The Forgotten Soldiers of the Revolutionary War 

BigZ7337 Wow! What an amazing family history. Thank you for sharing.

Same here, though we pushed on to more unsettled regions in what became Wisconsin

Steve Kaczynski It's not always that easy to desert since you live in conditions were many people keep a very close eye on you. Then you have the propagandapart from your own officers telling you that the enemy will torture you to death etc, so you are also afraid. Hard decision to make in any army...

My family comes from a Hessian merc (Leopold) too, they gave him some land in Canada for sticking around and ended up misspelling his name entirely. We had no idea we were actually Leopolds until about a decade ago.

Wow you mean the group that only exists in the television show sleepy hollow?

Same here, my family "emigrated" to the United States in this manner.

A guy like this fe. could`ve also easily ended up in the British Army and in America. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_Br%C3%A4ker

@@saltyclanker604 that is not emigration my good friend.

I bet we are related! that is my story to a T!!! They then moved west to indiana.

I know I was being facetious 😛

Is the pistol around?

@@jehuirasales3588 i doubt it is, but it sould be very cool indeed.

Same here. We stayed. Still carry the surname.

As do I michael todd

My Great Grandfather is from your home, Holman came to the U.S. in 1867

Guten Tag Kristen. I grew up in New Rochelle, NY where Hessian soldiers landed in boats from Long Island Sound. The fought in the battle of White Plains. I was a soldier in the US Army. I served three years in Giessen which is in the German State of Hesse. I enjoyed my time in Germany and i found the German people very friendly. Also the food hat sehr gut geshmecht haha.

Old Man Jenkins You meant Ramstein with a single m. Die Band Rammstein hatte den selben Fehler gemacht und sich verschrieben. Der Bandname wurde nicht mehr geändert. :-)

@Old Man Jenkins Herr Jenkins we did not have any checkpoint where I was stationed. To answer your question though I would much rather experience real German culture and food by meeting real Germans.. The first thing i did was to learn some basic German language so I could at least order food and get around. I found most German people were much more freundlich if they saw I respected their culture and was at least trying to learn their language. I learned much more as time went by. My first Christmas in Germany I spent with a German family who spoke no English. They invited a neighbor from upstairs who was from Russia und was an actress in the Stadtteater. I studied Russian in High School so between some German and Russian and English we all got along fine and hat ein sehr gut Weihnachten. Please excuse my poor spelling or grammar.

My mom originally was born in Hessen, which she explained became part of Rheinland-Pfalz after WW2. She said there was a grassroots movement to have them returned to Hessen, but it never happened. I always wondered why during the Revolutionary War period the Hessians were noted for having long braided pony tails and big mustaches and hair dyed red.

Well if the ride home was as bad as the ride there, it's no wonder many wanted to stay.

This is how my family came to America too.

@Herbie Hessian troops were used as bargaining chips. Their Duke owed a pretty sizable debt to the English, so he agreed to send troops to cover his bill. The troops, being known as the most professionally trained killers of their day, went were they were told without question. Largely because the nobility controlled their land claims. A soldier's family could be evicted simply because he refused the order to go fight. Similar to the way British burned pro colonist properties

Hi Herbie, Hope you're still around and doing alright now, 2021 already. Way back then, the Brits still had huge debts incurred from the Seven Years War, (that was the REAL first World War), plus they got more war debt from trying to hold onto the US portion of their new empire. They found it quite convenient to get soldiers for free from German princes. Makes me wonder how the individuals were scammed by their princes in Hessen to go to war in the colonies for Britain. You know something I realized, the centuries old horizontal red and white stripes of Hessen's coat of arms became the same horizontal red & white stripes of the US flag? I think maybe there is more than just a co-incidence!!!! It should be really researched. Anyway, I had friends whose ancestors were part of your ancestors group, from Hessen, and somehow decided to stay loyal to the Brits and were given land in Upper Canada (now Ontario), isolated and sort of segregated 25 km north of York (now Toronto), and that place became Markham, Ontario. I imagine the stories untold, of the privileged English in York, and the segregated others (Hessians in Markham, Scots in Scarborough)... The official historical plaque from the "politically correct BS" era of the very late 20th century says it was jolly multiculturism, when actually it was exploitation of Hessian soldiers, and dumping them in the boonies instead of affording their overseas return to Hessen. They did not have representation in parliament back then.

