Daniel’s Hessian-Ancestry

No account of the American Revolution is complete without a reference to the Hessians.

They played a crucial role that brought about the formation of America, and were actually written into the Declaration of Independence on line 47 of that historical document dated July 4th 1776.

They are listed there as one of the many complaints against British rule. QUOTE “He (King George III) is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation”

The Hessians were German mercenaries hired by England to help fight in the war against the Americans. They were a professional and well-trained army, and often very cruel in their tacticts, even with prisoners of war. It seems that these “foreign mercenaries” performed thier jobs well to “complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny”

The Hessians were of a Warrior stock and reveled in battle as heartily as they did on Holiday! Hessian Soldiers were feared and respected by their adversaries and carried an awesome reputation of ruthlessness in battle. Although King George III lost his war against the Americans, Victory was no stranger to the Hessians when confronted in battle!

The Hessians quit simply were mercenaries for hire. They would engage any nation in battle if the price was right, and apparently has been that way since the earliest of times.

Hessian troops contributed to the movement against the imperial powers which followed the death of Charlemagne in 911 AD. In 1247 a conflict about succession in the nieghboring Thuringia broke out. The Hessen war machine went into action. In 1292 Henry, the Child of Brabant, was raised to the rank of prince of the empire.

After the death of Philip the Magnanimous in 1567 Hessen was divided among his four sons into Hessen-kassel, Hessen-Marburg, Hessen-Rheinfels and Hessen-Darmstadt.

A later ruler, Charles (1670-1730), is notable for being the first to legalize the system of hiring out his soldiers as mercenaries to help the national finances. These men became a proficient Mercenary Army providing wealth and income for Germany and it’s leaders.

There are two areas of interest during the American Revolution that has a direct bearing on my family and ancestry. One is the Hessians themselves, who engaged Gen George Washington at the battle of Trenton.



There is a famous painting of Gen George Washington crossing the Deleware to fight against Hessian and British forces.

On Christmas night in 1776, General George Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised the Hessian troops who occupied Trenton, NJ. The Hessians were so busy celebrating the Christmas holiday that they put up little resistance to the advancing Americans. The Hessians were so confident in thier superior fighting skills that they all decided to have a party.

“[The Hessians] were totally #&*@-faced,” said one historian, referring to the amount of libations the German troops indulged on that night 232 years ago. It wasn’t even a fair fight. The Americans snuck-up on them while they were drunk and had thier way with them.

Though Jack Daniel’s was not available in 1776, the Hessians celebrated mostly with beer. Historical reports and journals have the party in Trenton being so raucous that soldiers sang songs using powderhorns as megaphones. Musket balls were used for juggling and not firing. And so relaxed were the Hessians that flintlocks sat unattended next to cannon ramrods.

The other area of interest is the exploits of my great, great, great, great grandfather Captain Georg Pausch’s Hessen-Hanau Company of artillery. He was busy fighting battles and not drinking.

After 1789 by the serious direct threat revolutionary France posed to the small German states across the Rhine. The Hessen State was correspondingly willing to engage his army for lesser sums than his predecessors. Its almost like they said “we will beat up the french just for the fun of it”

Britain, however, was still a reliable paymaster and partner, willing to pay premium prices for good men. A series of treaties in 1793 and 1794 brought 12,000 men plus artillery into British service. The Hessians fought as well as ever in the Low Countries and Westphalia. Hessian regiments served in Ireland against the 1798 Revolution, with more success than their predecessors had in North America. William IV was able to parlay his troops’ service into an electoral title from the Holy Roman Empire in 1803.

Three years later, they were at war again and in the aftermath of the Battle of Jena, Hessen-Kassel was merged into the Confederation of the Rhine. Hessians continued to fight across Europe under foreign colors, this time the French paid the best.

The last battle grieves me to detail. In 1939 the Nazi’s of germany (yes, the Hessians) invaded Poland and thus began a reign of bloodshed like nothing thats ever been. They exterminated 6 million Jews during the Holocost. The United States of America defeated Nazi Germany and captured Hessen-Kassel on 3 April 1945.There sins finally caught up with them. So the Hessian mercenary state has passed into history—and into myth. The Hessians are no more – unless of course you know a living Hessian.

Who were the Hessians – They Were The Best Army Money Could Buy

They are the garrison of Trenton NJ, celebrating Christmas until George Washington and his men rudely interrupt their revels. Some people think that Washington’s forces were successful only because the Hessians were drunk and celebrating on Christmas night. Had they not been drunk, Washington may have lost and we might have had a different America today.

A Hessian ghost is implicated as the Headless Horseman in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. They are the villains in D.W. Griffith’s 1909 film The Hessian Renegades, one of the earliest war movies. A Hessian (Yosemite) Sam Von Schmamm even serves as a cartoon foil for Bugs Bunny, finally collapsing in frustrated exhaustion with the memorable line, “I’m a Hessian without no aggression.”In the early 19th century, the Brothers Grimm lived in Hessen-Kassel and collected and wrote most of their fairy tales there.