Military Monday: Henrich Horn
on the March
1784 engraving showing the
Hessians
captured
at
Trenton being marched to
Philadelphia, then the
American
capital,
via
Wikipedia, public domain.
McMurray Family, Horn Family
(Click for Family Tree)
When we last left our Hessian ancestor Henrich Horn and his
fellow prisoners of war, they had been marched by General
Washington’s troops about fifteen miles from Trenton, New
Jersey to Newtown, Pennsylvania. It was the 26th of December,
1776, late in the by-then dark day after crossing the Delaware
River, with the blustery, frigid weather of the northeast
making their trek even more miserable. They were exhausted
after many days of high alert, skirmishes, brutal weather, and
their ill-fated Battle of Trenton that very morning. Once in
Newtown, possibly their only meal of the day had been dropped
from a hole in the ceiling of their hastily-thrown-togeher
prison, and they felt they were being treated like animals.
The Americans had left them to sleep, but it was likely not a
very restful sleep with not knowing what was in store for them
as POWs.
Our Henrich Horn was only about 16-18 years old at the time,
and likely had been a soldier for less than a year. Thankfully
he was in a large group of fellow soldiers, which would have
been a bit less frightening than being by himself. Despite his
shared woes, he must have been very frightened, angry at the
mishandling of the battle by his Hessian superiors, and
concerned for his life, so far from home.
The Americans after the Battle of Trenton, as well as the
populace of Newtown, were eager to see what the hated Hessians
looked like. They found they were just men, not the ruthless
spawn of Satan, as some had feared. One American, a Sergeant
Elisha Bostwick, had this to say about the Hessians:
“They are of Moderate Stature and rather broad Shoulders
their limbs not of equal proportion light complexion with
a blueish tinge hair cued as tight to the head as
possible Sticking straight back like the handle of an
iron skillet. Their [von Knyphausen’s Regiment’s]
uniforms blue with black facings.”
[Could that blueish skin tinge possibly be due to the bitter
cold and their clothes soaked from rain, snow, and the river?]
One researcher stated that their uniforms were purposefully
made short and tight, to make it look like they were getting
larger and more invincible. (True? Or just because the tailors
wanted to save on cloth?)
George Washington decided that the hated Hessians would be
paraded through Philadelphia, the capital of the colonies. He
wanted to show off his triumph- he needed that to boost
citizen morale as well as that of his soldiers and Congress,
as the Americans had been losing battles and the enlistment of
many of his soldiers was almost over; supplies and payroll
funds were short, too. The American army had been teetering on
the brink of destruction, and it was important to rally at
that moment in time, or they would be defeated from within as
well as without.
Washington wanted the people to realize that the Hessians were
not invincible- they could actually be defeated, even
captured, by his brave troops. So with hardly time to warm up
and recuperate, the Hessian POWs were gathered into rows and
columns on 30 December 1776 and marched to Philadelphia, about
30 miles southwest of Newtown. Google indicates that it would
be an eight-hour walk today, but it would be interesting to
know how long it took these sick, injured, and exhausted men
in the snow and cold. The thought of another march must have
been daunting to the captured as well as the capturers, after
the exhausting few days they had just survived. But march they
all did, as General Washington ordered.
Would the Hessians have been told of the plan, or their minds
left to wander as to their next fate? Think about the language
barrier, too, although there were German-American patriots who
would have translated orders. The minds of Henrich and his
comrades would have been teeming with fear of the
possibilities: Would the Hessians be executed in another
place? Would they be separated, as they had been from their
officers right after the battle? Or would they be lucky enough
to be a part of a prisoner exchange?
An angry mob had already gathered outside the city when the
Hessians arrived at Philadelphia. By that time the Hessians
had been told of what was to happen next. They were joined by
their officers, who had been marched to different towns after
the capture, and been wined and dined by American officers, as
was often the custom. (Officers often treated each other very
well and respectfully after capture or defeat, and some of the
Hessian officers had actually dined with George Washington and
discussed the tactics that had led to their defeat.)
The Hessian officers rode in covered wagons through the city
which protected them, but the common soldier captives were
hit, pushed, yelled at, etc. as they marched through the angry
mob. The old women screamed at them that they had come as
mercenaries to take away the freedom of the American people
and they tried to strangle the men; dirt and rocks were thrown
at them. The Americans hated the German auxiliaries, as for
the past year, even before the Hessians had arrived on
American shores, newspapers had whipped up terrible fears- one
paper stated the Hessians were soldiers who:
“… will exhibit such a scene of cruelty, death, and
devastation as will fill those of us who survive the
carnage, with indignation and horror, attended with
poverty and wretchedness.”
