Case Study 1 — The ‘Hessians’ in the American War

Abstract

For this, the first of two chapter-long case studies, we will examine the most widely discussed of the German auxiliaries in British service in the eighteenth century: the ‘Hessians’ in the War of American Independence. Throughout this book, we have been examining the role of preconceived ideas and stereotypes, and their effects on the perceptions of the soldiers themselves. Here we turn to a group that has some of the most enduring stereotypes of all, as the ‘Hessian mercenary’ is one of the more memorable actors in the American creation myth. However, this chapter is not designed to either narrate their services in America or to combat the many legends regarding the Hessians’, as these have been done successfully many times before. The military history of these auxiliaries is well covered by German, British and American scholars from the nineteenth century onwards, and the bibliography regarding their service has grown considerably since the last quarter of the twentieth century, especially during the Revolutionary Wars’ bicentennial.1 Yet with a few notable exceptions, particularly Rodney Atwood’s chapter on ‘Anglo-Hessian Relations’ and in the writings of Silvia Frey and Stephen Conway, an examination of the interactions and relations between British and German soldiers in the American War has received far less attention than most other aspects of their service.2