Hessian Soldiers

Background

The term Hessian Soldiers generally refers to German auxiliary troops hired by Great Britain to fight in the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) alongside British troops. At the commencement of the war, King George III of Great Britain needed additional troops to increase his fighting power. Former allies were contacted for help, and, following a common practice at the time, auxiliary troops from foreign countries were hired. The following six principalities within the Holy Roman Empire signed treaties with Great Britain to provide troops for the war: Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Hesse-Hanau, Ansbach-Bayreuth, Waldeck and Anhalt-Zerbst. Over the course of the war, a total of about 30,000 troops came to North America. More than half of these came from Hesse, which led to all auxiliary troops being refereed to as Hessians, regardless of their true state of origin. It is estimated that of the roughly 30,000 Hessians who came to America, about 6,000 either deserted or were discharged and remained in the United States and Canada after the war. About 2,500 settled in Canada, the majority in Quebec and some also in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and present-day Ontario. The remainder settled in the United States, anywhere from the Canadian border south to Florida. Many settled in German-speaking areas in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

"Hessian Soldiers: Their History and How to Find Them in America and Germany" (webinar)

Gina S. Palmer, Resources for Hessian Soldiers Research Germanic Genealogy Journal 25 #2 (Spring-Summer,2022):24-30
Carlton L. Weidemeyer,Do You Have a Hessian Soldier in Your Tree? Germanic Genealogy Journal 23 # 3,4 (Fall-Winter, 2020):

Online Records

1776-1786 German Auxiliaries Muster Rolls, 1776-1786 (bulk 1781-1783) at William L. Clements Library - images; includes select muster rolls and other documents
1776-1783 Acta militaria of the Brunswick troops which served in America(*) at FamilySearch Catalog — images; includes muster rolls
1777 List of Hessian Officers (Of the Convention) who signed Paroles at Cambridge 13 December 1777 at Library of Congress - images; images 6-8
1777-1783 Ansbach Regiment Muster Lists; transcriptions
Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, Military and Naval Microfilm Archive at Kutztown University - images

Brunswick field military parish registers

1776-1783 Baptisms, marriages, burials, marriages index B-S and burials index A-Z 1776-1783 at Archion - images ($); Infantry regiment von Riedesel
1776-1783 Baptisms 1778-1781, baptisms index B-W 1776-1783 at Archion - images ($); Infantry regiment von Riedesel
1776-1783 Prince Friedrich Regiment with six companies: Baptisms, marriages and burials 1776-1783 at Archion - images ($); includes companies von Stammer, Praetorius, von Hille, von Tunderfeld, Dietrichs, and von Zielberg.
1776-1777 Dragoon Regiment: Baptisms, burials, communicants and marriages 1776-1777, von Berner Battalion: Baptisms, burials and marriages 1776-1777 at Archion - images ($)

Hesse-Cassel field military parish registers

1776-1784 Church records 1776-1784 at Archion - images ($); records kept by military chaplain G.C. Cöster for regiments of von Donop and von Losberg.

Coming Soon

Muster Rolls of Hessian units held at the Hessian State Archives in Marburg, made available by the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association (JSHA).

Compiled Genealogies and Biographies

Biographies and research summaries of many soldiers can be found in the following resources:

Registry of Researched Soldiers; list of soldiers whose military service and family histories have been researched and published or documented by the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association (JSHA)
PDF (Personal Data Files) On Hessians; a selection of files of information about individual soldiers compiled by Johannes Helmut Merz
German Soldiers of "OUR" Members and Others; list of researched soldiers with links or contact information, information submitted by members of the American Revolution Hessian (AMREV-HESSIAN) mailing list
Burgoyne, Bruce E. Waldeck soldiers of the American Revolutionary War. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., c.1991. FS Library International 943.41 M2b; mini-biographies of about 1200 soldiers includes name, date and place of birth, religion, height, trade, family and service information.

Soldiers who settled in Canada

List of 550 marriages of Hessians performed in Quebec compiled by Bill Beaudoin.
DeMarce, Virginia Easley. The settlement of former German auxiliary troops in Canada after the American Revolution. Sparta, Wisconsin: Joy Reisinger, c.1984. FS Library US/CAN 971 W2dv.
Merz, Johannes Helmut. The Hessians of Nova Scotia. Hamilton, Ontario: German Canadian Historical Book Pub., c.1994. FS Library US/CAN 971.6 D3mj.
Merz, Johannes Helmut. The Hessians of Quebec. Hamilton, Ontario: J.H. Merz, c.2001. FS Library US/CAN 971.4 M2m.
Merz, Johannes Helmut. The Hessians of Upper Canada. Hamilton, Ontario: German Canadian Historical Book Pub., c.1997. FS Library US/CAN 971.3 D3m.

