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A generous and merciful enemy : life for German prisoners of war during the American Revolution

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo20623
Author
Krebs, Daniel,
Date of Publication
2013.
Call Number
973.371 K92
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Responsibility
Daniel Krebs.
ISBN
9780806143569
0806143568
Author
Krebs, Daniel,
Place of Publication
Norman
Publisher
University of Oklahoma Press,
Date of Publication
2013.
Physical Description
xv, 376 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Series
Campaigns and commanders ; v. 38
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-359) and index.
Contents
German soldiers in British service -- Subsidy treaties -- Recruitment patterns -- Social composition -- Into captivity -- Prisoners of war in western warfare -- Capture and surrender -- Prisoners of war -- The first prisoners of war in revolutionary hands, 1775-1776 -- German prisoners of war, 1776-1778 -- Provisions and exchange, 1778 -- The Convention Army, 1777-1781 -- Continuity and change, 1779-1783 -- Release and return -- Epilogue -- Appendix: Common German soldiers taken prisoner.
Summary
"Some 37,000 soldiers from six German principalities, collectively remembered as Hessians, entered service as British auxiliaries in the American War of Independence. At times, they constituted a third of the British army in North America, and thousands of them were imprisoned by the Americans. Despite the importance of Germans in the British war effort, historians have largely overlooked these men. Drawing on research in German military records and common soldiers' letters and diaries, Daniel Krebs places the prisoners on center stage in A Generous and Merciful Enemy, portraying them as individuals rather than simply as numbers in casualty lists. Setting his account in the context of British and European politics and warfare, Krebs explains the motivations of the German states that provided contract soldiers for the British army. We think of the Hessians as mercenaries, but, as he shows, many were conscripts. Some were new recruits; others, veterans. Some wanted to stay in the New World after the war. Krebs further describes how the Germans were made prisoners, either through capture or surrender, and brings to life their experiences in captivity from New England to Havana, Cuba. Krebs discusses prison conditions in detail, addressing both the American approach to war prisoners and the prisoners' responses to their experience. He assesses American efforts as a "generous and merciful enemy" to use the prisoners as economic, military, and propagandistic assets. In the process, he never loses sight of the impact of imprisonment on the POWs themselves. Adding new dimensions to an important but often neglected topic in military history, Krebs probes the origins of the modern treatment of POWs. An epilogue describes an almost-forgotten 1785 treaty between the United States and Prussia, the first in western legal history to regulate the treatment of prisoners of war."--Publisher's website.
Subjects
German mercenaries
Prisoners of war - United States
Prisoners of war - Germany
Military prisons - United States
Forced labor - United States
Indentured servants - United States
Forced labor.
German mercenaries.
Indentured servants.
Military prisons.
Prisoners of war.
Deutscher Kriegsgefangener.
Nordamerikanischer Unabhängigkeitskrieg.
Tyska legosoldater
Tyska krigsfångar
Nordamerikanska frihetskriget 1775-1783.
Fängelser
Tvångsarbete
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Prisoners and prisons, German.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
Germany.
United States.
Förenta staterna.
History.
Location
Lancaster History Library - Book
Call Number
973.371 K92
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The Hessian prisoners in the American War of Independence and their life in captivity

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo1077
Author
Volm, M. H.
Date of Publication
1937
Call Number
973.342 V926
More detail
  1 website  
Responsibility
by M.H. Volm.
Author
Volm, M. H.
Place of Publication
[Charlottesville? Va
Publisher
s.n.,
Date of Publication
1937
Physical Description
27 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes
Title from cover.
Bibliography: p. 26-27.
Summary
This essay provides contextual information concerning how the English actually hired the soldiers and why the German princes, and not other nations who were asked, were willing to sell their men to English. It also discusses how the English and German public reacted to the hiring of German soldiers.
Subjects
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - German mercenaries.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Prisoners and prisons.
Location
Lancaster History Library - Book
Call Number
973.342 V926
Websites
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059428360;view=1up;seq=3
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Hessian prisoners and their employers in the Lebanon Township area

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo14260
Author
Sowers, Gladys Bucher,
Date of Publication
2002.
Call Number
974.819 L441 v.18 no.4
More detail
Responsibility
by Gladys Bucher Sowers.
Author
Sowers, Gladys Bucher,
Place of Publication
Lebanon, Pa
Publisher
[Lebanon County Historical Society]
Date of Publication
2002.
Physical Description
70 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.
Contents
Introduction -- Background -- Captured at Trenton -- Imprisonment of the Hessians -- Employment of the prisoners -- Inducements to remain in America -- Location of employment sites -- Hessian prisoners associated with the Cornwall Iron Furnace -- The list of prisoners -- The list of employers -- Summary -- Prisoners belived to have stayed in America -- Endnotes -- Notes on prisoner documentation.
Subjects
Lebanon County (Pa.) - History.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Prisoners and prisons.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
Additional Corporate Author
Lebanon County Historical Society (Lebanon County, Pa.)
Location
Lancaster History Library - Book
Call Number
974.819 L441 v.18 no.4
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A composite list of German prisoners of war held by the Americans, 1779-1782

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo14254
Author
Schwalm, Mark A.
Date of Publication
1981.
Call Number
905.748 JSHA v.2, no.1
More detail
Responsibility
by Mark A. Schwalm.
Author
Schwalm, Mark A.
Date of Publication
1981.
Physical Description
p.4-15.
Notes
In: Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association, v.2 no.1 (1981)
Subjects
Prisoners of war
Hessian mercenaries.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
Prisoners and prison, German - Registers.
Location
Lancaster History Library - Periodical Article
Call Number
905.748 JSHA v.2, no.1
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Hessian laborers at Lancaster, Pa., 1777

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo14392
Author
Smith, Clifford Neal.
Date of Publication
1971
Call Number
905.29 NG v. 59 (1971)
More detail
Responsibility
by Clifford Neal Smith.
Author
Smith, Clifford Neal.
Date of Publication
1971
Physical Description
p. 188.
Notes
National Genealogical Society Quarterly, v., 59 (1971).
Summary
This is a short article that provides the last names of Hessian prisoners who were being paid for work on "public buildings" in Lancaster. No other information about the prisoners or their work is given.
Subjects
Hessians - Pennsylvania - Lancaster.
Prisoners of war - Germany.
Prisoners of war - Pennsylvania - Lancaster.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
Location
Lancaster History Library - Periodical Article
Call Number
905.29 NG v. 59 (1971)
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Lancaster Borough : host to British and Hessian prisoners of war, 1775-1784

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo359
Author
Evans, Melvern R.
Date of Publication
1985
the outbreak of the Revolution, the state decided to use these facilities as prisons for the captured British and Hessian soldiers. The Hessians were mer- cenary soldiers from Hesse, Germany, hired to fight for the British. The non-commissioned prisoners were confined in the barracks, which was
More detail
  1 document  
Responsibility
by Melvern Evans, Jr.
Author
Evans, Melvern R.
Place of Publication
Lancaster, Pa
Publisher
Lancaster County Historical Society,
Date of Publication
1985
Physical Description
144-151 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Series
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society ; v. 89, no. 4
Subjects
Prisoners of war - Pennsylvania - Lancaster.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783 - Participation, German.
United States - History - Revolution, 1775-1783.
Contained In
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Volume 89, number 4 (1985), p. 144-151Lancaster History Library - Journal974.9 L245 v.89
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6 records – page 1 of 1.