to 
Guildford Court House, in North Carolina, and prepared to give battle. His 
army consisted of sixteen hundred and fifty-one Continentals and more than 
two thousand militia. Lord Cornwallis commanded eighteen hundred and 
seventyfive veterans. On the 15th of March, 1781, Greene drew up his army 
in three lines. The foremost of these was composed of North Carolina 
militia, posted in the woods behind a fence. A portion of this line was on 
the edge of a clearing. Its left was supported by a body of riflemen under 
Lieutenant-colonel Henry Lee and Colonel Campbell. Greene's second line, 
stationed three hundred yards behind the first, was composed of Virginia 
militia. They stood in the thick woods. The third line contained all the 
Continentals of the army.

Opposite to this force, after a skirmish of the advance guard, Lord 
Cornwallis drew up his army in two divisions. The left wing was under 
Lieutenant-colonel Webster, the right under Brigadier-general Leslie. The 
right wing first came on the North Carolina militia, which fled at its 
approach. Lee and Campbell, however, with their riflemen, continued in 
action. The British advanced against the Virginia militia. The whole 
English line was now engaged, and the Virginians defended themselves so 
well that Lord Cornwallis was obliged to call up his reserves. The 
American second line was finally driven back, and the British pressed 
forward to meet the Continentals. By this time a good deal of confusion 
had been caused among the English, fighting in the thick woods. It was 
Lieutenant-colonel Webster, with his brigade, who first met the 
Continentals. Attacking them rashly, he was driven back behind a ravine. 
The Second Maryland regiment, however, was broken by an attack of the 
second battalion of English guards, and two 6-pounders were taken. The 
First Maryland regiment and Colonel Washington's cavalry charged the 
guards, drove them back in confusion, and recaptured the guns. Then 
Lieutenant Macleod of the British artillery opened fire with two 3-
pounders on friend and foe alike. Washington's dragoons were checked, 
Webster advanced again and was supported by a part of Leslie's division, 
and General Greene drew off his army, abandoning his artillery, whose 
horses had been shot.

The Hessians engaged in this battle were a detachment of chasseurs and the 
Regiment von Bose. This regiment was on the right of the British line. It 
was opposed throughout the action to the riflemen under Lee and Campbell, 
who attacked it with great determination, both in front and rear. In this 
position the regiment behaved with great valor, and, at one time, relieved 
the first battalion of English guards, which had been thrown into 
confusion. A decisive share in the victory is claimed for the Hessian 
regiment by Eelking and Bancroft. This share can hardly be conceded to it, 
but the soldiers, and Lieutenant-colonel du Puy, who commanded them, 
deserved the favorable mention in despatches which they obtained from Lord 
Cornwallis.

The whole engagement lasted about two hours. The total loss of the British 
was five hundred and thirty-two, of whom eighty belonged to the Regiment 
von Bose (For Guildford Court-House, see Bancroft, vol. x. pp. 475-480; 
Eelking's "Hulfstruppen," vol. ii. pp. 101-104; Marshall, vol. iv. pp. 368-
379; Sparks's "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 266; Tarleton, pp. 271-278 
and (Lord Cornwallis's official report) pp. 303-310; Stedman, vol. ii. pp. 
337-345; Lee's "Memoirs," pp. 274-286; Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. ii p. 
135; vol. iii. p.322; MS journal of the Regiment von Bose. Cornwallis was 
so crippled by his victory that he turned away from the Virginian border 
and marched down to Wilmington to rest his army, leaving his severely 
wounded behind him.

Lord Cornwallis having retired to the coast, General Greene overran the 
states of North and South Carolina. Before the middle of September the 
Americans had lost three battles and conquered three provinces. 
Successively defeated at Camden, Ninety-six, and Eutaw Springs, Greene and 
the partisan leaders that cooperated with him took many smaller posts by 
siege, or storm, and caused the capitulation of Augusta, and the 
evacuation of Camden and Ninety-six. In the autumn of 1781 the British 
held no part of the three most southern states, except Savannah, 
Charleston, and Wilmington.

On the 10th of December, 1780, Benedict Arnold, now a British brigadier-
general, sailed from New York at the head of about sixteen hundred men, 
including one hundred Hessian chasseurs under Captain Ewald. Arnold 
reached James River early in January, 1781. There was no one to oppose him 
but a small force of militia, under Baron Steuben. Arnold burned the town 
of Richmond, with its stores of tobacco, and then retreated to Portsmouth, 
at the mouth of the James. It was soon after this that the chasseurs gave 
another proof of their valor. On the 19th of March, 1781, the American 
General Muhlenberg, with a party reckoned at five hundred men, advanced 
against the British line, scattered and partially captured a picket of 
chasseurs, and approached the position held by Captain Ewald. This was at 
first defended by a non-commissioned officer and sixteen men. The captain 
and nineteen more men hastened to assist them. The Americans had to 
advance over a narrow dyke, some thirty paces long, and on this they were 
crowded together. Every shot told in their ranks, and twenty-nine were 
killed or wounded. The chasseurs lost but two men, and Muhlenberg drew off 
his force. "On these occasions," says Ewald, "we must screw the heels of 
our shoes firmly to the ground and not think of moving off, and we shall 
seldom find an adversary who will run over us in such a position." Ewald 
was wounded in the knee in this skirmish. Eelking relates that Arnold came 
to see the captain after the fight. Ewald reproached the general for not 
reinforcing the chasseurs. Arnold answered that he had thought the 
position was lost. "So long as one chasseur lives," cried the angry 
captain, "no -- American shall come over the dyke." Arnold, who still 
considered himself an American, took this in bad part, and showed his 
pique by omitting to mention the conduct of the chasseurs in the orders of 
the day. Ewald complained of this to Arnold's aide, and the general came 
to him the next day with apologies, and rectified the omission (MS journal 
of the Jager Corps; Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. ii. p. 169; Eelking's 
"Hulfstruppen," vol. ii pp. 107, 108.)

Meanwhile Lafayette, with twelve hundred Continentals, had been ordered to 
Virginia. The young general marched at once with a part of his force, 
leaving Wayne to follow with the remainder. Ten French ships of war were 
sent to co-operate with the marquis. These fell in with the English 
squadron, on the 16th of March, off the capes of Virginia. After an 
engagement which lasted two hours, the French fleet sailed back to Newport 
and the English entered Chesapeake Bay. The defence of Virginia was thrown 
on the land forces exclusively, and these were unequal to the task.