Name Lists and Indexes

Information about a soldier in the various name lists varies. In addition to the name, the following information may be included: town of origin, age, year of birth, rank, regiment, details about departure from service, and status.

1500-1900 U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500-1900s at Ancestry - index ($)
1777-1789 Names of Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania Between the Years 1777 and 1789 at Ancestry - index, images ($)
Smith, Clifford Neal. Cumulative surname index and soundex to monographs 1 through 12 of the German-American genealogical research series. McNeal, Arizona: Westland Publications, 1983. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 13.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Muster rolls and prisoner-of-war lists in American archival collections pertaining to the German mercenary troops who served with the British forces during the American Revolution . DeKalb, Illinois: Westland Publications, c.1976. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 3.
Westcott, Thompson. Names of persons who took the oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania between the years 1777 and 1789 : with a history of the "test laws" of Pennsylvania. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965. FS Library US/CAN 974.8 P4w. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.

Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau, and Waldeck Troops

Hessian Troops in America (HETRINA) at LAGIS Hessen - index; database includes soldiers from Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau and Waldeck
Burgoyne, Bruce E. The 3rd English-Waldeck Regiment in the American Revolutionary War. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., c.1999. FS Library US/CAN 973 M2bte
Smith, Clifford Neal. Annotated Hessian chaplaincy record of the American Revolution, 1776-1783; christenings, marriages, deaths. McNeal, Arizona: Westland Publications, c1994. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 30.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Notes on Hessian soldiers who remained in Canada and the United States after the American Revolution, 1775-1784. McNeal, Arizona: Westland Publications, c.1992, c.1996. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 28 pt1-3, 4A-4E.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Mercenaries from Hessen-Hanau who remained in Canada and the United States after the American Revolution. DeKalb, Illinois: Westland Publications, c.1976. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 5.

Anhalt-Zerbst Troops

DeMarce, Virginia Easley. Mercenary troops from Anhalt-Zerbst, Germany, who served with the British forces during the American Revolution. McNeal, Arizona: Westland Publications, 1984. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 19. This list is incomplete.

Ansbach-Bayreuth Troops

Complete list of those soldiers from the Ansbach-Bayreuth regiments who deserted or stayed in North America after the war List compiled by Jochen Seidel reprinted with permission on the AMREV-HESSIAN website.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Mercenaries from Ansbach and Bayreuth, Germany, who remained in America after the Revolution. McNeal, Arizona: Westland Publications, c1979. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 2 1979.

Brunswick Troops

Reuter, Claus. Brunswick troops in North America, 1776-1783: index of all soldiers who remained in North America. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, c.1999. FS Library US/CAN 970 M22r.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Brunswick deserter-immigrants of the American Revolution. Thomson, Illinois: Heritage House, 1973. FS Library US/CAN 973 W2smn no. 1.

Soldiers who settled in Canada

DeMarce, Virginia Easley. An annotated list of 317 former German soldiers who chose to remain in Canada after the American Revolution. DeMarce, 1981. FS Library US/CAN 971.4 W2d.
Merz, Johannes Helmut. Register of German military men who remained in Canada after the American Revolution. Hamilton, Ontario: German Canadian Historical Book Pub., 1997. FS Library US/CAN 971 W2mjh. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.

Associations and Mailing Lists

Find additional resources and helpful information from these associations and mailing lists dedicated to researching Hessian soldiers who remained in America.

AMREV-HESSIAN mailing list
Immigrant Genealogical Society Assists with searching the published HETRINA volumes.
Johannes Schwalm Historical Association

Church Records

Click on the name of the province or duchy to find lists of available online records as well as detailed information on searching church records in that locality. In addition to parishes of a soldier's home town, military parishes associated with a soldier's regiment may also provide records about an ancestor.

Chaplain Records

Burgoyne, Bruce E., Marie Burgoyne, Georg Christoph Coester, Johann Gottlieb Siegismund, and Gregorius Michael Stroelein. Hessian chaplains : their diaries and duties. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., c.2003. FS Library US/CAN 973 K2bhc; compiled and translated, includes chaplain records from Hesse-Cassel, Anhalt-Zerbst, and Ansbach-Bayreuth.
Coster, G. C. and Dickoré, Marie Paula. Hessian soldiers in the American Revolution: records of their marriages and baptisms of their children in America, performed by the Rev. G. C. Coster, 1776-1783, chaplain of two Hessian regiments. Cincinnati, Ohio: C.J. Krehbiel Co., c.1959. FS Library US/CAN 973 V2cg. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library. Translated abstract of chaplain records.

Additional Resources

Hessian Soldiers: Their History and How to Find them in America and Germany