Posted on 07/26/2012 5:42:40 PM PDT by 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.
“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.
Thanks Pharmboy.
Great article.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Thanks!
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
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