a champion am eastern on afterwards, republican congressman, ken buck, argues that big tech companies like apple and google are hurting commerce and censoring speech in his book, crushed. he is interviewed by wall street journal interviewer ryan tracey. what book tv every sunday on c-span two. find a full schedule on your program guide. or watch online anytime at booty v dot org. weekends on c-span two are an intellectual feast. every saturday, american documents america story. and on sundays, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for c-span two comes from these television companies, and more. including buckeye broadband.

buckeye broadband, along with these television companies, supports c-span 2 as a public service. >> welcome everyone. my name is philip meade and i am the chief historian and creator of this museum of the american revolution. so pleased to see you all tonight for frederike bears presentation on hessians, scott stevenson sends his regrets, he had intended to be here tonight holding but was unavailable that he may be watching from zoom so if you are out there hello. i wanted to call your attention tonight

to unimportant object that we actually have in this room and this is a fragment of a hessian miter cap from the fuselage ears of two -- has a castle, it was discovered among other fragments of these caps in the delaware river in the early 20th century year and some historical research by craig manaus and others has pretty well established that it was lost when a troop transport went under in may of -- excuse me, march of 1778 in the delaware river and may the soldiers on board survived, but a bunch of their things stayed in the river. they were dredged up and are on display. other pieces of the same material are on display in the court gallery's. so, tonight we have the privilege of welcoming

freiderike baer, she was an associate professor of hosts history and a division head for arts and humanities a pennsylvania state university and addington college her research focused on the experience of german speaking people in north america from the revolutionary period to the late 19th century. publications prior to tonight include the trial of frederick emerald language, patriotism, and citizenship, and philadelphia chairman committee from 1870 to 1930 what was the mentor st. paul's and louisville prize for the best book in lutheran church history. tonight she is launching her book, hessians, german soldiers in the american revolutionary war which is, i think, destined to be a indispensable book for scholars and general students of the american revolution. it's plums an extraordinary number of previously unexamined primary

sources and gives us a view of a community in this conflict that we really have always understood to a glass darkly, so to speak. but with precision, clarity, humanity that actually is going to be very hard to beat as the definitive treatment for i think a very, very long time. so, thank you very much dr. baer for these contributions. we are eager to hear your comments. first, i wanted to also introduce from haverford trust which has supported these revolution programs both the email publications that many of you get but also these evenings. i want to introduce our representing haverford for a few words, rebecca farnsworth who is their vice president and

institutional portfolio manager. rebecca, thank you very much for joining us here. [applause] >> hello everyone, thank you phil. as phil mentioned, my name is becky farnsworth. i am delighted to be here representing the haverford trust company. have it for it is an investment managing firm that is in -- has 13 million dollars in investment management. i mean, substantially, that i'm trusted with advising a number of our firms non profit client. i think we all feel very fortunate to live in a region that has very deep phianthropic roots and haverford has been committed to serving our nonprofit community since firms inception over 40 years ago. the greatest joy of my job is building deep, strategic partnerships with our nonprofit clients and the amazing

organizations like the museum of the american revolution. they do such important work in strengthening the fabric of our communities and hartford has been a longtime partner of the museum. it is very much a pleasure of our organization to, once again, sponsor the incredible read the revolution speakers series here at the museum. as like including speaker of this year's presentation program, we are always looking forward to hearing from dr. bear. thank you so much for being here this evening in person and on zoom, i will turn it over to phil to get things started. thank you. >> [applause] >> thank you. without further do, professor baer if you join me up here and thanks for the wisdom. >> thank you. >> >> okay. i never

thought i would be giving a lecture on the american revolution i'm so happy to be here today. thank you today, whether joining us in person or on zoom. wherever you are. thank you for being here. thank you for phil, scott, the entire team, it's been a wonderful working with you all to get this organized. thank you for your trust supporting the speaker series, i've had the pleasure of attending a few of them and they were great experiences. i have this one will be a great experience for you as well. which are the first flight. so, i would like to say a few general words about who they were, the thousands of troops which we call hessians. how do they end

up in north america? then i will give you a few snapshots of their experiences over the war. i want to start with a brief introduction. in a 1770s and 1780's, as many as 40,000 german soldiers were hired to defend british imperial interests on four continents. in europe, india, south africa, and, of course, in america. the vast majority of them, at least 30,000 saw service in america. in august, 1776, a german periodical deutch chronicle. german chronicle. they noted optimistically that, soon the englishman have to think german second time for the conquest of america. the editor was alluding to william pitt's famous reference to germany's role in the seven years'war a decade earlier. a war that had

resulted in france seating a large portion of its territorial possession to north america, along with several caribbean islands to britain. earlier that year, 1776, britain prime minister lord north had predicted that the hire of the german auxiliaries would bring the war in which he called a speedy resolution which without, quote, the further diffusion of blood. neither of these predictions, of course as we know now, came true. the steady supply of germans actually helped keep the war going for seven more years. before i continue, let me emphasize that by the late 17 70s, early 1780s. one third of the british regular army's strength in north america consisted of german auxiliaries. this was not an insignificant presence. moreover, between the summer of 1776 when the first contingent

