“…rattlesnakes are supposed to be around but we have not seen any as yet. We have discovered as many adders as in Canada, and there were many in all the camps, but nobody has ever been harmed by them. Nevertheless, our men have frequently given them a sound thrashing, for nobody wishes to accept them as guests. I cannot describe how afraid, even terrified, I have been of them”
—Surgeon’s Mate Julius Wasmus, 1777
The Germans at Saratoga
It didn’t take long for the British to realize that their relatively small army would be incapable of defending a worldwide empire and defeat the American “rebels” at the same time. One solution was to augment the army with hired Germans— “Hessians,” as they are commonly known today. All told, the British leased over 30,000 Germans to fight with them in America during the American War for Independence.
Then, Germany was a region of Europe, not a single, unified country. This region was home to nearly one hundred independent German nation states, some of which were as small as a city. Of these, six states leased military units to Britain for large sums of money. Regiments from two German states—Herzogtum Braunschweig und Lüneburg [the Duchy of Brunswick and Lunenburg] and Grafschaft Hessen-Hanau [the County of Hesse-Hanau]—were sent to Quebec, Canada, in 1776 to help reclaim the province from invading Americans. These same units would form part of General Burgoyne’s army in 1777.
Like the British soldiers in Burgoyne’s army, his Germans also voluntarily entered the military life. Despite what is written in the Declaration of Independence, the Germans were not “mercenaries”—they did not sell their services to the highest bidder. Most didn’t even have a choice about being deployed to America. Having sworn the oath of fidelity to George III for the duration of their service—and having no idea as to when, or if, they would ever return home—the Germans were faced with fighting a foreign country’s war in a foreign land.
Many German soldiers brought their wives and children with them to America. All experienced the hardships of a military campaign in the sweltering, sunburned, bug infested landscape of rural upstate New York and Vermont in 1777. They were fascinated by the endless array of wild animals, particularly moose, bears, wolves, foxes, wildcats, and, most terrifying of all, snakes.
German units at the Battles of Saratoga:
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Braunschweig Infanterie Regiment von Riedesel
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Braunschweig Infanterie Regiment von Rhetz
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Braunschweig Infanterie Regiment Specht
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Braunschweig Grenadierbataillon Breymann (Prinz Friedrich, von Riedesel, von Rhetz, and Specht grenadier companies)
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Braunschweig Leichtes Infanterie Bataillon [Light Infantry Battalion] von Bärner
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Braunschweig Prinz Friedrichs Dragoner [Dragoon] Regiment (1 squadron)
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Hessen-Hanau Infanterie Regiment Erb Prinz
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Hessen-Hanau Artillerie Corps (1 company)
