£268 
 .K275 
 
.liADING HERALD 
 
 Jstablished 1881. 
 McCORMICK 4.i Editor and Proprietor 
 
 HERALD BUILDING, 13 N. 5TH ST. 
 
 READING, PA., APRIL 18, 1910. 
 
 V 
 
 ^ 
 
 m M 
 
 TtlEpW 
 
 Damping round here? 
 
 MR. KEIM TELLS ALL ABOUT 
 ^HEM-2000 OF THEM IN ALL- 
 ^ MANY WORKED FOR FARMERS 
 .1 IN OL 
 TER 
 
 EY AND ALSACE— A HIES- 
 ON BOTH SIDES. 
 
 , Now that the Daughters of the Amer- 
 ican Revolution are planning to erect 
 tuJ!' L *" commemorate the spot 
 ^^ here the Hessians camped. Peg. 
 &a^MU^£im,Jias gone delvin^-fflW 
 history and prepared a very interest- 
 
 ^vho those Hessians were. He writes: 
 A press editorial alluding to tlip re- 
 cent Washington's Birthdav competi- 
 tion for the D. A. R. gold piece by 
 students of the Girls' High School of 
 Heading suggested, while "The Hessian 
 C.amp' is familiar by name, very few 
 know how it originated. The literature 
 (^ the Hessians in America in German 
 m otticial and personal form is volum- 
 Tous and interesting. 
 
 It seems a duty of our Berks Coun- I 
 ty Chapter to supp]-.- this absence of 
 information concerning one of our most 
 interesting localities associated with 
 ^ho military operations uf the War of 
 idependence^ For that reason "the i 
 lowing ^^ niostly from original 
 •man data, hasbeo.i assembled 
 MOTHER AGAINST BROTHER 
 
 ■.f-orpc-.f 
 
 '"''".dene 
 
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 Auff 
 
 (Pm- 
 AFR28 191B 
 
 (Pm-- 
 
 E2£8 
 
i-oiz ana Peter_ Kachleia. whJch save 
 American Revolutionary history that 
 in ..heir first battl- on Am-rican soil, 
 t'le Hessian mercei aries ofrhe Royal 
 Army of Kin.?r George were confronted 
 by their patriotic former countrymen 
 in the Continental Army of General 
 Washington. Also the earliest and 
 later Hessian prisoners taken in bat- 
 tle were sent to the German-American 
 town of Reading, Pa., for safeguard 
 until exchanged. whi(;^ gave origin to 
 the "Hessian Camp" on the pictures- 
 que mountain side east of our city. 
 Still another coincidence is that the 
 guard placed over themi was com- 
 posed of men by birth or immediate 
 descent. Ian^uage|lfc>ligion, habits and 
 customs. (^rmcI^PP of the .same race. 
 _ On a mid-August day of 1776 the 
 first division of Hessians, 8000 strong, 
 commanded by Lieutenant-General 
 Philip Von Hiester, entered Sandy 
 Hook and landed upon Staten Island, 
 amid the wildest demonstrations of 
 cannon, musketry, ruffle of drums and 
 shouts of welcome by the British 
 army under General Howe. 
 
 GERMANS SAVED ENGLISH. 
 This timely arrival very likelv saved | 
 the English, who had been driven out 
 of Boston, from defeat, as thev now I 
 had 25,000 to 30,000 regular troops of i 
 both nationalities and of all anna, j 
 against Washington's 12,000, chiefly 
 militia and without experience in bat- 
 tle. 
 
 On August 22 the British and Hes- 
 sian armies crossed the Narrows, land- 
 ed on Long Island and advanced at ; 
 once into action in the vicinity of ! 
 Brooklyn, the Hessian Chasseurs and j 
 Gresadiers under Von Donop in ad- 
 vance. 
 