set foot on american soil in 1783 when the british army evacuated the newly founded united states, members of the german core spent extended periods of time in a location as diverse and varied as quebec in nova scotia in the north and florida cuba in the south. across vast rain, they produced all military campaigns and a momentous skirmishes and military counters. some never saw battle, they spent their entire time in north america somewhere in garrison. thousands died of disease, were killed in battle, or were captured by the enemy over the course of the war, a growing number also deserted. i put up this map here from west point military academy, which has a great collection of maps like this just to remind you of the sort of major campaigns. the

red are the british campaigns. as i mentioned, the germans took part in all of them. i should point out that they did not take part in the great lakes region. they did not go into florida. they did, however, take part in a couple of campaigns that are not highlighted here. namely the occupation of newport, rhode island and sailing all the way to pensacola and then fighting the spanish and the number of courts along the mississippi river. they would also troops up in nova scotia, which is not indicated here on this map. how did they end up in america? in the spring of 75, 1775, britain faced a challenging task of raising substantial military force that could be dispatched to america quickly. for various reasons, i don't want to go

into detail, the king determined that they would appeal to race officials number of troops at home or within other parts of the empire including north america. after his failure to hire 20,000 russians, the king's turned to several german states for support. some intelligence actually suggests that british efforts to hire hessians may troops may have commences earliest fall 70 74, before the war even started. at that time, just a reminder, what is sometimes called the trade in soldiers was an acceptable form of revenue. rulers used the income from hiring out military units to support their

lifestyle, pay off territorial debt, and to fund projects that were defined benefits their territories generally, such as construction villages, hospitals, schools, or spas. moreover, subsidy trees should also be seen as political matters that allow the rulers of smaller territories within the holy roman empire to maintain a certain degree of power and influence. in some cases, to preserve interest to came to action from foreign powers. all the major european powers as france, russia, prussia, and the combined provinces of netherlands included foreign troops and their male terry forces. in fact, in the 18th century the typical european army was a multinational force. eventually, of course, you know six german territories all -- of course there's no drama at the time, the whole roman empire consisted of so many territories. sunlen multi agree gender subsidy treaties to hire auxiliary troops in exchange for substantial payments. as --

which i could pile on the map. small territory of -- [speaking non-english] in any case, there are six territories. they rented out troops ranging from 1200, ultimately 1200 from the territory of waldeck to as many 19 or 20,000 soldiers out of the hassan castle. the very first treaties resigned in late 75, the first troops began turning to america february 1776. we should also point out that the soldiers were not mercenaries. they are usually referred to as mercenaries, but they were not mercenaries. mercenaries are the soldiers who fought in a foreign army or war for personal profit. these troops are considered auxiliaries, military units that were hired out by their respective rulers to assist britain in their efforts to put down the american -- all have the sub few treatments very somewhat, they agreed on the

basics. very quickly. the troops would serve on the same terms as british soldiers. the only serve in europe and north america, this is a very important of the rulers. britain paid annual subsidies to the rulers during the years they were in service and usually a couple of years after. no one knew how long the war would laughed. lastly, britain would also pay for transport to and from america, cover individual pay, equipment, provisions, replacements, medical care, and so on. as you can probably imagine, keeping track of all of this was quite challenging. it's got even more complicated over the course of the war. for those of you who like spreadsheets, this is one from 1783. this is actually trying to tally up expenses and income that was still owed to the ground troops in canada at the time on the eve of the

evacuation and their return to europe. there are lots of records like this in the archives. you have people, even then sorry, it's hard for us to figure what's going on. by thinning out people there to complain constantly. we have paid for what, so british bank in london or it's very confusing. i also want to write that the expenses rations uniforms were commonly deducted from soldiers pay. so, soldiers themselves were responsible for covering some of these expenses. the german units could be commanded by their own officers interact with their own military law. they almost always served alongside british troops with very much -- the commanding officer was always a british officer. the majority of these troops were supplied by the territories of hassan

castle and hassan now, the label hessians has been used since the 1770's to describe alternatives north america regardless of origin. for this reason, i'm using the term in the title of my book. however, in the book itself and also today i use german when referring to the troops collectivity and hessians when discussing units where individuals belonging to the hessians core. the subsidy troops and devalued civilians never described themselves as hessians unless they were actually from hessen or belonged to a hessians military unit. the troops are accompanied by hundreds of civilian employees and other camp followers including medical personnel, achaplains, servants, laborers. to the army

also belonged a significant number of women including single women and also lives of soldiers that served in a range or essential roles such as, for example, laundresses and nurses who were employed in field hospitals there was also a great number of children. so, where these exhilarates eriz? none of the tournament rulers simply rented out their entire armies. the potentially long term and even permanent loss of large numbers of baltic men

would not only hurt the economy, not only hurt the territory economically, but would also of course potentially make it vulnerable to foreign threats. in general, the regiments hide out to britain consisted of a combination of experienced soldiers and new recruits. some of whom had probably never fired a gun before leaving for the war in america. for, example the their baltic regiment that i mentioned earlier consisted of roughly 670 men, typically, at full strength. it consisted of around 200 men who were taken from two regiments at the time that were in touch service at the time. the other ones, that twice that number, i'd be specially recruited for service in america. so, britain may have expected to get a trained and experienced military force, but this was only partially the case. it was fairly easy to fill the office rank. the war presented them with an opportunity to advance their careers. all of the territories received large numbers of requests for applications, essentially, from officers as well as ambitious soldiers and veterans asking for appointments in the american core. the territories used a variety of conscription schemes to raise the troops. such as enrollment lists, for example,

