I had a great-great-grandmother who was a Hessian—she was born in Grossauheim which is listed as in Hesse-Cassel on one census and as in Hesse-Darmstadt on another census. But I don’t know how long her family was there (she was born in the 1830s) or if any served as mercenaries in the American Revolution. I think “Hessians” was used loosely—they were sometimes from other parts of Germany.
so I asked AI what part of germany the hessians who fought in the revolutionary war are from. this was the answer.
The German mercenaries known as “Hessians” who fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War primarily came from the state of Hesse-Kassel (also spelled Hesse-Cassel) in what is now central Germany. Hesse-Kassel was the most militarized and prominent of several small German principalities that provided troops to Britain, and it supplied more than half of the approximately 30,000 German soldiers hired by the British—about 18,000 men.
The term “Hessian” became a general label for all German auxiliaries in British service, but besides Hesse-Kassel, smaller numbers of troops came from other German states such as Hesse-Hanau, Brunswick, Anhalt-Zerbst, Anspach-Bayreuth, Waldeck, and Hanover. However, the overwhelming majority were from Hesse-Kassel, which is why the name “Hessian” stuck as a collective term.
At the time, Germany was not a unified nation but a patchwork of independent states, and Hesse-Kassel’s ruler, Landgrave Frederick II, had a longstanding practice of renting out his well-trained soldiers to foreign powers as a source of state revenue. The Hessian troops were known for their discipline and military prowess, and their significant presence in the British ranks made them a notable force throughout the conflict.