 It is not necessary to the purpose 
 of this narrative to go into detaVls of 
 this first contact of arms. A very en- 
 tertaining eye-witness account is pre- 
 served in the diary of "A Hes«ian Of- 
 ficer." printed the following » year in , 
 Prankford-on-the-Main, Geriiany, of 
 the beautiful country through which j 
 the army marched: the fine/farms and! 
 houses, cultivated fields, 'Evidences of ■ 
 prosperity everywhere and a thrifty \ 
 people, in his opinion "Jackanapes 
 and fools" for fighting: a sovereign 
 whose rule had made such signs of 
 comfort and former contentment pos- 
 sible. No doubt the conditions were 
 quite in contrast to what the diarist 
 had left at home. 
 
 AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE. 
 
 The same author^ity and others later 
 thought the AmeAcans were good 
 fighters and very ^^perior marksmen 
 to the Hessians' sorrow. They ex- 
 pected to walk over them as soldiers. 
 
 In the course of thLs first battle the 
 ~^«^sians ran against two battalions of 
 county ] \'litia ^imiJe®.. -NriVT^niaJ 
 
 ^1? 
 
A^otz ana Peter Kachleui, which gave 
 them such strong resistance as to 
 drive them to the conclusionf[ that 
 fighting- in America would not be a 
 "pickenick" nor a "Schutzenfest." 
 
 In the battle of Long Island, which 
 i occurred Aug. 22. 1776, about six weeks 
 ' after the Declaration of Independence, 
 the obstinate resistance of the Berks 
 County German Militia gave Washing- 
 ton one of his best chances of saving 
 his army by crossing to New York 
 when he discovered that the British 
 were in force more than two to one. 
 As a result of their obstinate stand 
 the Lotz and Kachlein Berks-German 
 Battalions were taken prisoners. 
 Among the officers captured were 
 Lieut. Cols. Lotz and Kachlein, Major 
 Edward Burd, Captains Jacob Graul, 
 Joseph Hiester and Jacob Mauser, all 
 Germans except Burd. But Washing- 
 ton had made good his retreat so the 
 result justified the sacrifice. It wats 
 an interesting incident that a Hessian 
 Hiester com.manded the Mercenaries 
 and an American Hiester one of the 
 resisting German companies. 
 
 30,000 HIRED SOLDIERS. 
 And now let us record a little history. 
 The number of German Mercenaries 
 and recruits sent to America 1776-83 
 was nearly 30,000 divided among Ger- 
 man principalities: 
 
 Hesse Cassel 16,992 
 
 Brunswick ■ • ■ -^m-J 5,723 
 
 Hesse llanal0f^jlll^n ,. . . . 2,422 
 
 Anspach-Beyrfeuth •. 2,353 
 
 Waldeck 1,225 
 
 Anhalt-Zerbst 1460 
 
 Total 29,875 
 
 Of this number 18.000 sailed for 
 America in 1776. the first year of the 
 revolution. Of thesejf7.313 returned to 
 Germany at the close of war, and 
 12,562 remained in the States. Of the 
 latter 1,200 were killed. 6,354 died of 
 wounds, sickness or accident and 5,008 
 deserted. 
 
 Not a few of the latter settled in 
 Berks and became useful citizens of 
 the young Republic. 
 
 It may be enquired how did their 
 employment come about. The sale of 
 men for military purposes was a busi- 
 ness with some of the German princes 
 in that day. What was known in a 
 general sense as Germany in 1776 re- 
 sembled a political crazy quilt madd 
 
 of about 300 principalities, electorates, 
 Bishoprics, free cities and about 1400 
 quasi-independent Knights of the Em- 
 pire. Soine of these petty states were 
 not as large as Berks county and one 
 at least not 1-3 the size of Reading in 
 population. 
 

 OTHERS DID THEIR FIGHTING. 
 