or requiring districts to raise a certain number of men. regardless of the kind of scheme they employed, the territories were essentially looking for the same type of men to fill up the regiments. they had to, be ideally, physically and mentally fit to withstand demands of military service in america. they should be at least around five feet four inches tall. ideally, they were single and, if married, without children. all of these requirements, i should mention, we are relaxed over the course of the war, as it became increasingly difficult to fill and make up for the losses. all of the territories used various exemptions that were designed to exclude certain men from military service. for example, only some sons, sons expected to inherit property, property owners, laborers in essential

industries such as mining. these men were not supposed to go out to service abroad. generally, recruiters were supposed to enlist foreigners, by which they meant not natives to the territory where they were recruiting. or native men deemed expendable. that means, essentially, men whose departure for america was regarded as having little or no economic disadvantages for the territory or whose absence may have been seen as beneficial for the local community. for example, in february of 1776, an official from brownsweich asked the duke for permission to enlist a poor man who was serving time for stealing what from the duke of forests. that same month a woman begged the duke to enlist her son in law who she described as, quote, a disgusting godless man, end of

quote. she pleaded with him to, quote, free as from this evil man and we have quite a few petitions like this in the german archives. drunkenness, laziness, those kinds of things are with sometimes in laws can you please taken to america. ideally, the men volunteered. but german archives document cases of men who refused to be recruited, potentially escape different territories, recruits who deserted or mute need and families who pleaded with a ruler to exempt husbands and sons for a variety of reasons. just because a man was deemed expendable by the territory did not mean he was deemed expended by the families. so, a lot of even poor families, when the husband or son was gone, these families suffered even more economically. so, poor families are very much affected by this, as you can probably imagine. the main objectives when we read these petitions from, parents for example, or wives, to exempt their husbands, the main objection appears to be the prospect of serving in a foreign war on a distant

continent against an enemy that had done them no harm. military service was not the problem, it was sending meant to america where many assumed they would never come back. although britain had hired german auxiliary on multiple occasions since the 18th century, the 17th century really, they had never served outside of europe. so, this was new. it is difficult to determine how many men were forced into service. the definition of forced might include difficult economic circumstances, for example, problems with relatives, trouble with the law. and in addition, tactics such as trickery or offers of food or alcohol, parental and peer

pressure appeal to the men sense of patriotism and love for their ruler, also playing important roles and compelling subjects to enlist. many were undoubtedly, we know this, impoverished rural folk who were forced to go by their circumstances or by the authorities. that with german poet johann wolfgang goethe recalled in 1851 that in 1775, and i quote, america used to be the elder rideau of people who found themselves in a difficult situation. however, there were also many reasons why a man from the holy roman empire may have volunteered for service in america. i'm showing you here a recruiting certificate for a man in. he signed up, johann frederick, a rope maker and protestant, as we can base from this certificate. don't know why he signed up, maybe it was the bounty, he received $5 which at the time was quite

generous. to put this in perspective, a servants monthly wage at the time where maybe between one and one and a half taller. five taller is a pretty good amount of cash that he would, get just for signing up. i also want to point out that date. 1782, this is a good reminder that britain actively recruited germans well into 1782, even into 1783. conventional history of the revolutionary war is often more or less overt with yorktown. focusing on the germans reminds, as it is not over in yorktown, not from the british perspective. we have large shipments of records that go to america in as late as the fall of 1782. so, recruits maybe went willingly or volunteered for an opportunity to improve

their economic situation. some probably went to gain free passage to america, maybe they plan to emigrate and thought of it as a free ride. some hoped to advance their military careers, study the american land and people or they were in search of adventure. 22-year-old recruit stephen pop from -- recorded in his journal that many other kurds around him were, and i quote, filled with grief and sorrow, while i and those in my way of thinking we're enjoying that prospect of leaving our mother country for the new world. a few of these recruits, people that signed up, we're actually explorers and scientists who recorded their observations about the american land and the people in letters and journals. they studied fossils, collected cultural objects and natural specimens. my two examples here are on the

left, a very popular journal. it's called -- the correspondents, exchange of letters. he actually published a whole series of letters that he solicited from offices in america. like, sent me letters i can publish during the war, here is an example of a series from canada. on the right is a publication by david ship. he was a scientist who was actually getting ready to go to india when he was presented with the opportunity to accompany the on spurred troops to america as a regimental surgeon. he signed up and not only that, he decided to remain in america for two years after the conclusion of the war to study that land and the people.

