AMREV-HESSIANS-L Archives

From: "Bob Brooks" <>
Subject: Re: [HESSIAN] Berks Co., Militia
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:04:44 -0500
References: <264.23bdf02.30cf425e@aol.com>

> If a Hessian soldier joined the Berks Co., PA Militia,
> would he have been a POW in Reading, PA?

My Sayer & Bennett 1775 map of Pennsylvania shows Berks County to be
significantly larger than the present day Berks County; however, Reading
then, like now, was the largest settlement in the county. I opine he "could
have been" a POW at Reading but "would have been " is too strong a
statement. There were some Hessian deserters from the South who ended up
that part of Pennsylvania having received travel passes from the American
forces.

By "Hessian" are you using the generic term for the German troops hired by
the British? At the end of the war there were Brunswick and Hesse-Hanau
troops in that vicinity (Convention Army members) as well as those from
Hesse-Cassel. Except possibly for a few individual cases beyond my
knowledge, none of the troops from Ansbach-Bayreuth or Anhalt-Zerbst ended
up in POW compounds in Berks, Lancaster or York counties. There were a few
Waldeckers in Lancaster in 1777-1778.

Bob Brooks

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