On the 19th of March Major-general Phillips, the same who had been taken 
prisoner with Burgoyne at Saratoga, sailed from New York to assume command 
of the English forces in Virginia. He took with him a reinforcement of two 
thousand men, and nearly as many more followed him six weeks later. Soon 
after his arrival General Phillips sallied out from Portsmouth, went up 
the James River burning and plundering on both banks, carried off the 
negroes and shipped them to the West Indies, destroyed the magazines at 
Manchester, under the nose of Lafayette, who remained on the north side of 
the river, and on the 9th of May took possession of Petersburg, where his 
army was to make a junction with that of Lord Cornwallis, advancing from 
Wilmington. Four days later General Phillips died of malignant fever, and 
Arnold was again in command of the army. On the 20th, however, Lord 
Cornwallis arrived at Petersburg, and the traitor was shortly afterwards 
sent back to New York.

Cornwallis left Petersburg on the 24th of May, crossed the James River 
twenty-five miles below Richmond, and on the first of June was at Cook's 
Ford, on the North Anna River, near Hanover Court House. Thence he sent 
Tarleton on a raid to Charlottesville, where the Legislature of Virginia 
was in session. Tarleton scattered the legislature, and took a few of its 
members. Meanwhile Simcoe was sent to take or destroy some magazines and 
stores at Point of Fork, where the Rivanna and Fluvanna rivers unite to 
form the James. He found that the stores, which were under the guard of 
General Steuben, were on the south side of the James River. There was no 
ford, and Simcoe had but a few small boats. He, therefore, resorted to a 
stratagem. By drawing out his four hundred men in a long line, and half 
displaying and half concealing them, he succeeded in making Steuben 
believe that his command was the advance guard of Cornwallis's main army. 
Not reflecting that with only a few skiffs in which to cross the river a 
whole army was hardly more formidable than a detachment, Steuben 
retreated, leaving a part of the stores behind him. Twenty-four men were, 
thereupon, set across the river, and while half of them kept watch the 
others destroyed the stores without being disturbed (Ewald, vol. ii. pp. 
194-199; Stedman, vol. ii. pp. 389, 390. Kapp says that the stores 
destroyed were of small value, and believes that Steuben acted wisely. - 
Steuben's "Leben," pp. 429-436. See, also, Lafayette's "Memoires," vol. i. 
pp. 97, 150.)

Lafayette retreated as far north as the Rappahannock, where Wayne joined 
him with reinforcements. The marquis then made a rapid march to the 
southward and westward and placed himself between the British army and the 
stores in the western part of the state. He was still too weak, however, 
to risk a battle. Cornwallis did not advance against him, but on the 15th 
of June turned towards the seaboard. This gave Lafayette an apparent 
advantage. He followed Cornwallis on the march, but at a respectful 
distance. The army under Lafayette at the time numbered forty-five hundred 
men, of whom only one thousand five hundred and fifty were regulars 
(Johnston's "Yorktown Campaign," p. 55 ; Lafayette to Washington, June 
28th, 1781, in "Memoires de Lafayette," vol. i. p. 150)

But two engagements occurred during this return march. The first of them 
was on the 26th of June. A party under Simcoe and Ewald, forming the rear 
guard of the British army, was attacked, and in a measure surprised by a 
detachment of Wayne's division. The British and Hessians were resting at 
noon not far from Williamsburg, when the Americans made a spirited attack 
upon them. The cavalry were soon mounted, however, and the chasseurs under 
arms, and the Americans were beaten off, with a loss on either side of 
thirty or forty men (Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. iii. p. 474; Tarleton, 
pp. 301, 302; Johnston's "Yorktown Campaign," pp. 56, 190, with official 
return of the American loss.)

At Williamsburg Lord Cornwallis received orders to send back three 
thousand men to New York, which Clinton supposed to be threatened by the 
combined forces of France and the United States. For the purpose of 
carrying out this order, Cornwallis proceeded on his march to Portsmouth. 
On the 4th of July he left his camp at Williamsburg and marched to 
Jamestown, with the intention of crossing the James River. The rangers 
under Simcoe and the chasseurs under Ewald crossed the same night. A part 
of the baggage was taken over the next day. On the 6th of July Cornwallis, 
with the army, remained at Jamestown, and the general received 
intelligence that Lafayette was marching to attack him. This was what 
Cornwallis wished, as he had a good position and a much larger number of 
regular soldiers than Lafayette.

On the afternoon of the 6th of July Lafayette drew near, uncertain whether 
the main army of Lord Cornwallis was on the left bank of the James, or 
only the rear guard. The Americans came on cautiously. Wayne attacked with 
about five hundred men. The British pickets had received orders to make a 
stubborn resistance and then fall back. Encouraged by this, Wayne brought 
the rest of his brigade into action, having thus more than one thousand 
men in line. The remaining Continentals of the army formed a reserve. It 
seemed to Cornwallis that the moment to strike had come. His army was 
drawn up in two lines. The first consisted of about twenty-five hundred 
men. The second, in which was the Regiment von Bose, was about one 
thousand strong. Wayne and Lafayette discovered their error, and saw that 
it could best be redeemed by boldness. Wayne advanced with his brigade. 
This checked the British. The hostile lines halted about seventy yards 
apart, and a brisk fire was kept up for fifteen minutes. Then, as the 
British were beginning to outflank them, the Americans fell back. Two 
cannon, taken from the Brunswickers at Bennington, were left on the field, 
their horses having been shot. The loss of the Americans was reported at 
one hundred and thirty-nine, that of the British at seventy-five (For 
Green Spring, see Johnston's "Yorktown Campaign," pp. 60 et sq., 190; 
Bancroft, vol. x. p. 507; Eelking's "Hulfstruppen," vol. ii. p. 114; 
Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. ii. p. 332-335; Wayne to Washington, Sparks's 
"Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 347-350; Tarleton, pp. 353- 357; MS journal 
of the Regiment von Bose. Also a letter from Ewald to Riedesel, Eelking's 
"Riedesel," vol. iii. p. 336.)

After arriving at Portsmouth, Cornwallis received counter-orders, and 
retained the whole of his army. He was to occupy and fortify Old Point 
Comfort and, if he considered it expedient, some other situation on the 
peninsula, suitable for a naval station. The engineers having reported 
adversely on Old Point Comfort, Cornwallis, in the first week in August, 
occupied Yorktown, and the small village of Gloucester, opposite to it. 
Here he soon collected his whole force, and went busily to work fortifying 
his position, while Lafayette waited and watched him.