he was disappointed that he had only seen little york, as he called new york, a little rhode island and the narrow city district of philadelphia. he wanted to go, out that's what he did after 1783. he eventually published a travel narrative. he penned several letters that were published in germany during the war and numerous works on natural history topics. again, here is an example. these individuals did so privately because they were interested in studying this strange land but they also did, per the rulers or editors, request. in 1779, for example, general will help --, the commander of the hessian troops, commanded all regiments on behalf of the leader of hessian to collect all rarities, such as native american clothing and equipment, and to order the quarter masters to maintain journals that detailed, as he put it, each and every event pertaining to their regiments.

a receipt in the archives in kassel indicates that he brought back for himself sugarcane a pouch with crystals as a gift for the famous naturalist, gerhard fossil, who is a professor in kassel at the time. in all these kinds of accounts, published, circulated among friends or published during and after the war, they helped broaden the knowledge of north america among german speaking europeans. to some extent, these soldiers really acted almost like foreign correspondents. they wrote these things that were published throughout the war in various german territories. in my book, i talk a little bit

about the logistics, really, of getting these troops to america. i'm going to not go into great detail here, just want to mention of course that they were taken to ports in germany or the netherlands, they were mastered there and to better service. that's really where there will in british service officially started. they boarded vessels, they took them to england. then from, there to america. german records described the ocean crossing as a very frightening experience. this is new to germany, not a seafaring country really. for some of them they had been on river boats but ocean crossing was a new experience and generally pretty scary. so, the sighting of land offered significant relief. diaries and journals describe crossing in great detail. the braunschweig surgeon --, as he put it on his own diary, kept the king of columbus as his vessel was sailing to the canadian coast in the early summer of 1776. he

felt as though the german troops were discovering a new, world that's how he put it. to them, i would say it was a new, world indeed. louise vitamin, the sister of the physician christiane friedrich, who served in the hessians court as a physician, noted later that the journey to america at the time was almost as adventurous as going to the moon. in fact, when the first contingents of german troops were venturing across the atlantic in the spring of 76, the average german probably did not know much about the western hemisphere, especially north america. they knew even less about the war they were about to enter. in addition, important to note as well, the vast majority of that troops had no knowledge of english when they set out for america and many struggled to acquire even a basic command of it after their arrival. the german troops thus had to get used to fighting in unfamiliar terrain

among soldiers and other commanders and against an enemy that did not necessarily understand. major leomeister of the lion corps capture the sense of frustration in the very first entry of his journal. he wrote, it was twice the work to fight a war with an incomprehensible friend and rebellious energy enemy. the first transport carrying german troops arrived in the summer of 1776, after the first ones arrived in canada. then shortly thereafter, troops arrived in new york. what was the impression of this land? many germans recorded detailed descriptions of the new york region. their view of what they initially saw as representing all of america was very favorable. the americans appeared to be enjoying a very high standard of living. and

ordinary long island farmer, one observer mentioned, appeared to be living as well as an aristocrat in hessen. indeed, one officer noted, if one put an american farmhouse next to the house of a noble family in hessen, it would be challenging to tell the difference. one reason for this prosperity was the richness of the land itself. the germans described the landscape, including the farmland, as exceptionally abundant and fertile. i choose this image here, a map, because we have to remember of course that new york, staten island, long island, this is a rural. there are forests, this is green, not built up the way it is today. obviously, when these troops arrived, they saw the country. and what they described as rolling hills, lush forests, fresh springs, there was an abundance of wheat, corn, other grains, there were many orchards, chestnuts, peaches, cherries, apples, pairs, plums,

apricots and other fruit. the livestock was well nourished, neatly kept. long island was described as the garden of all of north america. the germans impression of new york city was very positive as well. they admired it's wide streets, beautiful churches, stately college. sadly, this prosperity seem to have corrupted the inhabitants. indeed, the view of the land was so favorable that many of the german observers speculated that the reason for the rebellion could not possibly be oppression by the mother country. as the americans were claiming. from that perspective, the colonies had little reason to complain. if anything, many have become lazy and decadent. one lieutenant, hank cullen, recalled in a letter to kassel that the white inhabitants of new jersey lived, quote, like

pigs. they drank and ate several meals a day, the women's but their time waiting for and decorating their homes, the evident abundance of goods also encourage the americans to be wasteful with what was, to the germans, valuable resources. such as firewood, for example. most germans could not fathom why such a prosperous people would take up arms against a benevolent king under whose watch they had obviously done so well. the germans concluded that the rebellion must have been the work of a few conspirators of selfish and sinister intentions who were alluding the american

people into believing that there were struggling for liberty from oppression. a few evil men, committee man, one observer called, them were conspiring to make themselves masses of the people under the pretense of fighting for freedom. from the perspective of the germans, but the white population was able to enjoy such a high standard of living in part because they depended on the labor of black people. german records from the period used the term morgan, which translates as moore's, when referring to black men, women and children. in fact, one now hessians chaplain route, if there is a people in america that was longing for liberty, as he put it, it would be these quote poor blacks. the evident wealth of the new york region contrasted starkly with the that's elation that the rebels had brought to their own country. without the british oversight and protection, so it seemed, the nation's prosperity

