"They were something special because no one, not even the British whom they swore allegiance to, had ever seen such spirit. The Englishmen couldn't understand how someone could fight and stand his ground to the bitter end without winking, they couldn't understand how someone could keep going no matter how impossible the odds. That's what made them so legendary."
--My dad, actually. On the Hessians, of course, talking with me while driving*
Yes, who were these Hessians? Well, your friendly neighbourhood webmistress got her sorry butt to the library today and got myself all available books of American and German chronicles. However, much to my dissappointment, only one book featured this, it's in German, so I'm translating.
Hessians
Collective term for all German mercenaries, who were hired by Great Britian for the battles in the american War of Independence, Approximately 17 000 of the about
30 000 men in the Hessian troops came from Hessen-Kassel, as Hessen's Count was married to the daughter of the English king George IInd in his first marriage.
About 5 700 men came from Braunschweig, 2 400 from Hessen-Hanau, 2 400 from Ansbach-Bayreuth and 1200 out of Waldeck and Anhalt-Zerbst respectivley.
They made 1/3rd of the British army in North America. About 17 000 Mercenaries returned to Europe after the war was over, about 7 700 fell in battle and the rest
remained and settled in North America.
So...there you go. The source of this is the Chronik Handbuch Amerika written by Dr. Hays A. Steilberg and Thomas Flemming, published by the Chronik Verlag, to give credit where it is due.
Though I'm personally not from any of the parts of Germany the Hessians were send from, I'm still quite proud of the general idea of being the Hessian's "landsman" (well, landswoman). More than half of their numbers survived and returned, which would make them pretty skilled. I'll add more to this as soon as I find other books, the library in town isn't the best you can ask for, but it'll have to do.
*=My dad and me have these incredibly long conversations, because when he's driving me to the comic store or wherever, it's the only time we're to ourselves. So we talk about REALLY everything, mostly politics, philosophy, chess strategies and movie reviews. I just really loved what he said about the Hessians (it was after we watched Sleepy Hollow for the second time together, I believe), so I put it here! :) Naturally, him and me were talking in German (us being German and all, if you haven't checked the "My Story" section yet), so I just translated it.
