The Hessians

The Hessians and the American Revolution

In addition to the Hessian Regiments, serving throughout the American Revolution, there were a number of other German Corps that were established, on orders from the King, by signing up volunteers, which were in effect the "mercenaries".

As the Elector of Hanover, King George III asked his Lt. Col. Scheiter, to recruit up to 2,000 men in Hanover, but his efforts resulted only in the signing up of 250 volunteers, who, dressed in English uniforms, landed in Quebec in 1776 and were later distributed to British regiments. However, Lt. Col. Scheiter's recruiters managed to sign up another approximately 1800 new recruits in other areas along the River Rhein, and those men were distributed in groups of 30 to 50 to British Regiments who served in America, such as the 60th and 84th. Many of those were discharged in New York or Canada in 1783 and remained in the New World.

Captain Von Diemar, a German from Hanover, who had also served in the 60th Royal American Regiment, raised a company of Hussars recruited mostly from German soldiers who had escaped from American prison camps. This corps was known as the Diemar's Hussars.

The Emmerich Free Corps, raised by Lt. Col. Andreas Emmerich in New York, with volunteers from New York and Germany, fought in the attacks on Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, and also participated in other actions, had a strength of 250 men and was finally discharged in 1783 at Quebec.