was rapidly declining. the first german troops landed in north america, the war of course have been going on for more than one year. they were shocked by the extent of destruction that had been done by and to civilian properties in the new york region. they found entire villages abandoned, homes plundered, cattle killed, fields burned. not surprisingly, the population that was hit hardest where the people who were or suspected to be loyal to the crown. the americans treatment of the civilian population helped create an image of the americans as an undisciplined and unprincipled people. this experience, by the way, also helps explain why the german troops initially saw themselves as liberators, rather than occupiers. they were confused when the people did not treat them accordingly. what became known as the great fire of new york in 1776, shortly after the arrival of

the british and hessian troops reinforced the image of the americans as vengeful fanatics. the fire consumed a quarter of the city's buildings. the hessians were convinced it was set by the rebels and they regarded this event as powerful evidence for the a rational determination to destroy their own country rather than letting it thrive under british rule. the hessian officer was shocked that the, quote, evil and disobedient rebels were deliberately destroying what he described as their blasted land and habitations. another officer wrote, the evil sentiment of destination are indescribable, as he surveyed the destruction of new york. they were destroying the nicest regions in the entire world. over the next few years, the view of a fanatical enemy was reinforced over and over again

as german troops in pillaged hos, fields and forests and other regions, including maryland and pennsylvania, the carolinas, virginia and georgia. ultimately, these experiences combined with military setbacks also raised doubts in the minds of german soldiers, whether this enemy coulbe crushed, given their stubborn determination to defeat britain. they were obviously willing to sacrifice everything in defense of their cause. and as time went on, there is no indication that this resistance was diminishing. initially, however, the germans did not ve much respect for the americans as a worthy the enemy. of course, again, many of the german soldiers themselves we young men who had been recruited specifically for the war in america. they were not necessarily more experienced in warfare than their american counterparts. certainly, most

of them had never participated in a battle before. however, from the perspective of someone belonging to a highly hierarchical and disciplined army, that stress the need and orderly appearance of all its members, from private to general, the americans did not even look like soldiers. here's an example of a hessian regiment from wilhelm von knyphausen. for example, german soldiers were either clean shaven or wear a neatly groomed mustache, as you can see here on this image. many of the americans, by contrast, we are unshaven. given the end the appearance of what hessian they called -- or scoundrels. shortly after the arrival on long island, a hessian was embarassed to write, he wrote to kassel that he did not have a razor. he was embarrassed

that he had at times, quote, a beard like a rebel. moreover the hessian troops, well uniformed, at least during the early phase of the war, found that many americans were dressed in, quote, torn rags of different colors or the miserable outfits typically worn by poor farmers. for the most part, moreover, they found that american soldiers were also undisciplined and lacked loyalties. they were cowards who ran at the first sight of the enemy. from the germans perspective, washington's retreats, in other words, his refusal to meet the british in a large-scale battle, were not

based on strategic decisions. rather, they were due to the spinelessness of his soldiers. some officers contemptuously compared the war to a hunt. according to chaplain backer of the hessian corps we, hessians were charging after the countless band of gypsies, as he described the american troops. and that the battle of harlem heights in the fall of 1776, the american colonel joseph reed was enraged went british hessians quote, sounded their people to a most insulting manner, as is usual after a fox chase. one exception to this unflattering view of the american military where the riflemen, but even these troops were regarded with ambivalence. while most germans feared and respected these sharpshooters, the effectiveness as soldiers was limited, in part by the time it took them to reload their weapons. in addition, they only really posed a threat in surrounding such as woods, where they could hide behind trees like hunters. the strategy, their strategy of ambushing an unsuspecting enemy, may have been ineffective, but it was also seen as dishonourable. in 1777, a private wrote to his parents in hessen which that the americans were not like regular soldiers at all. rather, more like,

quote, robbers and thieves, they hide in hedges and bushes and shoot so well that they hit every time. we should mention, some of you probably know, this the german counterpart of the rifleman where the -- recruited from hunters and games men in germany, they turned out to be particularly effective in the american war. in general, then at least in the first step of the war, they regarded the americans as poorly disciplined that they were chasing most of the time. as one officer put it, it was fortunate that they were fighting against a nation that was unfamiliar, as he put it, with real warfare. it took the germans a while to abandon knit their notions of about the proper appeared to behavior of an army. these thousands of germans who went with the forces created a huge volume of records, public and private. diaries, letters, journals,

official records, master roles, et cetera, et cetera. my study is based largely on this archival material. so, i would like to spend the rest of the time showing you a couple of representative samples of these kinds of sources and share stories surrounding them as a way to highlight a few of the experiences of these troops. i want to start with a private letter that was written by a lieutenant, a braunschweig lieutenant named august. he was in canada in may of 1771. the letters here on the left. he wrote this letter to his sister, consortia, in braunschweig. when he sat down to write this letter, he had been in america for five long years. on the right here is a detailed from a map of the st. lawrence river. roughly from quebec to

montreal. that is where the german troops that were in canada, some for the entire war, some never saw battle, that is pretty much where they were encamped. he himself was in this place i circled in red. this is where he, he is writing this letter. his initial impressions of the land of canada, really quebec, had been quite positive. in fact, he described canada in another record as a kind of symbol world, a wilderness mostly untouched by what he called civilization. he felt that one point as though he was seeing,

