Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded By the Hessian Participants
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Bruce E. Burgoyne. Index, 616 pp. Any serious and thorough study of the American Revolution would be incomplete without the record of the soldiers who came from several German states to serve on the English side, the so-called 'Hessians'. Because England had not enough men in 1775 to meet all of her military commitments, she followed a common practice of the time and engaged organized troop units from six German states: Ansbach-Bayreuth, Anhalt-Zerbst, Brunswick, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau and Waldeck. These 'Hessians' numbered about 30,000 and made up probably one-third of the soldiers sent to America. They played a major role in every significant military action during the war. Researchers with an interest in these German soldiers will already be acquainted with Mr. Burgoyne's work. If you are just now learning of it, here are two things to get your attention: 1) according to John Gardner of Delaware State University, Bruce Burgoyne has personally translated as many Hessian sources as have been translated and published before by anyone, and 2) as its physical size suggests, this book is a step beyond Mr. Burgoyne's previous works, which were typically translations from single diaries. This book presents in translation parts of the whole diaries, letters and regimental records from 34 individual sources from five of the six German states which rented their armies to Great Britain (only Brunswick is unrepresented). The reader experiences the war in chronological order, from the Hessian departure from Germany, through the harrowing Atlantic crossing, through as many as eight years of military campaigns (covering engagements from Canada to the Caribbean), and back to Germany. You will see each event from many viewpoints, the hardships of sleeping outside in the rain or snow, or watching comrades die from heat during a march, or seeing men drowned at sea, will become very real. You will learn a great deal about misfortunes at sea, as the geographical nature of the Revolutionary War forced the army to depend heavily on the fleet for supplies and for transport. These land soldiers tasted far more seafaring than any European war would have required of them, and storms at sea were quite frequent and never trivial (cannons, masts and humans were carried off regularly, and ships were often in collisions with one another). You will learn of captures, capitulations, prisoner exchanges and terms of captivity, which would look quite unusual today. You will see the German view of the English, the American Rebels, the Indians and the war effort. The Hessian diarists had a high level of literacy and provide many details of and insights into life in this pivotal period. Details of people's names are readily accessible through the book's everyname index. The information in this book is factual, detailed, often new (not previously published) and told with the immediacy of first-hand experience. If you could have sent an eyewitness news crew to the American Revolution, the result would have been a lot like this. [B867-H]