The weekly Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 1882-188?, 1884-03-13
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
T&s Hfssian Troops EmpT
Britain who and What 1ix

b"Rt
Britain Who and What 1tx
A work on the "HcsS% M
further insight into the III y
recruits furnished by the3 ~ n
Hesse Cassel to Great IN
our frat war with the moi r,H u
These Hessians have alws &, rillu'
liz derlsion by AmcH "I,, tII, mon
cattle sold 10y their / "H,,. IN, -.
been looked upon as me- HtJ ~ " q
acter o. t-inc.pil.. and 20. ot
but anxious to he thus sold. T. ei
Mr.. Lowell, in his ne1 work. de-
scnbes the position of :acse soldiers ms
little, if any, above that of slaves. The
soldiers, he says, really got nothing for
their American scr,ice. They had their
rations, their clothing, aud their pay, 1T
Is true; but these would have been theirs
il they had staid at home in their bar
rs As. 1t il their petty rulers who were
paid for their service, their hardshIps,
and their dangers; and If they were
killed OF wounded 1t was the rulers who
were compensated NJ a fixed price Tor
the loss Of their human cattle.
The recruits furnished 10 keep upf
biDDil IMAM Nl' H'l'Y
who first left their homes They
men enlisted by force, Kidnapped, IN a
| word, and shipped off to America like
convicts or swine-six men to IL berth III
! a ships hold. Once kidnapped, the poor
fellows had little chance Of escape, for
| the petty Princes knew their trade as
slave drivers very well. In Wurtem-
burg. if recruit escaped or n soldier
deserted, the whole parish WAS required
to go in pursuit, and in order 10 make
| their pursuit earnest and effective they
were required to furnish one Of their
own number in the place Of the deserter
if he could not be caught. The clergy
we're required to read this order from
| the pulpit once a month, in order to i'm
press upon their congregations sense
Of their duty md responsibility. There
were fines and imprisonment at hard
labor for every one who dared help
fugitive, and death was the penalty for
inducing desertion.
Many of the Hessian prisoners taken
| by the Americans were permitted to- go
into the country and hire themselves
out rs farm laborers, and when we CON
slider the nature Of the despotism under
.hich they lived at home, the ease with
which the might avoid pursuit, and the
abundant opSti.le.es ~ni'u ,hon an,, ,n
sparsely settled country offefsesF -.
improve their fortunes, it seems some
what strange that so small proportion
Of either the prisoners or the soldiers on
duty deserted. Congress held out in
ducements TO them to do 80, and set ac-
tive agencies at work TO persuade them
to change their allegiance. They were
assured Of exemption from military
duty, and were promised lands if they
would abandon a service to which they
were supposed to owe nothing but
hatred. And yet. according to the best
estimate that Mr.. Lowells investiga-
tioDs have enabled him TO form, only
about 5000 of the German troops de-
serted during the entire seven years.
German writers assert that there were
fewer desertions from the ranks Of the
mercenaries than from those Of the
British regiments, and Mr. Lowell ex-
plains the fact by saying that desertion
was at once less easy and less attractive
to the German than to the English
soldier.