quote, nature in her first childhood. but by 1781, this view had become less favorable. it is clear that he is lonely. and i should say that feelings of loneliness and homesickness are recurrent themes in these kinds of records. life in canada in particular is harsh. he feels isolated, doesn't even know what is going on in the rest of the continent, especially during the winter. he misses his siblings, the last letter from concordia had arrived in canada two years earlier. at that time, he was one of at least 5000 german troops that were stationed in canada, far more than british troops that were there at the time. although they were in a loyal province, they were quite

suspicious of the local sentiments and they tended to feel like an occupying force. the fact that most of the inhabitants were french speaking and catholic may have contributed to the sense of alienation. do roy, in the letter he writes, he doubts that the americans would dare another attack on canada after the disastrous attempt in the winter of 1776. but he can't be sure. by the time he writes the letter france had entered the war, that was a real threat. but he knew they were thinking of making another attempt on canada. i point this out because, think when we study the, war we study these events

of the past, there is a temptation to -- we know what happened, we know the americans never attacked. we know none of these troops ever participated in a battle in canada, but they don't know this. they had to remain on high alert, they were worried that an invasion might in fact come. despite persistent complaints that you hear it many letters coming out of canada about the climate, the sense of isolation, the loneliness, the german troops, again, some spent years there like du roi, they gradually got used to life in this northernmost province. when it came time for them to leave canada in the summer of 1783, as many as 1700 german soldiers belonging to braunschweig the court were granted permission to remain there. so, while

thousands of german troops were stationed in canada, largely inactive, a significant number of germans were prisoners of war. that takes me to the next record. captivity was a common experience for members of the german auxiliary troops, many spent considerable periods of time in captivity, in mostly locations from massachusetts to virginia. the record that i'm showing here is an embarkation list. it lists the troops belonging to two hessian regiments. regiments who had mostly been captured at trenton in the fall of 1776. this record is from 1779, these troops have been released and they are now embarking on several vessels from new york to canada. over the course of the war, a total of at least six thousands germans have been captured on five occasions alone, many more were captured but 6000 we know were captured at these five moments. trenton, 1776, of course, more than 1000 were taking. then bennington in 1777. saratoga in 1777.

yorktown in 1781. and two of these vessels. what happened was that the vessels departed almost immediately sailing into a massive storm. troop movements by boat, by the way, it's something that the british more or less had to rely on. and it was a major disadvantage. if they wanted to -- whether they want to go to philadelphia or canada or florida, the southern colonies, they did this on boats going along the coast. what does that mean? first of all, it means that it confines sometimes thousands of troops on vessels, two vessels, for extended periods of time. making them unavailable for any time of defensive or offensive actions. ocean journeys also took a toll on the soldiers, who often arrived at their destination

tired, hungry and sick. on every voyage, moreover, soldiers were last to disease or accident. in addition, the ships carrying troops were easy prey, especially if they were separated from the fleet, which happened quite frequently. on more than one occasion, the british lost transports to america and also later french capers. the most spectacular of this kind involving german troops is this event. these troops, these transports are leaving new york to canada. there are six vessels, three of them i want to point out. one is the adamant, the adamant unfortunately was lost in the storm, in the diaries and letters for members of the corps, there were frequently expressions of hope. that maybe they had been blown ashore somewhere, maybe they're in europe, who knows, they were rescued. it ultimately turned out that the adamant had sunk, at least 200 individuals on

board. men, women and children perished. other vessels were seriously damaged in this storm. amongst them, the marley and the triton. i'm going to show you this nice drawing here from -- diary, the before and after of the trenton, he was on the ship. he was not, free wanted to go to canada, this is what happens. they were taken, captured by americans and return to captivity. i want to show you those, to i couldn't resist, from the neighbor's diary. it was also taken to trenton, also featured in the diary. this is your han as his depiction of the battle of trenton. i just want to explain,

he has a lot of drawings in this diary, it's kind of nice. two and a half years after this event, these individuals returned to captivity. i also want to point out on this embarkation list, we don't have a lot of records of this but we have enough to indicate that there were women and children. you can see that women and children are listed there, 38 women total and 24 children total on these vessels. so, that is an interesting document

for that reason alone, i think. when they were captured, wiederhold writes in this diary, the vessel is basically drifting in the ocean. they're like, oh god, the capers, thank god we're being captured now. it kind of saved their life. he does say in his diary, he writes, we were happy we were off these miserable ships and on god's earth. if america was god's earth. so, while this is all happening, during this time period, as most of you probably know, that british had already launched their campaign into the southern colonies, the

rebellious colonies. between 1778 and 1781, british troop transports departed from new york for the south, the carolinas, georgia, virginia on several occasions. each of them included germans, thousands of germans served in the south. hundreds of them occupied savannah and charleston, for example, well after the defeated yorktown. my next document takes us further south, takes us to west florida. on the left is a printed pamphlet. we have several printed records of the journey from new york to pensacola, west florida. there was east and west florida at the time, west had remained loyal to britain as well. it's another, like canada, another loyal province. those troops sailed down in late 1778, stopped over in jamaica, and arrived in pensacola. the regiment that participated in this was the entire valve dike regiment. they were identified