Just at this time Washington was informed that the French fleet, under 
Count de Grasse, was preparing to assist in the operations near Chesapeake 
Bay. Preparations were quickly and secretly made to move the American and 
French armies from New York to Virginia. We have seen that on the 18th of 
August it was already reported in the city of New York that the allies 
were crossing the North River. There were so few boats that this operation 
lasted a week. Sir Henry Clinton, although warned of Washington's design, 
was still under the impression that an attack on Staten Island might be 
intended. It was not until the 29th that he was undeceived. Leaving less 
than four thousand men under General Heath to guard the Highlands, 
Washington and Rochambeau were in full march against Cornwallis.

The allied army which was crossing New Jersey, and on which the fate of 
the war depended, was a very small one. It consisted of four thousand 
Frenchmen and two thousand Americans. Passing through Philadelphia, it 
arrived at Head of Elk on the 6th and 8th of September, 1781. Already the 
Count de Grasse had arrived in the Chesapeake with twenty-four ships of 
the line, carrying seventeen hundred guns and nineteen thousand seamen. 
Against him, on the 5th of September, came Admiral Graves, with an 
inferior force. The battle lasted two hours, and the English, though not 
decidedly beaten, were not in a condition to undertake anything more 
against the French. They sailed off to New York four days later, leaving 
de Grasse master of Chesapeake Bay.

The Frenchmen and Americans who had come from New York were now brought 
down the bay, and joined with Lafayette's corps and the French troops 
brought by de Grasse. The united army at Williamsburg on the 27th of 
September, 1781, consisted of about seven thousand Frenchmen, fifty- five 
hundred Continentals and thirty-five hundred Virginia militia. In the 
ranks of the Continentals were companies from all the states north of the 
Carolinas. The English army at Yorktown numbered some seven thousand 
soldiers. Of these, not quite eleven hundred were subjects of the Margrave 
of Anspach-Bayreuth, rather more than eight hundred and fifty were 
subjects of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and the remainder, or about 
five thousand men, were subjects of the King of Great Britain, to whom all 
in this army had swom obedience. About eight hundred marines fought on 
each side during the siege. The French fleet was not within range, but the 
English ships were actively engaged.

Yorktown was not a strong position, and was defended only by field-works. 
On the 30th of September, 1781, the British abandoned their outer line of 
defences, perhaps prematurely. On the night of the 6th of October the 
first parallel was made. On the afternoon of the 9th the parallel opened 
fire, and from that time to the end of the siege the cannonade was nearly 
continuous.

Almost the first fighting that occurred was a skirmish, on the Gloucester 
side of the river. Here were posted Simcoe's rangers, Tarleton's dragoons, 
Ewald's chasseurs, and an English regiment. Opposed to them were more than 
a thousand Frenchmen under Choisy and de Lauzun, and twelve or fifteen 
hundred militia under General Weedon. Tarleton and Simcoe had discarded 
the use of carbines by their cavalry, and this aided in their 
discomfiture. On the morning of the 3d of October it was reported to 
Lauzun that there were English dragoons outside the works of Gloucester. 
Advancing to reconnoitre, he saw a pretty woman at the door of a small 
house by the roadside. Lauzun would not have been Lauzun if he had passed 
a pretty woman unquestioned. She informed him that Colonel Tarleton had 
just been at her house, and desired very much "to shake hands with the 
French duke." "I assured her," says Lauzun, "that I had come on purpose to 
give him that satisfaction. She pitied me much, thinking, I suppose, from 
experience, that it was impossible to resist Tarleton; the American troops 
were in the same case."

Presently the French and English dragoons met. Tarleton raised his pistol 
and approached Lauzun. A single combat was imminent, when Tarleton's horse 
fell. The English dragoons covered the escape of their colonel, but his 
horse was taken by Lauzun ("Memoires du Duc de Lauzun," p. 245; Ewald's 
"Belehrungen," vol. ii. p. 391 ; Tarleton, pp. 376-378; Lee's "Memoirs," 
pp. 496-498; Rochambeau's "Memoires," pp. 291, 292.)

The 10th of October was marked by a deed of valor. Major Cochrane had left 
New York in a small vessel with despatches for Lord Cornwallis. He arrived 
at Chesapeake Bay in broad daylight, ran the gantlet of the French fleet, 
which fired briskly at him, and reached Yorktown in safety. This brave man 
had, however, seen the last of his good fortune. Two days after his 
arrival he pointed a gun with his own hands. As he looked over the parapet 
to see the effect of his shot, his head was carried off by a cannon-ball. 
Lord Cornwallis was standing by his side, and narrowly escaped sharing his 
fate (Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. i. p. 11 ; Johnston's "Yorktown
Campaign," p. 138, quoting a statement by Captain Mure in a letter 
published in appendix to vol. vii. of Lord Mahon's "History of England.")

On the night of the 11th of October the second parallel was opened. Two 
redoubts, facing the right wing of the allied position, were so placed as 
to interfere with this parallel. It was necessary to take them. The work 
of storming the larger one was intrusted to the French. The redoubt was 
manned partly by Germans. The French, under command of the Baron de 
Viomenil, were discovered and challenged at one hundred and twenty paces 
from the redoubt. Some time was spent in making an opening in the abatis. 
When this was passed the work was stormed. Ninety-two Frenchmen were 
killed or wounded in the attack. The loss of the enemy was fifteen killed 
and fifty prisoners. The Americans were equally successful in taking the 
smaller redoubt, and, as they were less delayed by the abatis, their 
success was more rapid. Nine men of their column were killed and thirty-
one wounded, including five officers.

Early in the morning of the 16th of October a sortie was made against the 
second parallel. For a few moments it was successful, and several cannon 
were spiked, but the British were presently driven back by a charge of the 
French grenadiers, and the cannon were bored out within a few hours. On 
the following night Cornwallis made an attempt to take his army across the 
York River, with the intention of trying to get off into Virginia (See 
this plan discussed at length, Tarleton, pp. 379-385; and in Lee's 
"Memoirs," pp. 503-506.) A violent storm of wind and rain, which drove all 
his boats down the river, prevented him from carrying out this design, and 
such of the troops as had already crossed to Gloucester were brought back 
the next morning, leaving only the regular garrison of that place 
(Cornwallis's report to Clinton, in Johnston's "Yorktown Campaign," p. 
181. There were one hundred and forty-two Hessians killed and wounded at 
Yorktown (Knyphausen to the Landgrave, November 6th, 1781); this does not 
include the chasseurs at Gloucester, nor the Anspachers.)