 -It IS a curious fact in n:ost wars in 
 which Engrland Avas engaged with 
 cuihzed nations, flgrhting: was largely 
 ,done by others. It is one of the inci^ 
 , dents of Waterloo that Wellington 
 \ was so near capture by K^^^sJ^n as 
 i o pray aloud that night ♦j^HBlucher 
 \ (commanding the Germans) might 
 : come. He saved the day. 
 I In 1775 PJngland made great efforts 
 J to secure the services of 20,000 soldiers 
 jfrom Pa,s.sia which was declined. Some 
 i of the petty Princes of Germany of- 
 fered theirs. Frederick the Great dis- 
 countenanced the whole business and 
 put obstacles in the way of the hired 
 troops crossing his territories in order 
 to reach the seaboard. It was said 
 the Prince of Waldeck kept a stock 
 farm to raise men for the Dutch mili- 
 tary market and sent 1225 to America 
 as a side speculation. The Prince of 
 Anhalt-Zerbst had but 420,000 subjects 
 and yet could spare for sale near 1200 
 for America. He was brother of the 
 I famous Catherine II, of Russia, who 
 had a friendly leaning towards the 
 fighting colonists. 
 
 WELL-PAID FOR HIRELINGS 
 The landgrave of Hesse Cassel 
 *pared nearly 17,000 out of a popula- 
 tion of 300,000. The count of Hess- 
 Harju, .son of the last named, received 
 a si3bsidy of 92,000 pounds, about $477 ^ 
 120, present mmv a year for his con- 
 tmgent of about 2500. 
 The Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg 
 
 6000 pocketmg 160,000 pounds or $777- 
 600 from the bargain. 
 
 The Margrave of Beyreuth, out of a 
 population of 400.000, sold 2353 realiz- 
 
 $48b,000. It should be mentioned that 
 he policy Of the empire was opposed 
 to this solicitation of blood money, but 
 fh ""^ .u"*"* ^^ prevented. Prussia In 
 the North and Austria in the Southeast ^ 
 were opposed to it, but the petty gov- ' 
 ernments had their own way 
 tlon J,?%J^^PP^;;^d the curious condi- 
 tion of King George II of England 
 having in his employ 6000 Hessians 
 figrhtlng against an equal numbe; ?n 
 ^iT Vh" army of the Emperor, 
 
 I FOUGHT IN MANY WAftS. 
 
 About a half century earlier a num- 
 ber of the.se Germans were In the paid 
 service of Venice fighting the Turks. 
 In 1702. 9000 were employed in the wars 
 of the Maritime powers and four years 
 later 11,500 were fighting in Italy. The 
 treaties for the employment of the 
 Hessians before Parliament met with 
 much open criticism, but the King and 
 his mihistry were not to be moved. 
 
 '^h^ Brunswickers were the first to 
 
iU 
 
 set off. Curiously their .ailing- from 
 .Stcide, near the mouth of the Elbe 
 took place on the 44th anniversary 
 
 Z^^^.^''"^^^' ""^ ^^°''^^ Washington, 
 Feb. 22, 1776. These landed on Staten 
 Island. Others followed landing at 
 ^ew York and some at Quebec, who 
 served and surrendered under Bur- 
 goyne. 
 
 In gross Eng-land paid upward 1,770- 
 000 pounds sterling-, $8,602,200 for the 
 services of the Hessians in America in 
 ^vy money and subsidies paid to the 
 German princes in addition to the pay 
 of the soldiers. This with the cost of 
 supply and fighting material must have 
 aggregated more than again as much 
 probably in all not far from $20,000 000 
 As a rule the Hessians were good 
 soldiers from the European standard. 
 The Br^nsweichers were particularly 
 noted at home. 
 
 DESERTED TO OUR ARMY. 
 A number who had deserted from 
 jthe Hess-ian colors were anxious to en- 
 jUst in the Continental Army, but 
 [Washington was decidedly opposed to 
 their enrollment. No objection was 
 mad e to t ^gl{i^ecQmitijr_^cl^t izen s. It is 
 
 M 
 
 known some of them did get into 
 Pulaski's famous legion composed 
 largely of Pennsylvania Germans. 
 Weiderhold, a Hessian captain in cap- 
 tivity at Reading early in 1780, men- 
 tions in his journal two squadrons of 
 Armends mounted Corps, numbering: 
 400 strong, passing through that town, 
 practically all German deserters. 
 