@@MrSniperdude01 Hey Mr Sniperdude, I just read your comment just after I posted mine. That is interesting that the reason Hessian troops were used were to cover a big debt. How did that big debt come about?

Lol

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Is forgotten about that one! I loved Yosemite Sam. 😂❤️👍

Ya lily livered floppy eared varmint. Sam

Yes! "Bunker Hill Bunny"! "If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

my ancestor was also captured at the battle of Trenton! family name is Schmeiss. Johannes was a POW from 1776-1783.

returning to Hanau is never an option we have a saying "do you know where the entrance to hell is? well you know Hanau" the brothers Grimm are also from this town , but moved to Kassel

mrleedra I always thought what happened to the German American culture. It kind of disappear after WW1. Large German immigration but no German culture. Which is odd.

German culture was suppressed due to the two World Wars. Before World War I, most towns with significant numbers of people of German origin had “Bunds,” which were social, cultural, and mutual aid organizations. A few of these still exist, but many of them fell victim to the desire of German-Americans to seem less German and more American during and after the wars. Many people and even towns also changed their names, or at least how they spelled their names.

References and citations including page numbers would be good...

My paternal grandfather was a Lutheran minister who was in an area where Lutherans were scarce. He maintaiined that he was being followed during WW I because Lutherans were associated with Germans (true, but his Lutheran ancestors came over between 1720 and 1760. If he was a threat, it was because his father moved south after the Civil War as a minister, and married a daughter of the South Carolina Plantation Aristocracy.) Remember that the British Royal Family changed their name from Battenburg to Windsor to remove any hint of their German ancestry.

James Horn “Windsor” same as the Royal family? Is that the default English name for Germans to seem more English? lol.

Texas was Spanish....

Christopher Ellis Well, that's where He ended up, from Missouri, Illinois, to Texas.

+Christopher Ellis In theory. Even before the Texan revolution, the Americans there acted like the place was theirs.

Evocati Yes, we are from marble falls , oatmeal areas

Yes, Texas was Spanish at the time of the American Revolution. However, many European immigrants and American settlers came in to establish settlements, well before Texas became an independent republic, and then joined the United States. People like Stephen F. Austin (an American) led colonies there, and Americans and Europeans were required to swear loyalty to Spain and then Mexico, and to convert to Catholicism. (Not all did, or did so in name only.) Th4n after Texas independence, lots of Americans and Europeans came in to settle. -- So Texas has always had a high number of German and various Slavic nationalities, including names for nationalities that no longer exist, like Bohemians and Prussians. There are still major towns, like New Braunfels, and the yearly Oktoberfest, that go directly back to German settlers, and there are still small country churches that have German fractures and baptismal and birth/death records, stained glass, and needlework done by German immigrants and their direct descendants. (Yes, also Austrians, Swiss, etc.) Texas was, by the 1830's and the Texas Revolution, already becoming not just Mexican, but also Anglo and others, as well as blacks and many Native American Indians either native to the area or who migrated back and forth and lived in Texas, like Comanches and others. The early history is really something. Many Americans ignore or were never taught the major contributions Mexican Tejanos made to the revolution and the early republic and state, and many only see the portrayal of hostile Indians, and not the full story, like the complicated things that arose, good and bad on both sides of that.

It was President Tyler whose grandson was still alive last I checked.

I agree with that. I like to research a lot about history, so when I read about things that happened 300 or 500 years ago. It's not so long ago considering the average lifespan of a human being in between 70-80 years of course back then it was harder to keep records of families, so that makes it kinda hard to research.

🙏

I wanna thank you for this curious info!

Amazing .. kudos !

That sucks!!! For him, I meant

buineto That's exactly what I thought 😭

buineto funny 👍💀

Exactly my first thought lol

Iunderstoodthatreference.gif

Arrrggghhhhh was also the only thing they could ever say.