The British artillery was now completely silenced, and Cornwallis saw that 
he could hold out no longer. On the 17th of October, 1781, negotiations 
were opened, and on the 19th the capitulation was signed, the terms being 
substantially those accorded to General Lincoln at Charleston in the 
previous year.



CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCLUSION.

Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown decided the fate of the Revolutionary 
War. The armies remained quiet through the winter, and in the spring of 
1782 General Clinton and General von Knyphausen returned to Europe. Sir 
Guy Carleton assumed the command in New York, and Lieutenant-general von 
Lossberg became chief of the Hessian division. On the 14th of December, 
1782, Charleston was evacuated, and on the 25th of November, 1783, two 
years after the fall of Yorktown, the last Hessians sailed down the Bay of 
New York. "About two in the afternoon we weighed anchor," says the journal 
of the Jager Corps, "and as the fleet fell down to Staten Island we saw 
the American flag hoisted on several houses. None was raised on Fort 
George, however. At sunset we passed Sandy Hook, and at nightfall the land 
disappeared from our sight."

The force of German mercenaries which England maintained in America from 
1776 to 1783 averaged not very far from twenty thousand men. In the course 
of that time about thirty thousand soldiers were brought over, and 
seventeen thousand three hundred and thirteen returned to Germany when the 
war was ended. For the services of these men England paid in levy-money 
and subsidies to the princes more than £1,770,000 sterling. This was in 
addition to the pay of the soldiers and to all expenses except those of 
recruiting and equipment.

There can be no question that for this large sum of money Great Britain 
obtained the services of excellent soldiers. It is true that the Germans 
were several times unsuccessful when left to themselves and not 
accompanied by English troops. Breymann's Brunswickers at Bennington found 
it impossible to get over the ground with reasonable speed, but the whole 
of Burgoyne's army was singularly slow in its movements. That general, in 
a private letter, speaks of the Germans at Saratoga as "dispirited and 
ready to club their arms at the first fire." Yet they had fought with 
valor in the earlier part of the campaign, and had rendered essential 
services both at Hubbardton and Freeman's Farm. At Saratoga the Brunswick 
regiments held the most exposed part of the line. Turning now to the war 
in the Middle States, we see the Hessians taking the leading part and 
behaving with great gallantry at White Plains and Fort Washington. We see 
them, made over-confident by success, surprised at Trenton and defeated at 
Red Bank. On the former occasion they were thrown into confusion, their 
commander was killed, and the men "never made any regular stand." On the 
latter occasion they fought with desperation, suffering a loss of three 
hundred and seventy-one officers and men, in a force that cannot have 
exceeded twenty-five hundred. It would lead us too far to consider 
minutely those actions in which the Germans did not form the principal 
part of the king's forces, but I think that it would be found that on few 
occasions during the war did the Hessian soldiers show either a want of 
courage or a want of discipline. One difficulty was inevitable in the 
employment of troops of different nationalities. Jealousy and ill-will 
arose between the officers and between the soldiers. We have seen how 
Heister was recalled, because he could not get on with Sir William Howe, 
and how Riedesel felt himself injured by Burgoyne. The British were, 
moreover, accused of acting unfairly in the matter of the exchange of 
prisoners, and of exchanging their own officers while they left the 
Germans in captivity. Riedesel went so far as to write to Washington on 
the subject, and was politely reminded that it was not a matter within the 
latter's control (Eelking's "Hulfstruppen," vol. i. p. 340.)

We may take it for granted that the jealousy felt by the superior officers 
was shared by the subordinates. In a letter from Brookland (Brooklyn), 
dated the 7th of September, 1776, a Hessian chaplain writes: "Our dear 
Hessians learned to bear their hardships, and I endeavored in my prayers 
and sermons to strengthen them in their Christian heroism. The loitering 
of the English general made them impatient, but still more the proud and 
insulting looks which the English are wont to cast on the Germans. This 
often led to bloody scenes. A non-commissioned officer to whom an 
Englishman said over their cups, '- you, Frenchman, you take our pay,' 
answered coldly, 'I am a German and you are a -.' Both drew, and the 
Englishman was so badly wounded that he died. Not only was the good German 
pardoned by the English general, but orders were given that the English 
should treat the Germans like brothers. All this happens since our 
teachable Germans have learned a little English." (Schlozer's 
"Briefwechsel," vol. vii. p. 362.)

Too much weight must not, however, be given to such stories, many of 
which, undoubtedly, obtained circulation in America during the war. "It is 
astonishing," writes Ewald, many years afterwards, "what stuff deserters 
often tell in order to please their new friends and obtain a good 
reception. After I had been taken prisoner at Yorktown, and had made the 
acquaintance of several French officers, a French general, then chief of 
the Deux Ponts Regiment (The colonel of the Deux Ponts Regiment was the 
Count de Deux Ponts. I suspect that he was the "general" alluded to. - 
Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. ii. p. 424), asked me quite in confidence 
whether the Hessians were not very discontented with the English service, 
as it was very hard that these troops should always be employed in the 
most doubtful battles; that they should often be wantonly sacrificed; that 
they should always have the worst quarters assigned to them; that they 
should receive the worst provisions; that they should be improperly paid 
and allowed to suffer want of all sorts. I could not help laughing at his 
story, and assured him that not a single word of all this was true, but 
quite the contrary; whereupon the general was very much astonished, for 
every deserter had assured him that it was so."

It has sometimes been said that the German soldiers deserted in great 
numbers in America. This assertion is only partially borne out by facts. 
At the time when the first Hessians arrived at Staten Island, Congress 
caused papers to be distributed among them, encouraging them to desert. 
Washington was busy with such papers within a few days of their landing 
(Washington, vol. iv. pp. 66, 67. See in the MS journal of the Regiment 
von Huyn a copy of a proclamation addressed at this time to the Hessian 
officers.) The promises then made were renewed from time to time. One 
proclamation, dated on the 29th of April, 1778, promises fifty acres of 
land to every soldier that will come over, and any captain who brings 
forty men with him shall receive eight hundred acres of woodland, four 
oxen, one bull, two cows, and four sows. Deserters were not to be obliged 
to serve on the American side, but might devote themselves at once to the 
improvement of their estates. Such officers, however, as would accept 
service in the army of the United States should receive a rank higher than 
that which they had enjoyed in the army they were leaving, and should be 
appointed to a corps composed of Germans, to be employed on frontier or 
garrison duty exclusively, unless at its own request (Eelking's 
"Hulfstruppen," vol. i. pp. 344-347.)