 The He.ssians played a prominent 
 part in all the principal campaigns of 
 the British during the war with the 
 Colonies and met with proportionately 
 heavier losses. In running over the 
 list of battles in which they were en- 
 gaged, we find Long Island and opera- 
 tions around New York where they lost 
 many men. In the storming of Fort 
 W^ashington they sustained 56 killed 
 and 78 wounded. At Trenton 17 killed 
 and 78 wounded, besides 1,000 prisoners, 
 a portion of whom were sent to Read- 
 mg^or s^fe-keeping, and also in action 
 at pssinpink. Jan. 1777. 
 
 SA\/eD HESSIAN COLORS. 
 
 In the Burgoyne campaign &ept.-Oct., 
 1777, culminatirte-in the Saratoga sur- 
 render, Von RtMesal commandeVithe 
 Hessians and Baroness von RSSesel 
 with her three little girls pa.ssed 
 through all its perils and hardships. 
 After the surrender by means of a wo- 
 man's shrewdness, the baroness se- 
 creted and saved the Hessian colore 
 although those of the English we 
 captured. 
 
 She also left - 
 -^f that campai'/ 
 in A.meric^-^ 
 
Baum ost 365. It was upon this oc 
 casion that Col. Stark, who had rallied 
 the surrounding- farmers, said: "We'll 
 Znu ^i^°^^.He.^9ians before ni^ht or 
 Molly Stark's a widow." He not onlv 
 killed Baum and killed and wounded 
 many men, but ba.erged this part of 
 the outfit besides killing and wounding 
 231 Of Breyman's Hessians hastening to 
 his rehef. The Hessian loss at Sara- 
 oga was 190 killed. 378 wounded and 
 ^431 taken prisoners. 
 
 r^J^t ^'^.""^^ ^'''"'^' ^^"^^' surrendered 
 numbered 5791. The total German loss 
 in the Mohawk Valley at Bennington 
 and Saratoga m killed, wounded and 
 missing- wa.s 1122, besides the surrend- 
 ered men. Some of the Hessians from 
 Saratoga were held at Reading until 
 , exchanged. In the Brandywine, cap- 
 I ture of Philadelphia and Germantown 
 I 1rZT'^''.u ^^'^ ^^" °^ ^^^7 '=>f Howe's 
 
 nnZ 'II I ''""''^ '^'^ ^'^^^ Germans 
 ! under Knyphausen. 
 
 ' ,"^2^^^ GIVE NO QUARTER. 
 
 At Red Bank, below Philadelphia, on 
 I the Jersey side, the Hessians discbv- 
 ered the fighting metal of which Con- 
 tinentals were made. In October, 1777 
 ^ Count \on Donop, a young H.essian of- 
 jficer of promise, with three battalians 
 !of Grenadiers, fouK companies of Chas- 
 seurs and eight^ms, marched to the 
 capture of that^rt. Van Dc^on sent 
 summons to surrender, announcing to 
 the American commander that if de- 
 clined no quarter would be given The 
 American replied: "We will fight it 
 out on that issue." 
 
 When Von Donop was taken several 
 
 American soldiers clamored to give him 
 
 • .._ (rg'iil' m ae.r l^ n.-S o . vcf 'I'C h - p ggw) 
 
 l"Yes," said Don on -..'"^^^ ^^^t^^^' 
 (fwager. I am in vn ^' u^^^^ ^^« the 
 Jto accep th^ ZlZlTZtt-^^y 
 
 fi^^ w^^:;:^^- -i Syonets 
 
 nifrderous threat Of h/.^'' "^^^^ ^^^ 
 Tftrough the^ntpi "^^'"'^ Hessian. 
 
 they desisSd. Am' rg"?Lm' '''''''' 
 young Officer Van Dn, ^^^^"^ ^ 
 
 "You seem not to h^ ' "^ f^claimed: 
 ^No, I am a F^L^T,- - " American. 
 