Actually forester paints a very good picture at the start of the first book in the Hornblower series.

Some Commonwealth soldiers did the same during the first world war, waiting to disembark ships outside Turkey.

Do you guys have a link where I can read more about this?

Try an Irish "coffin ship "...

More revolutionary soldiers died on prison ships than on the battlefields.

Karen K you are so blessed to know your family history. I wish my family had held on to our family heritage☺️

Thanks for sharing. Brings it even more to life.

Thank you, Mary. Many branches of Mom's side have been really easy to trace, since they've been in the U.S. since the 1600's. My father's side is Irish and Jewish, and those lines are much more difficult to go back on.

Cool my 5th great grandfather was Henri Schreiber, he went to Canada and married and stayed there. Don't know where in Germany he was from though.

Karen ,many people would be unaware how far the roots go back here . Look up the history of the Palatine groups that were sent to The Colony of New York well before the Revolution . When you say 1600s it is not far off . I had a Neighbor who was proud that his Wife's family had B . Arnold as an ancestor .

For everyone not finding Bremerlehe on any map: today it´s called Lehe and is a district of the port city of Bremerhaven

History comes to life ! What a great teacher and channel.

@Thryza Hess You are mistaken, cousin. The Hessians were not mercenaries. Their respective princes routinely rented out portions of their armies to other nations in exchange for a fee as a way to generate income for the principality. The Hessian soldiers themselves had no say in the matter - they were simply following orders. A mercenary is someone who willfully hires themself out, as an individual, to fight in a war in exchange for monetary compensation. See the distinct difference now? 😉 They didn't volunteer.... they were essentially pimped out by their prince.

Die Hesse komme!

Sharp I've studied all the wars the U S were engaged in and I can tell you that your countrymen have always fought with skill and honor. You should be very proud of your heritage.

Agree. My Uncle has compiled a list of German immigrants in the early 1900s and when the US entered WW1, they turned around and went back to Germany to fight their own relatives! Such a committed and potent fighting force.

I was stationed in Giessen (Hesse) when I was in the US Army. I loved the food, people and culture! Best year of my life 1988!

👍

Probably your family traveled on the Forbes Road (near my hometown of Irwin Pa ) then built a raft near at nearby Elizabeth Pa. to float from the Monogahela River to the Ohio.

Cameron Edwards Sounds plausible. Especially if he really was in the Hessian contingent. The landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was notorious for his misconduct. Travelers in his realm could be abducted and forced into military service (shanghaied essentially). The fortress where the regiments were mustered is now a prison.

i didn't realize there were Deutsche communities that early on. my grandmother's German family came here via New Orleans in the 1860's and lived in St. Louis. my Mom was born in 1916. her Dad was Greek and came with his brothers also via New Orleans at the turn of the century. that's America for you :)

@@feralbluee Yeah, I read somewhere that around 1700 to 1760, 1 third of newly arriving colonists were German. My own ancestor settled (west) Virginia, the modern town of Weston is built on his old land.

@@ProfessorShnacktime There is a huge amount of people in the US which have german ancestors in the US.There are like 6 states where the amount of people with german ancestors is around 30-40%

When I was in school, we read the treaty between George III of Great Britain (who retained his German title of Elector of Hanover) and his cousin, the Proctor of Hesse-Kassel, contracting for the use of Hessian regiments in the American war. It comes off in the contract as one royal requesting a small favor from another, and of course doesn't mention the real human or social cost. As I recall, something like a full third of Hesse-Kassel's fighting strength was committed to the campaign, over half of whom died either fighting or from disease, starvation or exposure, and a significant chunk of the remainder opting to stay in America. That had to have had a major impact back home.

Sorry, I meant Hessen-Kassel.

Jep, a human life war not woth much at this time. And if more soldiert where needed, they forced just some men into the army. Many rulers saw their population as their property.

Yes, that was very common at this time. Even under Napoleon. Defeated enemy soldiert had 2 choicec: Prison or fight for the former enemy. And those countrys had to send soldiers if needed to his army. In Russia died many german soldiert under the command of Napoleon in 1812.