These promises were not entirely without result. In August, 1778, two 
Hessian lieutenants came to Washington's camp, and held out hopes that 
other officers would follow them. These hopes were illusory for the most 
part. Ewald asserts that no other born Hessian officer deserted, but I 
have reason to suppose that some few officers of the smaller German 
contingents went over (Ewald's "Belehrungen," vol. ii. pp. 425-427.)

Even among the privates the desertion was less than might have been 
expected. It was proportionally large among the prisoners of war. The army 
that surrendered at Saratoga in October, 1777, numbered five thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-one men, of whom two thousand four hundred and 
thirty-one were Germans. From this army six hundred and fifty-five 
Englishmen and one hundred and sixty Germans had deserted by the 1st of 
April, 1778. There is no doubt that continual efforts were made to induce 
these and other prisoners to desert and enlist in the American army. 
Washington was very much opposed to this system. On the 27th of November, 
1776, he writes to the President of Congress: "By a letter from the Board 
of War on the subject of an exchange, they mention that several of the 
prisoners in our hands have enlisted. It is a measure, I think, that 
cannot be justified, though the precedent is furnished on the side of the 
enemy; nor do I conceive it good in point of policy. But as it has been 
done, I shall leave it with Congress to order them to be returned or not, 
as they shall judge fit." And again, on the 30th, he expresses the same 
opinion to the Board of War, and adds: "Before I had the honor of yours on 
this subject, I had determined to remonstrate to General Howe on this 
stead. As to those few, who have already enlisted, I would not have them 
again withdrawn and sent in, because they might be subjected to 
punishment; but I would have the practice discontinued in future." (This 
letter is not given by Sparks, from whose edition the other quotations 
from Washington's writings are made. This is from an old London edition of 
"Washington's Official Letters.")

In a letter written on the 8th of October, of the same year, he had gone 
still further, and said that mechanics and other prisoners who wished to 
remain should be obliged to return (Washington, vol. iv. p. 147.) On the 
12th of March, 1778, he says that if prisoners have been enlisted by the 
Americans he has not known it. "We have always complained against General 
Howe, and still do," writes he, "for obliging or permitting the prisoners 
in his hands to enlist, as an unwarrantable procedure, and wholly 
repugnant to the spirit at least of the cartel." (Washington, vol. v. p. 
270.) A few days later, however, he refers Pulaski to Congress. "I have 
informed him," writes Washington, "that the enlisting of deserters and 
prisoners is prohibited by a late resolve of Congress. How far Congress 
might be inclined to make an exception, and license the engaging prisoners 
in a particular detached corps, in which such characters may be admitted 
with less danger than promiscuously in the line, I cannot undertake to 
pronounce." (Washington, vol. v. p. 278. See, also, Washington's letters 
to James Bowdoin and to General Heath against enlisting deserters. - 
Washington, vol v. pp. 287, 346.)

It is probable that Pulaski did, in fact, enlist deserters, and it is 
certain that the so-called Chevalier Armand (in fact Marquis de la 
Rouerie) did so. Wiederhold, when in captivity at Reading, early in 1780, 
saw two squadrons of Armand's corps pass through that town. He says that 
the corps had been four hundred strong and composed entirely of German 
deserters.

On the 22d of May, 1778, Congress passed a resolution advising the states 
to declare all deserters and prisoners free from militia duty, and to 
forbid their serving as substitutes in the militia. On the 29th of the 
same month a singular scene is said to have taken place at Cambridge. Some 
Brunswick officers caught a deserter, one of the prisoners on Prospect 
Hill. He was making off to Watertown, where Colonel Armand had a 
recruiting station. The poor wretch was brought back to camp, and, as he 
was the first that had been caught, it was determined to make an example 
of him. He was tied to a post and flogged with a rod, three hundred 
strokes. His hair was then cut off, and he was dishonorably dismissed from 
the service. The Americans are said to have looked calmly on, but to have 
received the man with kindness after the punishment, and led him away in 
triumph (Eelking's "Riedesel," vol. ii. p. 262.) Eelking gives no 
authority for this story, and we may hope that it is apocryphal. At any 
rate, the punishment, if it really took place, did not prove very 
effectual, for some fifty Brunswickers deserted in the course of the next 
five months, and the loss of men from desertion during the journey to 
Virginia was heavy.

Some of the desertion among the prisoners was only apparent. The German 
captives sometimes left the dreary huts in which they were confined and 
wandered away, in hopes of reaching New York, or one of the British 
armies. On the 18th of May, 1779, Governor Clinton writes to Washington 
concerning "an alarm on the frontiers of Ulster County, occasioned by the 
appearance of about one hundred Indians and Tories. They were joined at 
this place by twenty seven Tories from east of Hudson's River, mostly 
Hessian deserters from the Convention troops. The sudden assembling of the 
militia deterred them from penetrating farther into the country, and 
prevented them from doing any material injury (Sparks's "Correspondence," 
vol. ii. p. 298.) And in February, 1781, General Greene wrote that thirty-
eight out of a detachment of forty men in Armand's legion had deserted to 
the enemy, and that Baron Steuben had been obliged to order a number of 
them to join their regiments, who were prisoners at Charlottesville 
(Sparks's "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 247.)

If it be true, as the German writers assert, and as seems to be the case, 
that the German soldiers deserted less than the English in this war, the 
cause is not far to seek. The troops were employed for the most part in 
neighborhoods where the inhabitants could speak no German. Moreover, the 
"Hessians," as the auxiliaries were indiscriminately called, were objects 
of peculiar abhorrence to the natives. Their name might probably be 
sometimes heard as a term of reproach to this day in country districts. 
The English deserter became indistinguishable from the moment when he took 
off his red coat. The German could speak no word that did not betray him 
(Sparks's "Correspondence," vol. iii. pp. 142, 154.)

Neither among the English nor among the Germans was desertion so prevalent 
as among the Americans. But in saying this, one great difference must be 
noted. The British or German soldier could only desert to the enemy. The 
American militiaman generally returned to his home. The Revolutionary 
militia were, in some important respects, more like the clans of Scotch 
Highlanders in the civil wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
than like modern soldiers. They came or went, as patriotism or 
selfishness, enthusiasm or discouragement succeeded each other in their 
breasts. Often intrepid in battle, they were subject to panics, like all 
undisciplined troops, and were such uncomfortable customers to deal with 
that it was equally unsafe for their generals to trust them or for their 
enemies to despise them.

