Did any Hessian troops imprisoned in Reading [PA] stay in America after the Revolutionary War?

Reading Eagle ^ | 7-26-12 | Ron Devlin

[Pharmboy]

Ask Ron Devlin: Country they fought against became home

Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy
The state historical marker for Hessian Camp on Mineral Spring Road.

Dorothy Johnston, who grew up near Hessian Camp in Reading, wondered what happened to the German mercenaries imprisoned in Reading during the Revolutionary War.

First, some background.

Faced with open revolt in its American Colonies, Britain arranged with the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick and other German nobles to send troops to the Colonies.

By some estimates, 30,000 German mercenaries, including those called Hessians, were sent to help the British squelch the rebellion.

After British Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered in 1777, Hessians were taken prisoner, and some ended up at Hessian Camp in Reading, where they were housed in huts from 1781 to 1783.

A good number, it turns out, chose to stay in Reading rather than return to Germany. Mrs. LeRoy Sanders discussed the issue in a 1951 article in the Historical Review of Berks County.

Sanders scoured church records for weddings and baptisms involving men who listed their home addresses as Brunswick or Hanauer in Germany.

At Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, she found 17 conversions, 24 weddings and nine christenings involving Hessian prisoners from that region.

"Many Pennsylvanians are descended from these men who fought against us," Sanders concluded.

The "convention prisoners," as they were known, were permitted to work on area farms and forges during their imprisonment. Apparently, some formed relationships that ended in marriage.

Actually, there were two categories of Hessian soldiers: the Brunswickers and Braunschweigers. The Duke of Brunswick offered free transportation home only to native Brunswickers but advised others to make a life for themselves in the new nation.

In a 2001 article in the Historical Review, Henry J. Retzer suggested that Hessian prisoners of war could buy their freedom.

A journal kept by Johann Bense, a Brunswick grenadier, cited a 1782 congressional directive saying POWs could gain freedom by paying a ransom of about 13 British pounds. If they did not have the money, an American citizen could pay it provided the Hessian agreed to be indentured for three years.

Also, a POW who offered to join the Continental Army, Bense wrote, would be paid about 11/2 pounds at the end of the war and would receive 100 acres.

"On April 21, 1783, the second day of Easter at noon, 13 cannon shots were fired for the 13 free colonies," Bense wrote. "The whole city (Reading) was illuminated."

Bense was released and spent time in New York City, Retzer found, but eventually returned to the Duchy of Brunswick.

In a letter to his superiors in New York, Hessian Sgt. Maj. Samuel Vaupel reported that several musketeers married without permission.

One Pvt. Wiskermann was ransomed by "a rich widow" in Reading, Vaupel reported. He listed her surname as Mifflin.

Ask Ron is a weekly feature providing answers to quirky curiosities of the Berks County area. Is there something that you're curious about? Pose the question to Ron Devlin at 610-371-5030 or rdevlin@readingeagle.com.

[the OlLine Rebel]

“If they did not have the money, an American citizen could pay it provided the Hessian agreed to be indentured for three years.”

This is not PA-related (I assume), but it makes me think what I found in CT may have been due to this.

As a graveyard- as well as RevWar-lover, I spent many weekends hunting out old graveyards in CT when I lived there. Many touching RevWar-related graves (in those days, they told stories more than now).

Wondering a graveyard I saw a stone with a copper cap “protecting” it - it was a plain squared stone so easy to do. The squaring was unusual for the period, too.

The grave was for a “Hessian” soldier who stayed on, living with the family who hosted him until his death in the early 1800s. Never married, apparently. Makes me wonder (and perhaps it was on the stone; I don’t recall all details 15 years later) if he was 1 of those indentured.

So touching to see these graves.

[ZULU]

Thanks Pharmboy.

Great article.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for that story...and yes, it indeed sounds like what you suggest. The numbers I have seen in some of the books that I've read is that about 30,000 Germans came here (half were actually from Hesse-Kassel, thus were called "Hessians"), one-third went home, one-third were killed, and one-third stayed on here. Wikipedia differes a bit on the stats:

"27,839 served in the Americas and after the war ended in 1783, some 17,313 Hessian soldiers returned to their German homelands. Of the 12,526 who did not return, about 7,700 had died. Some 1,200 were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accidents, mostly the latter.[citation needed] Approximately 5,000 Hessians settled in North America, both in the United States and Canada."

