Hi Bob, You said: Meanwhile the troops from Brunswick and from Hesse-Hanau were sent to Canada, far from the population centers of North America. Why were they sent to Canada? Thanks, Suzanne Bob Brooks <rcbrooks@pivot.net> wrote: Nelda -- YOUR term may be Hessian but please don't call it OUR term because to many, the term "Hessian" is/was intended to be derogatory. I believe there were two reasons that "Hessian" became synonomous with "German" when discussing the auxilary soldiers employed by the British and deployed to North America. First, when the "Hessians" landed at New York in 1776, they were all true Hessians coming from Hesse-Cassel (except one regiment of true, non-resident mercenaries recruited by/in Waldeck) consequently all the American newspapers called the Germans "Hessians" so the name stuck. Meanwhile the troops from Brunswick and from Hesse-Hanau were sent to Canada, far from the population centers of North America. Second, when the final count was in, something like 70% (plus or minus) of all the German auxilary troops deployed to North America came from either Hesse-Casel or Hesse-Hanau. The first of the continguent from Ansbach-Bayreuth didn't arrive until the Philadelphia campaign had begun in 1777 so they, too, were called "Hessians" when they arrived. The first continguent from Anhalt-Zerbst went to Canada in 1778 after Burgoyne's army had surrendered and major fighting had ended in that theatre and the second large deployment in 1782 from Anhalt-Zerbtst only made it to Halifax where they spent a year in garrison before returning home. As a historian, I prefer to refer to the sponsoring German state to identify the specific military units, viz-- Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Ansbach-Bayreuth, Hesse-Hanau, and Anhalt-Zerbst (listed here in declining order of quantiy of troops supplied). It really doesn't matter what generic term you you call the German auxilary troops. Purists will take exception to generic terms and generalist get annoyed by purists. Just don't call them "mercenaries" unless you are referring to the 3. englisch-waldeckisches Soldregiment, a true mercenary regiment of non-residents. Bob Brooks ==== AMREV-HESSIANS Mailing List ==== Please stick to our published subject - Hessian Soldiers of the American Revolution, not WWII or the Civil War. No other Immigrants. You can search the archives for a specific message or browse them, going from one message to another. To search: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/?list=AMREV-HESSIANS To browse: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/AMREV-HESSIANS-L ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour

Suzane -- > You said: Meanwhile the troops from Brunswick and from Hesse-Hanau were > sent to Canada, far from the population centers of North America. > > Why were they sent to Canada? Because in 1775, the rag-tag American army had nearly driven the British out of the St Lawrence River valley. Montreal had been captured by an army led by Richard Montgomery of New York and a two pronged pincer attack was being formed against Quebec, into which the British troops had taken refuge, with Montgomery's army marching eastward and Benedict Arnold march over the height of the land between Maine and Quebec. The New Year's Eve attempt by the Americans to storm Quebec failed with General Montgomery killed and Arnold wounded. The American laid siege to Quebec through the winter awaiting reinforcements from the south whilst the Brits awaited reinforcements from across the sea. As the ice went out of the St Lawrence, the Brit reinforcements (Burgoyne's army) arrived first on 06 May 1776, lifting the siege and bringing Burgoyne's forces to something like 13,000 men. In the meantime the American reinforcements struggled eastward. On 01 June, the reinforcements joined up with the retreating, fatigued besiegers at St John, above the falls on the Riviore Richelieu. The American reinforcements pushed eastward and at Trois Riviores on 08 June 1776 were badly routed, making it a dash to retreat back to St John. The British retook everything back to St John in short order, then retrenched while building a fleet to control Lake Champlain. In the meantime, the Americans built their own fleet. The Battle of Valcour Island marked the end of American control of Lake Champlain but the fleet buildup had meant a yearlong delay to the British plans to cut New England from the other colonies by controlling the Hudson River valley/Lake Champlain corridor. The following year, Burgoyne's thrust stalled at Saratoga and he surrendered his army under written conditions favorable to the Brits. The "convention of surrender" gave its title to the "Convention Army" which was to march to the sea, go to Europe and never fight again in North America. The Continental Congress refused to endorse the convention and upon a minor violation of one of the clauses made by the British, declared the convention null and void. At this time the Convention Army was encampt in the old Continental Army barracks atop Prospect and Winter Hills, just west of Boston. Fearful that the Brits might stage an expedition to rescue them, the Convention Army was marched 700 miles in a 70-day winter march to Virginia. Therefore, many of the Brunswick and Hesse-Hanau troops who arrived 06 May 1776 before Quebec found themselves three years later enjoying Virginian hospitality in Charlottesville. Bob Brooks