We have seen that seventeen thousand three hundred and thirteen Germans, 
or about fifty-eight per cent, of those who came over as mercenaries, 
returned safely to Europe. Of the twelve thousand five hundred and fifty-
four that remained, a small proportion had been killed in battle or had 
died of their wounds, many had died of sickness, many had deserted, some 
had remained in America, after peace was concluded, with the consent of 
the authorities. Hessian officers and privates received grants of land in 
Nova Scotia, and the Duke of Brunswick, with characteristic inhumanity, 
ordered that not only soldiers guilty of crimes and disorderly conduct, 
but those who were bodily unfit for military duty, should be left in 
Canada (MS journal of the Grenadier Battalion von Platte; Eelking's 
"Hulfstruppen," vol. ii. pp. 253-255; Appendix D.)

The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel has not failed to find apologists. These 
dwell, in the first place, on the general wickedness of the Americans, and 
on their criminality in revolting against the King of England, under whose 
government they were only too happy; and, secondly, maintain that the 
letting of troops was in accordance with the customs of the last century, 
that the money received by the Landgrave was used for the benefit of his 
people, and that these approved of the transaction. Into the first 
contention I do not propose to enter further than is necessary to point 
out its irrelevance. Had the Landgrave gone into the Revolutionary War on 
its merits, an argument drawn from the depravity of the rebels and the 
wickedness of rebellion would have been pertinent. It has no force when 
applied to a prince who, in accordance with a policy that was hereditary 
in his dynasty, let out his troops to the highest bidder. As to the second 
argument, it is true that public morality in the matter of the employment 
of mercenaries was and is deplorably loose. A nation engaged in a great 
struggle can hardly be expected not to take help where it can find it. The 
individual soldier of fortune has long been looked on with too much 
indulgence. But to be a soldier of fortune by proxy, to coin money out of 
other people's blood, and by perils which he who profits by them does not 
share, has never been considered a manly occupation; and those who say 
that the Hessian people approved of Landgrave Frederick's bargains condemn 
his subjects without excusing himself. A better argument was found by his 
minister, Schlieffen, in the close connection between the English court 
and the courts of Hesse and Brunswick. The American provinces might 
conceivably be inherited by a Hessian prince. Did we, therefore, see 
Hessian soldiers serving in English pay against American rebels without 
pecuniary compensation to the Landgrave, we might believe that they were 
sent for political reasons. This argument loses its force in the face of 
the subsidies. The Landgrave entered into a sordid bargain, and it is in 
the light of this bargain that he must be judged.



APPENDIX A

LIST OF GERMAN AUTHORITIES USED IN PREPARING THIS WORK

PRINTED

FRIEDRICH KAPP - Der Soldatenhandel deutscher Fursten nach Amerika. 
Berlin, 1864.

The same. - The same. Berlin, 1874. (The first edition contains in its 
appendix much interesting material omitted in the second edition. The 
second edition is enlarged and corrected. References in this volume are to 
the second edition unless stated to be otherwise.)

The same. - Geschichte der Deutschen im Staate New York. New York, 1869.

The same. - Friedrich der Grosse und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. 
Leipzig, 1871.

The same. - Article in Sybel's Historische Zeitschrift. II. 6=42. 1879

The same. - Leben des Amerikanischen Generals Friedrich Wilhelm von 
Steuben. Berlin, 1858.

MAX VON EELKING. - Die deutschen Hulfstruppen im nordamerikanischen 
Befreiungskriege, 1776 bis 1783. Hannover, 1863. 2 vols.

The same. - Leben und Wirken des Herzoglich Braunschweig 'schen General-
Lieutenants Friedrich Adolph von Riedesel. Leipzig, 1856. 3 vols.

GENERALIN VON RIEDESEL - Die Berufs-Reise nach Amerika. Berlin, 1801.

CHRISTIAN LEISTE - Beschreibung des Brittischen Amerika zur Ersparung der 
englischen Karten. Wolfenbuttel, 1778.

F. B. MELSHEIMER - Tagebuch von der Reise der Braunschweigischen Auxiliar 
Truppen von Wolfenbuttel nach Quebec. Minden, 1776.

The same. - Erste Fortsetzung. (These are two small pamphlets.)

J. VON EWALD - Belehrungen uber den Krieg, besonders uber den kleinen 
Krieg, durch Beispiele grosser Helden und kluger und tapferer Manner. 
Schleswig, 1798.

Folge derselben. Schleswig, 1800.

Zweite und letzte Folge derselben. Schleswig, 1803.

Briefe eines Reisenden uber den gegenwartegen Zustand von Cassel, mit 
aller Freiheit geschildert. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1781.

Hochfurstl. Hessen-Casselischer Staats-und Adress-CaIender auf das Jahr 
Christi 1779. Cassel.

KARL BIEDERMANN - Deutschland im Achtzehnten Jahrhundert. Vol. I. 
Deutschlands Politische, materielle und sociale Zustande im Achtzehnten 
Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1880.

FERDINAND PFISTER. - Der Nordamerikanische UnabhangigkeitsKrieg. Kassel, 
1864.

Friedrich II und die neuere Geschichts-Screibung. - Ein Beitrag zur 
Widerlegung der Marchen uber angeblichen Soldaten-Handel hessischer 
Fursten. Zweite mit eine Beleuchtung Seumens vermehrte Auflage. Melsungen, 
1879.

I. G. SEUME - Samtliche Werke. Leipzig, 1835. (Mein Leben.)

The same - Article in I. W. v. ARCHENHOLTZ'S Neue Literatur und 
Volkerkunde. Fur das Jahr 1789. Zweiter Band. (Schreiben aus Amerika nach 
Deutschland, Hallifax, 1782.)

AUGUST LUDWIG SCHLOZER'S, & c., Briefwechsel meist historischen und 
politischen Inhalts. Gottingen, 1780 to 1782. (A reprint in 10 vols. of 
this interesting magazine, dating from 1776 to 1782, and containing a 
large number of articles on the Revolutionary War, and of letters from 
America.)

The same - Stats-Anzeigen. (A continuation of the above-mentioned magazine 
under a new title.) 18 voIs.

Die neuesten Staatsbegebenheiten mit historischen und politischen 
Anmerkungen. Frankfurt am Mayn und Mainz, 1775, 1776, 1777 - 3 vols.

KARL HEINRICH RITTER VON LANG - Geschichte des vorletzten Markgrafen von 
Brandenburg-Anspach. Anspach, 1848.

J. B. FISCHE - Geschichte von Anspach oder Onolzbach. Anspach, 1786.

Reglement fur Hessische Infanterie. Cassel, 1767.

Von den Hessen in Amerika, ihren fursten, & c., 1782. (The pamphlet 
attributed to Schlieffen.)