(Sadly, this had been often true earlier in 1776.)
It was recorded that some Americans brought brandy and bread
for the captives, but the old women would not allow them to
help the Hessians.
“Presidents House” at 524-30 Market St., in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hessians would
have paraded before this home which was built
in 1767. Nine months after the Hessian POW
parade, the house would be lived in by General
Howe during the British occupation of
Philadelphia. Later, Presidents Washington and
John Adams lived in this home. Wikipedia,
public domain.
The Continentals paraded their prize of about 850 German POWs
for all to see, down Market Street, Front Street, and then
Walnut Street. The guards had been told to lead them
throughout the streets of Philadelphia: “We became a spectacle
for the entire city,” wrote one German captive. The Hessians
must have been a sorry sight after their ordeals, and the
Americans were therefore embarrassed that they had run in
terror from “such vagabonds.”
Washington had ordered that the prisoners should be protected,
and the escort realized that with such an angry mob around
them, it was impossible to guarantee the safety of their
charges. As the mob numbers and violence increased, the
Americans cut short the path through Philadelphia and marched
their prisoners to the city barracks rather than continue the
dangerous parade. The American small escort had to fend off
the townspeople while the German prisoners sat inside the
barracks, listening to the cries for their death from the mob
outside. Even though they were battle-hardened, well-trained
troops, being so outnumbered in the midst of an angry enemy
must have been very frightening, especially for a soldier no
older than about eighteen, like Henrich Horn.
Why were the Americans so protective of their prisoners,
especially when the Hessians were so hated by all, even
British Loyalists whose homes and businesses had been raided
by the Hessians on their fierce march through New York and New
Jersey? One of the American plans was that the POWs would be
paroled or exchanged, and go back to their Hessian regiments
with stories of how well they were treated, and “sow the seeds
of dissension between them and the British troops.” The
Americans had even gone so far as to publish and distribute
tracts in German offering land and money for desertion of the
Hessian troops. Additionally, Washington was afraid of attacks
on the prisoners alienating them, making them even more fierce
opponents once they had been released.
Henrich Horn and his fellow POWs would have been quite
relieved to have survived the march through an angry
Philadelphia. They would have been wondering as to what would
happen next in the saga of their capture.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1. Re: 1784 engraving showing the Hessians captured at
Trenton being marched to Philadelphia, then the American
capital. Translation is approximately:
“The Hessians
captured by General Washington on December 25, 1776 at
Trenton are introduced as prisoners of war in
Philadelphia.” Note that the Battle of Trenton was on
the morning of December 26, 1776, not the 25th as
written in caption.
2. Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett, 2004. Winner of
the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for History, this tells the
story of the crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of
Trenton, mostly from the American point of view. This is
an excellent book, and very well-written.
3. T h e H e s s i a n s and the other German Auxiliaries of
Great Britain in the Revolutionary War by Edward J.
Lowell. Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York, 1884.
4. AmericanRevolution.org: “The Hessians,” chapter VIII, an
excellent
readhttp://www.americanrevolution.org/hessians/hess8.php
5. Journal of the Fusilier Regiment v. Knyphausen From 1776 to
1783,
possibly
by
Lt.
Ritter?
See http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~amrevhessi
ans/journal1.htm#navbar
6. H e n r i c h
Horn http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~am
revhessians/oh/hwardhorn.htm
7. H e s s i a n s
Remaining
in
America: http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com
/~amrevhessians/a/amhessians10.htm#navbar
8. Wikipedia articles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_House_(Phila
delphia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trenton https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_of_the_Battle_of_T
renton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Knyphau
sen
9. The Hessians. Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the
American Revolution, by Rodney Atwood, Cambridge
University Press, 1980.
10. The Hessians and Other German Auxiliaries of Great
Britain in the Revolutionary War, by Edward J. Lowell,
Harper & Brother, New York, 1884 Republished by
Forgotten Books, 2012.
11. A Generous and Merciful Enemy. Life for German Prisoners
of War during the American Revolution, by Daniel Krebs.
University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
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