Overview
The Hessian diaries, written primarily by Hessian mercenaries hired by British forces during the American Revolution, provide valuable insights into the conflict from a unique perspective. Among the most notable of these are the journals of Johann Conrad Döhla and Johann Gottfried Seume. Döhla, a private in the Bayreuth Regiment, served in America from 1777 to 1783 and wrote a diary filled with detailed accounts of battles, troop movements, and cultural observations about life in the colonies. He documented the struggles of daily soldiering as well as his observations of the political and social milieu of the era. His diary is cherished for its honest and comprehensive depiction of a soldier’s life during the revolution.
Johann Gottfried Seume, on the other hand, provided a more philosophical reflection on the Revolution. His diary, interspersed with thoughtful commentary on the war and human nature, has been lauded as a literary masterpiece. Seume’s often introspective entries provide an unusual and revealing viewpoint of the Hessian experience, giving readers not just a historical perspective, but a deep understanding of the emotional and moral complexities faced by individuals involved in the conflict. His profound insights, combined with the vivid descriptions of the war’s brutal realities, make Seume’s diary a significant and enduring historical document.
Diaries and Memoirs
Bauer, Karl, Bruce E. Burgoyne, and Marie E. Burgoyne. Journal of a Hessian Grenadier Battalion. Westminster, Md: Heritage Books, 2005.
Burgoyne, Bruce E., Marie E. Burgoyne, Georg Christoph Coester, Johann Gottlieb Siegismund Braunsdorf, and Gregorius Michael Stroelein, eds. Hessian Chaplains: Their Diaries and Duties. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 2003.
Döhla, Johann Conrad, and Bruce E. Burgoyne. A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution. 1. paperback printing. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.
Johann Conrad Dohla was a private in the 4th Company of the Bayreuth Regiment from Ansback-Bayreuth. Dohla participated in the occupation of Philadelphia, several raids and foraging in New Jersey, Lord Cornwallis’s southern campaigns and was captured at the Battle of Yorktown. He spent 18 months in a prisoner of war camp before being freed in May 1783.
Ewald, Johann von. Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.
Feilitzsch, Heinrich Carl Philipp von, Christian Friedrich Bartholomai, and Bruce E. Burgoyne. Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers. Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1997.
Pausch, Georg. Journal of Captain Pausch – Chief of the Hanau Artillery during the Burgoyne Campaign. Edited by William L. Stone. Albany: Joel Munsell, 1886.
Seume, Johann Gottfried., Pfister, Albert. The Voyage of The First Hessian Army from Portsmouth to New York, 1776. Czechia: Good Press, 2021.
Other Primary Sources
Rankin, Hugh F., ed. Narratives of the American Revolution – As Told by a Young Sailor, a Homesick Surgeon, a French Volunteer, and a German General’s Wife. The Lakeside Classics 75. Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1976.
The Rankin volume contains the diary of Baroness Riedesel, wife of General Riedesel, mostly pertaining to General Burgoyne’s invasion of New York State from Canada in 1777.
Archival Sources
Hessian Documents of the American Revolution: 1776 – 1783, The Loyalist Collection. Morristown National Historical Park (Morristown, New Jersey): Lidgerwood Collection. https://loyalist.lib.unb.ca/node/4528
The Lidgerwood Collection of Hessian transcripts is the largest collection of translated German Revolutionary Ear documents. The original records are held in German Archives, and the transcripts and translations are held by the Morristown National Historical Park.
Researching the American Revolution 