 .his arms about "^^rv?" throwing 
 claimed: "Thank r^' r \?'' ^^"^^ ^X" 
 hrace of bono? " ^ ^'^ ^^ the em- 
 
 Messlans ateo foul? .P''?^^ ^^Pi^ed. 
 adiers \n^d Ph^^ detachment 
 
 
■i 
 
 with heavy Idsees lu proporuon or the force 
 engaged at , Stone I^rry, Charleatou, Spring- 
 fieW and GiiilfordJ Court House and Green 
 Sjyring. | 
 
 THEIR LOSSES WERE BIG. 
 
 The trattor Arnold had 100 Hessians iu his 
 Virginia expedition. At the finish of their 
 fightiag in America, at Yorktown, accord- 
 ing to German accounts, they lost, killed, 
 53; wounded, 131; missing, 27, not counting 
 the officers and men surrendered. Also 10 
 Englisih and 18 Hesisian regimental stand- 
 ard's taken. 
 
 The American accounts place the Hessiane 
 at 1924 out of 7251 officers and men of Corn- 
 wallis' army surrendered at Yorktown, 
 
 The^Heseians' were not used exclusively to 
 fight/Americans. In 1778, 1200 Waldeckers 
 and English were detached to strengthen the 
 garrisons in West Florida. The following 
 year three companies of the s-ame Heeaians 
 were sent on au unsuccessful expvdiiiou 
 again'S.: the Spaninde at Baton-Rouge, 
 Louisiana. 
 
 The total lossee of the Hessiansi in battle 
 were, killed 548, wounded 1652, missing 127 
 In addition^ to those taken, prisoners. 
 
 Aggregately at different times through the 
 war approxiia-.iately 2000 or more Hessians 
 were held prisoners at the Hessians' Camp 
 at Reading. It wae not unus^ual for pris- 
 oners to be permitted to work for farmers 
 of Alsace, Oley, etc. It is not likely many 
 of these tilled aay more Germaxi soil. 
 
 The Declaration of Indepeadence made 
 special allusion to the British Govern- 
 ment "at this time transporting large armies 
 of foreign mercenaries to cornplete the 
 works of death, desolation and tyranny al- 
 ready begun," etc. 
 
 INDUCEMENTS TO DESERT. 
 
 It is evident that the Hessians were aot 
 despised as men, although, they were in their 
 attitude of mercenaries for which they were 
 not responsible. The Continental Congress 
 mjade special efforts to induce them to de- 
 sert. In April, 1778, a proclajiration was cir- 
 ciilated' among them offering 50 acres to 
 e\ery soldier aad to any captain with 40 
 m^n, 800 acres and cattle and hogs to stock 
 them if they would desert and were not to 
 be required to do mllitairy duty. 
 
 A great deal has been said by writers 
 prejudiced or unfamiliar with the subject 
 to cast doubt upon the attitude of Frederick 
 the Great. A letter of his is in existence 
 dated June 18, 1776, to Veltaire, in which 
 the warrior king expresses coutem.pt for the 
 "Men-selling" princes of Geruran blood, 
 and would throw every impediment in their 
 way. The celebrated Gerrojan poet Schiller 
 in hie tragedy of Cabale(K^d Liebe. written 
 during the time the Hessians were in the 
 English service in America, introduced a 
 protest against the traffic. 
 
 NOT AS BAD AS PAINTED. 
 
 Interesting occurrences associated with Hes- 
 sian prison life on Mt. Penn might be nar- 
 rated from their own journals. I might go 
 back to departure fromi their home land, 
 portray the agonies of separation from pa- 
 renite, wives, diildrea and frienda when, they 
 
 Ibade their last farewell. How driven like 
 beasts they were scourged by orders of 
 their princes on the miareh to point of em- 
 
 jbarkation and the cruelties practiced upon 
 
 (I those who uselessly attempted to resist. 
 This side of the portraiture shows that the 
 
 I Hessian eoldiler in every instance was not 
 
 ['{ as bad as he is now painted. . 
 
Lot & 
 
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