Correct. The first german state as a whole was founded in 1871 with the Imperial Proclamation in Versailles. Until 1806 there was only the "Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation" directly translated into: Holy Roman empire of german Nation. And in there, ervery principality tries to be as souvereign as possible.

Greetings from Irwin (W , Pa.) I remember from somewhere that Gen. Custer had a Hessian ancestor (Kaster)

Pretty sure those hessians were more than likley catholics, it was part of the habsburg holy roman empire, the lutherns were from northern germany which I think was the empire of prussia.

Most people do not realize that Pennsylvania had so many Germans settle here because it resembles their homeland (Vaterland). They also stayed because they can actually own land and be a part of something new and different in the world. It gave them growth.

It was the military fashion on the Continent, that the ordinary soldiers should grow mustaches to appear more warlike. However, their officers did not; they were gentlemen, and the style of the time was that gentlemen didn't wear facial hair, except for some rare exceptions. And for some reason, which I haven't yet found out, the British did not follow that fashion, even after installing a Hannoverian king. Facial hair wasn't fashionable in Britain.

I'm a Hessian without no aggression.

Sam Von Spam

Looney tunes: Bunker hill bunny

Or how many British soldiers did the same

~ ROTFL ~ :}

It wasn't just those poor souls conscripted and sent abroad. That was a very common practice in Europe, especially Germany for centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars and the Religion wars each Principality would conscript all men and boys from the peasant class (farmers, etc.) to fight for the Prince and Nobles. None were safe from constant conflicts most had no clue as to cause. So many German immigrants to the USA from 1700s to 1900s came to escape the tyranny of home regions.

@@joepangean6770 Then Mr. Mustache came in and ended that.

@@joepangean6770 My family has an ancestor from Prussia who may have immigrated to America for that reason. He came here with his wife in 1866, just around the time the Austro-Prussian War was breaking out. Since the war was very controversially against fellow German peoples (Bismarck basically provoked the Austrians), he may have come here to escape conscription into King Wilhelm I's army. They settled in Pennsylvania IIRC before moving to the Midwest (most of my ancestors historically lived in Iowa).

His uniform has several layers and is woolen.

Can you say Voyageur?

wait till you see the Ashley freeze over in the next year or so.

Wool makes all the difference

Not sure when this was filmed, but the temperatures here in Central Indiana have been cycling between unbearably cold and somewhat pleasant. There was a thunder storm here last night and most of the snow is melted now.

Same I am in chevy Chase

@Marshmallow Man My good man, you must proceed immediately and have your sarcasm/facetious meter re-calibrated.

typo, should be Rhode Island settlement in the 1600s to ...

@sandismith i live in rihneland its beautifull

Sounds exactly like my family's history, save the part of Virginia. My family stayed in Pennsylvania

@, the German identity existed. There were many German states at the time, be it Prussia or Austria, and Germany had yet to be unified (it still isn't) but the German nation had already existed.

I have a 5x great-grandfather who was sent over during the Revolutionary War, and that's where he was from (last name was Specht).

einfach nur Leo Braunschweig is Brunswick.

Braunsweigers make the best leberwurst in Germany.

Holy cats! that's scary

That is so true! Always honoured no matter what era.

Tina Gallagher ooh rah

There's a good deal of veterans that are totally ignorant of history. I say that as an OIF vet.

A little confused by your comment, assuming you're American. Why would our modern veterans specifically remember the intricate details of the lives of a "mercenary" force that fought against their predecessors over 200 years ago?

"Not forgotten by veterans?" In which way? The Hessians had contempt for American colonial troops and didn't consider them soldiers. Read about the U.S. disastrous defeat in the Battle of New York in 1776. Time after time, Hessians bayoneted and shot surrendering American soldiers. Brit troops did a little as well but not nearly as much. That is what makes George Washington's actions after crossing the Delaware and crushing the Hessians the following Christmas Day all the more admirable, All the Hessians were allowed to surrender with their lives spared. Maybe the Hessians learned and stopped killing surrendering Americans after that event. The Brits still committed atrocities but mostly in the South.

