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Between 1776 and 1783, Great Britain hired more than thirty thousand German soldiers to fight in its war against the American rebels. Collectively known as Hessians, the soldiers and accompanying civilians, including hundreds of women and children, spent extended periods of time in locations as dispersed and varied as Canada in the north and West Florida in the south. How did members of the German corps experience the American war? How did they describe the American land and the people? This presentation will pay special attention to the experiences of the German troops in the rebellious colonies in the South, including Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. Drawing extensively from a large body of private and official records created by members of the German corps, it will provide a fresh perspective of this watershed event in world history.

 

Speaker

Friederike Baer, Ph.D. is Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University, Abington College. She holds a Ph.D. in early American history from Brown University. Much of her research has focused on the experiences of German-speaking people in North America in the periods of the War for American Independence and Early Republic. Her work has been supported by organizations such as the American Philosophical Society, University of Michigan Clements Library, the Virginia Historical Society, Society of the Cincinnati, and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Her first book, "The Trial of Frederick Eberle: Language, Patriotism and Citizenship in Philadelphia’s German Community, 1790-1830" (New York UP, 2008), was awarded the 2011 St. Paul’s, Biglerville Prize for the best book in Lutheran church history published in the previous three years. Her most recent book, "Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War" (Oxford UP, 2022), was the winner of the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia annual book award, the Honorable Mention for the Inaugural American Battlefield Trust Book Prize for History, and the winner of the Society of the Cincinnati Prize.