MANUSCRIPTS

(From originals or copies in the Standische Landesbibliothek at Cassel.)

(1.) journal von dem Hochlobl: Hessischen Grenadier olom Battaillon von 
Minnigerode, modo von Loewenstein vom 20ten Januarii, 1776, bis 17ten May, 
1784.

(2.) journal vom Hochfurstlich Hessischen Grenadier Battaillon Platte. Vom 
16 Februar, 1776, bis den 24 Maij, 1784. Gefuhrt durch dem Regiments 
Quartier Meister Carl Bauer.

(3.) journal des Hochloblichen Fuselier Regimentes von Alt-Lossberg. 
Gefuhrt durch den Regiments Quartier Meister Heusser, vom Ausmarsch aus 
der Garnison Rinteln an, bis zur Zuruckkunft des gedachten Hochloblichen 
Regiments aus America vom 10ten Merz, 1776, bis den 5ten October, 1783.

(4.) Geschichte des hochloblichen Fuselier-Regiments von Lossberg in Form 
eines Tagebuchs angefangen 1776-1783 (by Adj. Piel).

(5.) journal vom Loblichen Garnisons-Regiment von Huyn, nachher von 
Benning de ao. 1776, bis medio November, 1783 gefuhrt dutch mich dem 
Regiments Qtiermstr G. Kleinschmidt.

(6.) Journal gefuhrt bei dem Hochloblich Hessischen Feld-Jager Corps 
wahrend denen Campagnen der Konigl. Grossbrittanischen Armee in North 
Amerika. Angefangen den 23ten Juli, 1777, von dem Tage wo der 
Oberstlieutenant Ludwig Johann Adolph von Wurmb das Commando uber das 
Corps ubernahm und geendigt den 20ten April, 1784, bei der erfolgten 
retour derer samtlich Hochfurstlich. Hessischen Truppen aus America.

(7.) Tagebuch des Hauptmannes Wiederhold, v. 1776-80. (The copy in the 
library at Cassel is made from the original by the husband of Wiederhold's 
granddaughter, and contains several interesting appendices.)

(8.) journal von dem Hochfurstl. Hessischen Hlobl. Infanterie Regiment von 
Trumbach, modo General Lieutenant von Bose, seines in ao. 1776 aus Hessen 
nach Amerika gethanen Aus Marches, und in ao. 1783 wieder gehabten Ein 
Marches zur Garnison Hofgeismar.

(9.) journal von dem Hochfurstlichen Hessischen, des General Major von 
Knoblauch Lobl. Garnisons-Regiment, seit dem Amerikanischen Krieg von anno 
1776 bis Ende 1783.

(10.) Briefe des General-Majors von Riedesel. Tagebuch vom Capit. Pausch.

(From the library of his Serene Highness the Prince of Waldeck.) 
(11.) Fragment of a diary of the Waldeck Regiment, April 11, 1780, to 
July, 1782.

(From the archives at Marburg.)
(12.) Berichte Sr ExcelIentz des Herrn General Lieutenant von Knyphausen 
an Serenissimum.

(Of the above-named MSS I have copies. I have also consulted a collection 
of papers concerning Regt. von Mirbach in the library at Cassel, and 
sundry documents in the archives at Marburg.)


APPENDIX B.

THE HESSIAN REGIMENTS AND THEIR NAMES

The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel sent fifteen of his regiments to America. 
Each of these regiments was composed of 650 officers and men, in five 
companies. This was less than the normal strength of a Hessian regiment. 
Fourteen of the fifteen regiments had given up one company of grenadiers 
each, and these fourteen companies, with two more from the Landgrave's 
bodyguard, were formed into four battalions of grenadiers, with a strength 
of 524 officers and men for each battalion. A corps of chasseurs (Jagers), 
originally consisting of two companies, accompanied the army. It was 
augmented in 1777 to a nominal strength of 1067 Officers and men, but I 
think it never much exceeded six or seven hundred effective. There were 
three companies of artillery, together numbering 588 (Kapp's 
Soldatenhandel, 1. ed., p. 280). Thus the Hessian force (Cassel) was 
composed Of 15 regiments of infantry, 4 battalions of grenadiers, 1 corps 
of chasseurs, and 3 companies of artillery. There was no cavalry, but a 
few of the chasseurs were mounted.

A Hessian regiment was usually named after its "Chef." This "Chef" was 
sometimes the colonel of the regiment, but more frequently a prince or 
superior officer. As the "Chefs" were frequently changed or transferred, 
it is often difficult to identify a regiment. The battalions of grenadiers 
in America were named after their lieutenant-colonels. The following list 
of the regiments and battalions that served in America, and of the changes 
in their names, is taken partly from a list appended to the copy of 
Wiederhold's diary, in the library at Cassel. I believe it to be generally 
correct. I have added the names of the principal battles and expeditions 
in which the various regiments and battalions were engaged. (Those 
regiments which came over with von Heister are marked "I. div." Those 
which came with von Knyphausen are marked "II. div."

Gren. batt. von Linsingen. (I div.-Long, Island, Chatterton Hill, 
Brandywine, Redbank, Charleston.)

Gren. batt. von Block; 1777, von Lengerke. (I. div.-Long island, 
Chatterton Hill, Brandywine, Redbank, Charleston.)

Gren. batt. von Minnigerode; 1780, von Loewenstein. (I div.-Long, Island, 
Chatterton Hill, Brandywine, Redbank, Charleston.)

Gren. batt. von Koehler; 1778, von Graff; 1782, von Platte. (II. div. - 
Fort Washington, Charleston.)

Leib Regiment. (I. div. - Chatterton Hill, Brandywine, Germantown, 
Newport, Springfield)

Regiment Landgraf (sometimes called Wutgenau). (II. div - Fort Washington, 
Newport, Springfield.)

Regiment Erbprinz. (I. div. - Long Island, Fort Washington, Yorktown.)

Regiment Prinz Carl. (Newport.)

Regiment von Dittfurth. (I. div. - Newport, Charleston.)

Regiment von Donop. (I. div. - Long Island, Fort Washington, Brandywine, 
Germantown, Springfield.)

Fuselier Regt. von Lossberg (sometimes Alt von Lossberg). (I. div. Long 
Island, Chatterton Hill, Fort Washington, Trenton, Brandywine.)

Fuselier Regt. von Knyphausen. (I. div.- Long Island, Chatterton Hill, 
Fort Washington, Trenton, Brandywine.)

Grenadier Regt. Rall; 1777, von Woellwarth; 1778, von Trumbach; 1779, 
d'Angelelli. (I. div.- Long Island, Chatterton Hill, Fort Washington, 
Trenton, Brandywine, Savannah.)