I have also read that many of these German boys were quite taken with the land and the beautiful American women, and saw much more opportunity here rather than back in Europe.

[Pharmboy]

My pleasure. It’s always interesting to me how these local stories bring the times and the RevWar to life more than history books are able to do.

[OneVike]

My ancestry leads to a gentleman named Mathias Zimmerman who was born on December 2, 1752 in PA. Zimmerman is German for carpenter. So I read that he Anglicized his last name to reflect his trade in English and thus took on the last name of Carpenter.

I often wondered why he would anglicized his name. Who would not be proud of their ancestry? Now I am wondering if he did so because a relative may have been a German who came to America to fight for the British.

He would have been an adult during the revolution, but maybe the name Zimmerman came with bad memories for some. Who knows but my ancestry, on my Grandfathers side, stops with him and thus goes no farther back that I have been able to trace.

Curious is all, just curious.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Thing is, there were plenty Germans here (the unsung ethnicity in our culture - even though it’s the biggest group of all time) already. Mountain men from VA through PA. And Dutch and nordic settlers of similar background around “NYC” in NJ and NY, etc. There was consideration of making German an official language for this country.

I wish people appreciated more our German heritage. Lots of it shows in our emphasis on Christmas time, e.g. That is German, not English - or Irish.

[Pharmboy]

I would imagine it would have depended on where he settled; about 10% of the colonies at the time spoke German, and if he lived in a largely German area, he probably would have retained Zimmerman; but if he moved to, say, NYC, where many of the non-English (including the French, the Dutch and the Germans) Anglicized their names after they took over the city in 1664 he might have become Carpenter.

[ZULU]

Was at Gettysburg a few days ago. Its ALWAYS a moving experience - even though its not the Revolution.

The Cyclorama show is awesome. People left there crying.

The Film, on the other hand, was more about slavery in general and the Civil War in general than about Gettysburg itself.

[OneVike]

Thanks.

I guess it makes sense now that you say that.

As I recall from my history class, German was almost our official language.

I may never be able trace my lineage farther back than him. At least not down my grandfathers line.

[Pharmboy]

I am—as you know—very RevWar oriented, but I do have to educate myself more on the War Between the States. Living in southern MD/northern VA, there sure a lot of battlefields around here. I have visited Robt. E. Lee’s childhood home in Alexandria, however...

[aculeus]

Thanks!

[AnalogReigns]

I have a g-g-g-g-grandfather who died on board one of the British prison ships anchored off Brooklyn during the Revolution. Conditions were horrendous there, typhus, dysentery, etc.....with OVER 11,000 patriot prisoners dying in those hell-hole scows--more than all of the patriots who died in battle.

I only found out about this a couple years ago--but bizarre to know something like that about a direct ancestor.

Prison Ships Martyrs' Monument in Brooklyn, NY

[Brad from Tennessee]

A friend who lives in Selmer, TN told me her ancestor came over as a teenager from Scotland sometime in the early 1700’s. His ship wrecked off Cape Hatteras and he rode the surf to the beach on a piece of furniture. He came to Tennessee from N.C. with a party of settlers and is listed as a founder.

[Seitzinger]

Wow this is a neat site. I was doing some research and came across this post. I've seen a couple of photos and have read that not much remains of the Hessian Prison Camp. Do you know if it is on public land, or if there is any talk of preserving it? The Hessian Camp is of great interest to me, as my 5th Gr. Grandpa Johann Michael Seitzinger was a prison guard there. My family immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1763,and when the war broke out my 6th Gr. Grandpa, 5th Grandpa and 2 Uncles signed the Oath of Allegiance to the Colonial cause. I live in Indiana, but have been wanting to visit that area, mainly Berks Co. I have a lot of family roots there.
My Grandma Anna Margareta ‘Vanderslice’ Seitzinger was the daughter of Henry Vanderslice. He was sheriff of Berks Co. at the start of the war, and when the Declaration was adopted it was his duty to read the Declaration of Independence to the public. The Berks Co. courthouse bell called the residents of Reading to Penn Square, for the reading of the Declaration, and he informed the public of what had been declared on their behalf,July 8 1776. After he served his 2 year term, he enlisted as a wagoner supporting the troops with supplies through PA and NJ. I enjoy hearing stories that have been passed down through the generations of families through the years. That is good raw history, and you'll never find that in any book. Some of it disturbing, but at the same time gives insight to what our forefathers had to endure on the frontier.