Hessians.
During the
Revolutionary War Great Britain hired a large number of auxiliaries from the
Landgrave of Hesse, the
Count of
Hesse-Hanau, the
Duke of
Brunswick, the Margrave of Anspach-Bayreuth,
the Prince of
Waldeck, and the
Prince of
Anhalt-Zerbst.
Nearly 30,000 were brought to
America.
Nearly 13,000 of them never returned to
Germany.
A small proportion of these had been killed in battle or had died of their wounds.
Many had died of sickness.
Others had deserted, and the remainder settled in
America at the end of the war.
England paid $35 for each man killed, $12 for each man wounded, and in addition paid an annual sum of nearly $60,000 to the
Duke of
Brunswick, $550,000 to the
Landgrave of Hesse-
Cassel, and proportionate sums to the other princes.
The total amount paid by
England is unknown, as the records are incomplete and the sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of paying these troops cannot be identified (see
German mercenaries). The best book on the subject of the German auxiliaries of
Great Britain in the
Revolutionary War is
The Hessians in the Revolution, by Edward J.
Lowell, from which the following tables are taken:
Table of the number of troops sent to
America by each one of the
German States, and of the number that returned.
The numbers originally given in Schlozer's
Staats-Anzeigen (vol.
VI. pp. 521, 522), were corrected by
Kapp as to the Anspach contingent.
| Brunswick sent in 1776 | 4,300 |
| Brunswick sent in March, 1777 | 224 |
| Brunswick sent in April, 1778 | 475 |
| Brunswick sent in April, 1779 | 286 |
| Brunswick sent in May, 1780 | 266 |
| Brunswick sent in April, 1782 | 172 |
| ——— |
| Total | 5,723 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 | 2,708 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 3,015 |
| |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in 1776 | 12,805 |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in December, 1777 | 403 |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in March, 1779 | 993 |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in May, 1780 | 915 |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in April, 1781 | 915 |
| Hesse-Cassel sent in April, 1782 | 961 |
| ——— |
| Total | 16,992 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 and the spring of 1784 | 10,492 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 6,500 |
| |
| Hesse-Hanau, under various treaties | 2,038 |
| Hesse-Hanau, recruits sent in April, 1781 | 50 |
| Hesse-Hanau, recruits sent in April, 1782 | 334 |
| ——— |
| Total | 2,422 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 | 1,441 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 981 |
| |
| Anspach-Bayreuth sent in 1777 | 1,603 |
| Anspach-Bayreuth sent in 1779 | 157 |
| Anspach-Bayreuth sent in 1780 | 152 |
| Anspach-Bayreuth sent in 1781 | 205 |
| Anspach-Bayreuth sent in 1782 | 236 |
| ——— |
| Total | 2,353 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 | 1,183 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 1,170 |
| |
| Waldeck sent in 1776 | 670 |
| Waldeck sent in April, 1777 | 89 |
| Waldeck sent in February, 1778 | 140 |
| Waldeck sent in May, 1779 | 23 |
| Waldeck sent in April, 1781 | 144 |
| Waldeck sent in April, 1782 | 159 |
| ——— |
| Total | 1,225 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 | 505 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 720 |
| |
| Anhalt-Zerbst sent in 1778 | 600 |
| Anhalt-Zerbst sent in April, 1779 | 82 |
| Anhalt-Zerbst sent in May, 1780 | 50 |
| Anhalt-Zerbst sent in April, 1781 | 420 |
| ——— |
| Total | 1,152 |
| Returned in the autumn of 1783 | 984 |
| ——— |
| Did not return | 168 |
| |
| Total number sent | 29,867 |
| Total number returned | 17,313 |
| ——— |
| Total number of those who did not return | 12,554 |
Of the 12.554 who did not return
Mr. Lowell's estimate is as follows:
| Killed and died of wounds | 1,200 |
| Died of illness and accident | 6,354 |
| Deserted | 5,000 |
| ——— |
| Total | 12,554 |
[
383]
estimate of the losses sustained by the Germans in the principal battles of the
Revolutionary War.
