His Majesty's Fifth Regiment of Foot

An 18th Century Historical Reenactment Unit

German Auxiliaries (Hessians):

When hostilities commenced, King George III realized he needed more soldiers. He then made arrangements with some of the small states that now make up the country of Germany to purchase the services of soldiers. By prior treaty, the leaders of these states were reimbursed for each soldier killed, and the British Government agreed to pay the salaries and medical expenses for the soldiers.

Hessians were referred to as mercenaries by American propagandists, but they were never paid more than their normal salary. They were allies of England helping her in her time of need; in the same fashion that the French (who were also paid normal salaries) were allies of the American rebels.

The term Hessian is a general term given to all German troops that served in the Crown forces during the war. Not all of these troops came from the Hessen-Kassel region of Germany, troops were also supplied by Hesen-Hanau-2422 soldiers, Waldeck-1225 soldiers, Anspach-Baireuth-2353 soldiers, Anhalt-Zerbst-1152, and Brunswick (Braunschwieg)-5723. The largest contingent of troops were from Hessen-Kassel, about 17000 troops; and Hessian sounds pretty nasty, so the name stuck.

Something like 12500 soldiers did not end up going back to Germany. About 7754 died in the American Revolution, officially 548 in action and 6534 of disease. About 5000 escaped from American prisoner of war camps or deserted, then they stayed in the new world, either in Canada, other colonial possessians such as the Dutch East Indies, or even in the United States. There was a large German-American community in Pennsylvania, and many of the troops there were not happy with either their lives at home or the way they had been recruited.

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