the hessians
 The Hessians are infamous in American history for their role as part of the British forces sent to crush the colonists' rebellion in 1776. Yet these German auxiliaries, or mercenaries were only one instance of a frequent military practice, approved by international jurists of the time and used by the British in all their eighteenth-century wars. This study (dealing with one of the six contingents known inaccurately as the Hessians) is the first to make extensive use of manuscript sources in Germany, Britain and America to put the Hessians in their historical context and to examine a number of the myths about them. The encounter of the Americans with the Hessian troops from a disciplined paternalistic society organized for war, with special thoroughness, was not merely the meeting of two military systems, but also of two ways of life, and is thus worthy of study in an age of conflict. | |||
Table of contents : Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Abbreviations......Page 10 Note on German ranks and currency......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1 The German soldier trade......Page 20 2 The Hessians go to America......Page 35 3 The victories of 1776......Page 71 4 The Battle of Trenton......Page 97 5 The campaigns of 1777-81......Page 130 6 Anglo-Hessian relations......Page 157 7 The Hessian view of the American Revolution......Page 171 8 Hessian plundering......Page 184 9 Hessian desertion......Page 197 10 Recruiting in Germany......Page 220 11 The impact of the war on Hessen......Page 229 12 Conclusion......Page 247 APPENDIX A Hessians mustered into British service 1776-82......Page 267 APPENDIX B Hessian casualties in America......Page 268 APPENDIX C Calculation of total Hessians remaining in America......Page 269 APPENDIX D German auxiliaries as a proportion of British strength in America......Page 270 APPENDIX E......Page 271 Bibliography......Page 279 Index......Page 290 |
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