page_title: Frederika Charlotte Riedesel
section_title: Convention Army
hierarchical_section_title: Frederika Charlotte Riedesel / The American Revolution / Convention Army
caption_attribution_description: English: General and Mrs. Riedesel celebrated Christmas 1781 in Canada, and are credited with popularizing the German traditional Christmas Tree in the Americas. The original painting is in the Governor's Museum in Sorel, Quebec.
context_page_description: Frederika Charlotte Louise von Massow, Baroness Riedesel zu Eisenbach was the wife of General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel of Brunswick. She accompanied him during the Saratoga Campaign in the American Revolutionary War and kept a journal of the campaign.
context_section_description: Following the British surrender on 17 October, Frederika and her daughters became the guests of General Philip Schuyler.  The Riedesel family traveled with the defeated army to Boston, where they were to sail back to Europe.  The terms of surrender were rejected by Congress, however, and the prisoners spent the next four years as the Convention Army.
  The Convention Army was moved from Boston to Virginia in 1779.  Here, General Riedesel collapsed while working in the garden, and Baroness Riedesel spent her time as his nurse.  Until he returned to Germany, General Riedesel could not sleep unless Frederika was with him.
  In late 1779, the Riedesels were allowed to move to New York City.  While residing there in 1780, Frederika gave birth to their fourth daughter, whom they named America.  That same year, a smallpox epidemic broke out, and Frederika again became the nurse to her household, perhaps even saving the life of her husband, who had asked to die.
  Finally, in July 1781, the Riedesel family was permitted to leave New York, and travelled to Canada.  Here, Frederika gave birth to a fifth daughter, named Canada, who did not survive.  Before departing Canada, General Riedesel took his wife to review the English soldiers who were under his command.  The English greeted Frederika with military honors.  The Riedesels left for Germany in 1783.  Frederika is credited with saving the Braunschweig regimental colors by hiding them in her mattress, and she returned them to Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand.
  The Riedesels had four more children- nine total, of which six survived past their first year.  After a further campaign in the Netherlands from 1788 to 1793, General Riedesel died in 1800. Frederika returned to Berlin and published her journals from the war that same year.  Her book became an important first-hand account of the Saratoga Campaign.  Baroness Riedesel died 29 March 1808 in Berlin.  She was buried with her husband in a family grave in Lauterbach.
caption: General and Baroness Riedesel celebrated Christmas 1781 in Canada, and are credited with popularizing the German traditional Christmas tree in the Americas.[14][15]
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