As I recall, several of the Hessian soldiers captured at Trenton, New Jersey were marched down to Charlottesville and held there for the rest of the war. That's why the city still has place names like Hessian Hills and Barracks Road.

Actually, it was more that some either did not wish to return because they faced at least as good prospects as colonists in America as they would as foot soldiers in their German homelands or that they could not do so because they had deserted and were thus risking harsh penalties if they returned. The desertions were encouraged by the Revolutionaries by promising deserters land grants.

It wasnt that they didnt want to go back, they could not go back. One of my ancestors was a blacksmith in the Hessian army, he was given a knife by General Burgoyne for fixing his saddle. When they surrendered at Saratoga, he was sent to the pow barracks in Charlottesville, then was given an option to either be sent back or they could stay, be given land etc. My ancestor chose to stay, married a woman of german heritage somewhere in the Shenendoah Valley and finally settled in Blacksburg, Virginia. Every American with the surname Linkous and its variations are descended from him. He built a cabin with a parlour room, fancy for that time, especially a cabin. Now it is a historical landmark in Blacksburg.

I think that choice would have been regarded as desertion by the British and German prince whose army your ancestor belonged to.

I have Shifflets in my family (from the Valley) The Brits didnt leave them behind, the Hessians that wound up in Charlottesville (as well as Winchester) were captured at Saratoga. Original terms of surrender were for them to return to Europe with the Red Coats. After Wintering outside of Boston, the Colonial Army reneged on the terms and refused to let them leave. The Hessians were then marched to Virginia making stops in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Along the journey some remained in Md and PA, some settled in very rough conditions in Winchester, the rest made their way to Charlottesville where they set up a very functional camp. In the late years of the war, the Brits came North from South Carolina and pushed into Virginia, burning everything in their path and in their wake. When word came they were headed in the direction of Charlotesville Colonial troops gathered up the POWs and headed North to PA, along the way many POWs endentured themselves with farmers and the like to serve out their "sentances", usually for a term of 7 years. Once that time was up most stayed in the new land and made a new start for themselves. Its estimated 3500 Heasians stayed in America after the war. Many of which made their way into the Shenandoah Valley either from the POW camp at Charlottesville or from the Camps in Carlysle PA or Frederick, MD. My Great Grandfather (6x)Johannes Frederich Kirchhoff was one of them...

Read about how many British soldiers did the same

Hi Hu same here in Medicine Hat Alberta.

They built great barns.

Same in Texas.

That's how a friend's grandfather came to the US. Captured in North Africa at 21, sent to do farm work in California, made friends with the farmer, remained after the war (or returned very soon after) because none of his immediate family survived, married the farmer's daughter.

A work camp? I thought only EVIL NotSees did work camps.

My aunt got denied a DAR Scholarship because of this.

My mom tried to get me a DAR Scholarship through one of my 6 ancestors who fought in the Revolution. My rejection letter essentially said, "Hessians and British don't count."

Good story though

@@brennathompson3854 🤣 that's too funny!

@Marshmallow Man LOL! Not me! Just my ancestor! (That's the whole thing that makes organizations like the DAR dumb, anyway. None of us picked our ancestors, so we have no more right to claim superiority because of them than we have any duty to feel inferior of them. They were who they were. We are who we are.)

Townsends Very interesting! Thanks guys.🇺🇸😀

Pretty neat! Uh, how did "hessian" come to mean "burlap"?

A rough cloth was made by weavers in Hesse Darmstadt, when the real burlap was introduced from India the material it most resembled was the Hessian fabric. Or so I have read.

I just found your channel and I really enjoy it. I live about 12 miles from Mt. Holly, NJ and the Hessians would have been all over the place, It is hard to find out anything about them, so I am very interested in the book. Do you have any plans to sell it from your website>

Townsends Hey James I love your Channel and food vids but I like these historical vids the most I live 3 minutes away from MOUNT VERNON in VA hope to see you in person one day wish you would do a vid on Lord Fairfax and Washington's early life may you live a long and very happy life with your family 😊👏🖒