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From: "Bob Brooks" <>
Subject: Family & Camp Followers
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:35:29 -0400
References: <BAY9-F141B49DF45668ABF473E3EE49C0@phx.gbl>


Nelda wrote --
>>> Lets get back to Whose my Hessian and where /when did he serve/did he
>>> desert?/ POW/ Did he bring family? Who were the camp followers?? And
>>> where can we find this information... <<<

I'd like to readdress families and/or camp followers although there is a lot
of material on the subject to be gleaned from the List Archives.

The 18th century British Army had quotas for the number of wives and
servants transported and victualled (fed) at the Crown's expense. The
British Regiments deployed from Ireland in early 1776 nominally comprised
677 officers and men, 60 women, and 12 servants (and 86 tons of baggage).
Some of the embarkation returns give head counts of the women and children
transported. Identifying those women and their spouses can be problematic.
In the case of the 1782 replacement recruits from Ansbach-Bayreuth there
were nine women and no children coming to America in the summer of 1782 and
nine women and six children who returned to Germany in the summer of 1783.
The recruits also included a Feldprediger (Chaplain) therefore eight of the
nine women and five of the six children can be identified from the Chaplains
records. I posted these names on 31 Dec 2003 (Message-ID:
002a01c3cfc7$06fd2200$)

In the same 1782 recruit transport, the detachment of Brunswick recruits had
three women and no children come to America but had five women and three
children on the return voyage. The extra two wives and three children were
the result of marriages in America of ex-POWs who had been captured during
Burgoyne's 1776-1777 Canada/New-York campaign. The original three wives can
not be identified but the surviving muster-roll indicates the marital status
of the various recruits.

My observation is that those soldiers who were accompanied by wives and/or
children returned to Germany at the end of their deployment. I presume they
were career military personnel. For every rule, doubtless there is an
exception, but I am not aware of a single case where a German soldier who
was accompanied by family deserted while in America. My best guess is that
such desertions happened because when her soldier became a POW, the wife
typically accompanied him into incarceration. When the Regiment v.
Knyphausen embarked 04 Sep 1779 onboard the transports TRITON, MOLLY, and
ARCHER, the embarkation included 13 Women, 12 children, and 26 "Waiting
men." Of course, both the TRITON and MOLLY were captured by the Americans
and the soldiers sent to Philadelphia, many of them having previously served
about 18 months as POWs after having been captured at Trenton. The Regiment
v. Lossberg which embarked on the transports KING GEORGE, ADAMANT, and
BADGER included 25 women, 12 children, and 30 "Waiting men."

On a "State of the Prisoners of War at Philadelphia Oct 11th 1779" The
"Regiment Knyphausen" is listed as: 159 "In Prison,"
23 "On Parole," 116 "At work," 42 "In Hospital," 340 "Total," 2 "no. of
women and Children in Prison." All regiments comprised a "Total" of 976
plus 28 being "no. of women and Children in Prison."

Bob Brooks



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