What remained of the three last-mentioned regiments after Trenton formed 
the "Combined Battalion" in the campaign of 1777. In December of that year 
two battalions were formed, under Colonels von Loos and von Woellwarth. 
The three regiments subsequently resumed their separate organization, but 
the two first of them again suffered heavily by storm and captivity in 
September, 1779 (see Chapter XX.)

Regiment von Mirbach; 1780, Jung von Lossberg. (I. div.- Long Island, Fort 
Washington, Brandywine, Redbank.)

Regiment von Trumbach; 1778, von Bose. (I. div. Fort Clinton, Springfield, 
Guildford Court-House, Green Spring, Yorktown.)

Garnisons Regt. von Stein; 1778, von Seitz. (II. div.)

Garnisons Regt. von Wissenbach; 1780, von Knoblauch. (II. div. - Savannah.)

Garnisons Regt. von Huyn; 1780, von Benning. (II. div.- Fort Washington, 
Newport, Charleston.)

Garnisons Regt. von Bunau. (II. div. - Fort Washington, Newport, 
Springfield.)

Feld Jager Corps. (Detachments of this corps were concerned in almost 
every operation.)

(The above-named regiments are from Hesse-Cassel.)

With the army commanded by Howe and Clinton, commonly served the following 
German regiments, in addition to those above-mentioned:

Regiment Waldeck. (Fort Washington, Pensacola.)

Regiment Anspach. (Philadelphia, Newport, Springfield, Yorktown.)

Regiment Bayreuth. (Philadelphia, Newport, Yorktown.)

(The two last-mentioned are generally called the two Anspach regiments. 
The Anspach chasseurs made up a part of the Hessian Jager Corps.)

The BRUNSWICK contingent, serving in Canada and northern New York, was 
composed of the:

Regiment of Dragoons (dismounted). (Benninglon under Baum.)

Battalion of Grenadiers. (Bennington under Breymann, 1st Stillwater, 2d 
Stillwater, Saratoga.)

Regiment Prinz Friedrich. (Remained at Ticonderoga during the Saratoga 
campaign.)

Regiment von Riedesel. (1st Stillwater, Saratoga.)

Regiment von Rhetz. (2 companies at 1st Stillwater, Saratoga.)

Regiment von Specht. (Saratoga.)

Jager battalion, or Battalion Barner. (1st Stillwater, Saratoga.)

The Hanau regiment and the Hanau artillery served with this army, and 
shared its fate. The artillery had done good service in the campaign Of 
1776, on Lake Champlain, as well as in 1777.

The Hanau chasseurs, or some of them, took part in St. Leger's expedition.

The regiment from Anhalt-Zerbst reached Canada after active hostilities in 
that province were over.


APPENDIX C.

"He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to 
complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with 
circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation." - 
Declaration of Independence.


APPENDIX D.

TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF TROOPS SENT TO AMERICA BY EACH ONE OF THE GERMAN 
STATES, AND OF THE NUMBER THAT RETURNED.

The numbers originally given in Schlozer's "Stats-Anzeigen" (vi. pp. 521, 
522), were corrected by Kapp as to the Anspach contingent. They form, 
perhaps, the nearest approximation attainable.


BRUNSWICK sent in 1776...................4,300
    "      "    " March, 1777..............224
    "      "    " April, 1778..............475
    "      "    " April, 1779..............286
    "      "    " May, 1780................266
    "      "    " April, 1782..............172
Total....................................5,723
Returned in the autumn of 1783...........2,708
Did not return...........................3,015


HESSE-CASSEL sent in 1776...............12,805
     "        "    " December, 1777........403
     "        "    " March, 1779...........993
     "        "    " May, 1780.............915
     "        "    " April, 1781...........915
     "        "    " April, 1782...........961
Total...................................16,992
Returned in the autumn of 1783 
and the spring of 1784..................10,492
Did not return...........................6,500


HESSE-HANAU, under various treaties......2,038
     " recruits sent in April, 1781.........50
     "    "      "    " April, 1782........334
Total....................................2,422
Returned in the autumn of 1783...........1,441
Did not return.............................981


ANSPACH-BAYREUTH sent in 1777............1,285
the autumn of the same year, recruits......318
1779.......................................157
1780.......................................152
1781.......................................205
1782.......................................236
Total....................................2,353
Returned in the autumn of 1783...........1,183
Did not return...........................1,170


WALDECK sent in 1776.......................670
   "     "    " April, 1777.................89
   "     "    " February, 1778.............140
   "     "    " May, 1779...................23
   "     "    " April, 1781................144
   "     "    " April, 1782................159
Total....................................1,225
Returned in the autumn of 1783.............505
Did not return.............................720


ANHALT-ZERBST sent in 1778.................600
      "        "    " April, 1779...........82
      "        "    " May, 1780.............50
      "        "    " April, 1781..........420
Total....................................1,152
Returned in the autumn of 1783.............984
Did not return.............................168


Total number sent..........................29,867
Total number returned .....................17,313
Total number of those who did not return...12,554


Of the 12,554 who did not return my own estimate is as follows:
Killed and died of wounds...............1,200
Died of illness and accident............6,354
Deserted................................5,000
Total..................................12,554


APPENDIX E.

LIST OF THE LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THE GERMANS IN THE PRINCIPAL BATTLES OF 
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

                        Killed   Wounded   Missing
Long Island................2........25
Sept. 15th 1776 *..........2........16
Sept. 16th, 1776...........1.........1
Oct 9th to Oct 23d 
(incl. Chatterton Hill)...13........63........23
Fort Washington ..........56.......276
Trenton...................17........78
Assanpink 
(Jan. 2d, 1777)............4........11
Burgoyne's Campaign 
to October 6th...........164.......284
Burgoyne's Campaign
from Oct. 7th to 16th.....25(?).....75(?)
Skirmish, Sept. 3, 1777....1........19
Brandywine: 
Chasseurs..................7........39
other Hessians.............2(?).....16
Redbank...................82.......229........60 
Newport...................19........96........13
Stono Ferry................9(?).....34(?)
Charleston................11........62
Springfield...............25(?).....75(?)
Baton Rouge...............25.........8
Pensacola.................15(?).....45(?)
Guildford Court House.....15........69.........4
Yorktown..................53.......131........27
Total....................548......1652.......127

*Although the British landed on New York Island without opposition, there 
was a skirmish on the day of their landing, in which the Hessian 
grenadiers suffered the loss stated above.