as you go with some british troops, maybe another 600 or so under a british general, of course. you go to west florida, just to defend it from spanish aggression. because the spanish wanted west florida back. the regiment in total consisted of approximately 770 individuals, including 35 women and 15 children. those are the people that boarded those transports when they went down south. it was the only german regiment that was sent as far south, and the only one that fought against the spanish. it turned out to be a devastating mission. when the small fleet of transports sailed through the waters of the gulf of mexico on new year's day day, 1779, the author of this pamphlet essentially could hardly believe it. three years previously, he wrote, in 1776, he had celebrated a joyous new influencers, europe. exactly one year later, in 1777, he had

phantom selves in winter quarters on another continent, in new jersey, having a grand time. few days after, that unfortunately, he was captured by the americans. when 77 turned into 78, he was terribly ill. still a prisoner of war. here, he was now. january 1st, 1779, after another year had gone by. he was healthy, he was free and he was sailing towards pensacola. as he wrote, who would have believed years ago that i would be wandering around this part of the world? and what a world it was. in january, the troops arrived in pensacola, a town numbering no more than maybe 200 or so buildings. much of it had been destroyed by hurricane a few months earlier. though, small it was the seat of a provincial government, and important trading post that boasted the best port in the gulf. the spanish called it the arrogant guardian of the gulf of mexico, that offered the english, quote, the best refuge they have for their ships and the key to these seas. spain was eager to get it back. within weeks of arriving in pensacola, the germans were wondering what they were doing in this remote part of the world. it was nothing but a desert, as they said, inhabited what they described as savages, the term germans used at the time was --

native americans. why were they being sacrificed, when they could be used somewhere else in north america? why would britain care about what they called the siberia of america? which is an ironic term for florida. the regiment suffered terribly from disease. many men deserted eventually or were captured, only a handful actually died in combat, which was common during the war overall. the greatest killer is disease. in the meantime, spanish forces were moving in against british outposts along that mississippi, north of new orleans. german troops were dispatched from pensacola to assist in the defense. however, the spanish took one british

for it after another, virtually unstoppable. in may, 1781, pensacola surrendered to the spanish forces and west florida was lost. by that time disease, desertion in captivity had reduced the regiment to approximately 250 soldiers. remember, they had left with more than 770. the hessian officer johansson -- was in south carolina at the time, learned about their fate a short time later. an entry in his diary captured that sense of grief about the loss of so many of his compatriots and what seemed to him to be among the remotest places of the world. as he put it, how german bones are scattered around in this war. the prisoners that had been captured in the war before the surrender at

pensacola where first held in new orleans before being taken to mexico and then havana, cuba. many died of disease there, others deserted. many of them probably went into a spanish service, some undoubtedly settled in cuba, florida or louisiana. the troops that have surrendered at pensacola were sent to new york under the treaty with spain, on spanish vessels. the last person on one of the embarkation lists was

identified as a black woman. like the other woman with the waldeck, she remained unnamed. most, likely she was employed by the regiment as an individual officer or a servant. however, the records do not reveal anything about her other than that she was black and that she was free. this brings me to my final records. on the left, you see braunschweig garrison church records, dated 1877. it documents the baptism of five black drummers who accompanied the german troops to germany at the conclusion of the war. the baptisms were sponsored by officers that were veterans of the war, including general otto vaughan--. the register notes that the baptism and confirmation attracted an unusually large crowd. the

record also notes that four of the five men were born in america, and one was born in africa. for the duration of the war, military units in america actively recruited black men as musicians, laborers, servants and, in rare instances, also privates. black men and women also served the regiment in less formal roles, including personal servants, laborers and cooks. on the right, here you see a master role of a artillery company in brooklyn at the time, in 1781. note, this is an unusual document, because usually it's hard to identify black members of the core. and this particular, case they are clearly identified in the record as black. we have here one servant and three tremors. the commander of this

particular company was -- he read a journal, an interesting guy. he survived the war, he was a part of the convention army and later released and was asked by the hereditary princess ruler to send an account of the troops in america. he was extremely frustrated because after saratoga, when many of these troops were captured, he had no idea where they were in north america. he actually called what we know as the convention army, he called the confusian army. they're so confused. here, you have like 14 people, that's it. this company, it's tiny. anyway, what he did though, is in the summer, right around the time this was completed, he wrote a letter to his ruler in hanover, really excited about announcing that almost all of hessian the regiments had hired black men for various roles. including especially musicians and laborers. in a letter to his ruler, he enthusiastically described that special uniforms that he had designed for these black tamborra's. this is not a hand of a regiment but it's representative of the ways these black drummers were dressed. the way he put it, he planned it all out. they would wear red hats, decorated with white and blue bands, intertwined feathers, silver buttons, collars were bright red with white braids, pled

with white pants and short-lived and coats. this was entirely consistent with contemporary use in units. he believed with that black musicians outfitted and exotic uniforms added considerable prestige to the hand out companies. it is challenging to determine whether likes blacks ended up as voluntary recruits or as plunder. the army routinely seized enslaved people during forging exhibitions and we have written evidence that black children were sent to germany during the war, often as gifts. moreover,

some of them eventually deserted or they were returned to individuals who claimed them as their property. nevertheless, whether they were attached to german military units voluntarily or involuntarily, within formal or informal roles, from the beginning of the german corps presence in

america, black women, men and children were up a familiar presence in their encampments. at least 200 of them, i think more, there needs to be more research done on this, at least 200 of them traveled with the german corps to germany when the british evacuated that new nation in 1783. so, how does all of this broaden our understanding of the american revolutionary war? i suggest that an examination of this rich body of german authored records offers a fresh

perspective of the american land, the people, the war as seen and experienced by these participants and outsiders. for the last move beyond the themes and geographic regions that you have typically been emphasized narratives of the conflict. and focus on the germans experience, for example, pulls in geographic regions that tend to be treated as peripheral to the war. such as canada and west florida. it offers, moreover, a fresh and, i think, quite insightful perspective of the american land, the people, customs and manners. it also provides us with new interpretations of the american and british military and

civilian leadership, including the suspected motives of the american rebels. it provides, finally, impressions and assessments of the americans, generally, and of course of the war. a war that was unlike any other military conflict they had known in europe. in the words of one hessian officer, it was, quote, a war that went against all humanity. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. we'll be happy to take questions from the room. just raise your hand. there is one,

i'll walk over, just one second. >> thank you. i'm just curious, i know that -- we're only joint fairly soon before the american revolution. those, guys did they consider themselves from different states or something? we did they just consider that they hadn't they had one prints and they were his guys? >> i mean, i think they were usually considered to belong together, so to speak, but there were two separate regiments. to what

extent the natives saw themselves as being of one territory, i'm not sure. but in the war, when they're referred to and when we see records relating to, them they are usually considered to be together. >> thank you. as is our tradition, we'll give the house the final question. i'm going to offer that to doctor philip mead. >> thank, you tyler. you talked a lot about the anxieties that the princes and the long groves had about

sending their troops to america out of europe. but also the temptations of the income. what were the middle and long term effects for these choices by the german principalities? was it destabilizing? was it enhancing of their income, development? was this depopulation a significant problem? what does this tell us about german history? >> that's a good question. i think it was a big moneymaker. but it is complicated. so, the subsidy payments did help finance projects and in most territories that were, i would say, benefited the territory generally. great example of this is the spas in hanau that were built with subsidy payments. there's a huge construction project essentially that employed a lot of locals and then becomes a tourist destination, basically.

with the economic impact long term, longer term, was favorable. some of these territories were able to pay down debts and sort of pull back from the verge of bankruptcy. now, there were also, i mean, it's good for business, right? i mean, that when you see these records in d. c., how many businesses and merchants applied these troops. this is an incredible amount of stuff that they need. we have the people but the weapons, the uniforms, the prayer books and the paper that they write on, the food and all of that kind of stuff. there is a huge number of businesses involved, they are all profiting, essentially. when you go more into the rural areas of the country, where the men were actually recruited from, there you see an increase of poverty and real suffering. that is something also in the archives we see, it is a lot of files of local officials, essentially, writing to their rule is. like, i have all of these families. this woman has five children and a man is in america, and this woman relies on her son who is going to take over the business and he's in america, and their impoverished. so, in that regard, there was certainly regions in these territories that were really hurt by sending so many young men abroad. so, i would say it's mixed. one final point, some of you might know this i'm sure, but the subsidy traders

were controversial. just because as i've been practice for 100 years or so, again, it's new that they're going to another continent. and the british opposition, particularly, is very upset about this. for, it's them on top of that it's a civil war. they are sent to america to fight against british subjects. so, this is the first time that we have serious criticism of this kind of arrangement. in britain and also continental europe, there are well known philosophers like mirabel, walter, the king of prussia, all critical of doing this kind of stuff. it's hard to reconcile with this sort of emerging sense of nationalism. to send your subject to fight in a foreign war. germans hired our troops for a few more decades to other countries. but by the second decades of the 19th century, it was basically over, doesn't happen anymore. >> just a quick follow-up to that, does it change -- there's so much conversation about what is liberty in these documents. it seems to me. that is sort of striking from american historiography, which has long looked, that as you point out in the book, these troops as the symbols of the opposite of that. and i just wondered, did these accounts that get published throughout germany change the trajectory of the enlightenment in germany? of liberty conversation? is there a different response to what's coming in the french revolution that might be explained by this? big question, sorry. >> big question. change the when you read journals or famous poets of the, time americans for the most part, sympathetic to the american cause. they like the idea of liberty and are fighting for their liberty. they also admired britain which, in comparison to germany, had for example freedom of the press and other liberties that most german states did not have. so, there is sympathy in that sense. i would say that the entry of the german troops complicates this. so, you have, for example, i referenced early on the deutch a chronicle. the editor was a big fan of the american revolutionary movement until germans were hired to put it down. until that, point he was like, what should i wish for? that the americans win, that they defeat these german soldiers? or should i hope for

my fellow germans to win? so, it really presents a little bit of a dilemma for them but i would say the general view in at, least if you consider that representative, the written journals, it sympathetic to the cause of liberty. >> thank you so, much professor friederike baer. it's a terrific book, but i hope you all get a chance to read it. thank you. >> thank you. [applause]