What became of Hessian POWs captured in Trenton, held in Newtown

By now, many of you know George Washington was unable to cross the Delaware this past Christmas. Too cold, too icy and too swift to make a safe go of it in the annual re-enactment. That certainly wasn’t the case 246 years ago. George and his 2,500 rebel soldiers not only defied the weather to cross and attack Trenton in 1776 but re-crossed later that day with 948 captured German officers and soldiers.

Whatever happened to those troops? Were they tortured? Held in chains? Die from disease? Taken by bus to the Mexican border and released? Or did they stay here to become prosperous Pennsylvania Deutch farmers?

Snooping through historical archives, I discovered answers. But first a trip back to the summer of 1776 when the first 8,632 German soldiers arrived on Staten Island in New York Harbor. King George III estimated a combined force of 25,000 troops including British regulars would stamp out the American Revolution. About 16,000 Redcoats had been deployed. More forces were needed. Where to find them? At the time, both Russia and independent principalities of the future Germany hired out armies to any royal needing firepower. King George thought Ruskies would be ideal. But Catherine the Great of Russia had no interest. Fight your own battle.

So the king turned to Germany’s Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel. Fred was most willing to make a deal for a pile of rental cash. In addition, the king promised to pay Hessians the same rate as English Redcoats. As a progressive ruler, Fred would spend his income to support families of those sent overseas and keep taxes low, fund public works and education. He allowed some wives and children to ship out with their hubbies and dads.

The soldiers led by their own officers were distinctive, flying Hessian flags, dressing in well-tailored Hessian uniforms and carrying superior weapons. They served with distinction in early battles that defeated half of Washington’s army. The British army wintering in New York and northern New Jersey in 1776 were confident 1,400 Hessians deployed to secure Trenton would fence in the surviving Continental Army holed up in Bucks.

However Washington’s surprise attack on Trenton the morning after Christmas Day was a game-changing triumph. Twenty-two Hessians were killed, 92 wounded and 948 captured. Only five Continental soldiers were injured, no combat deaths. Washington ordered the prisoners marched into Bucks where he placed 26 officers under guard inside McConkey’s Ferry Inn in Upper Makefield. The rest marched under guard to Newtown where they were packed into the county jail on State Street, the Newtown Presbyterian Church on Sycamore Street and elsewhere. The following day the Hessian officers arrived to be housed comfortably in private homes. Prisoners who succumbed to illness are believed to have been buried in unmarked graves in a Revolutionary War cemetery on Bellevue Avenue in Langhorne.

Washington headquartered at a Newtown house on Sycamore Street (a home leveled for a Russian gas station in modern times). From the house, the general wrote a dispatch to Congress in Philadelphia announcing his stunning victory and plans for a parade of captives through the city to raise morale. Washington also met with four Hessian officers. They were taken aback by hospitality shown them. In conversation, they revealed mistakes made in the Trenton battle. The intelligence proved useful in Washington’s successful return engagement at the second Battle of Trenton on Jan. 2.

The POWs weren’t in Newtown long. Within a week, a march got underway into Philadelphia, passing Independence Hall on Dec. 31. Given taunts some Hessians experienced en route, Washington issued a public proclamation to treat them with respect, they weren’t the enemy but rather forced into the war. From then on, citizens offered kindness and brought food to their Philly barracks. Later Hessians entered various prison camps in Lancaster and Allentown from which they were put to work on farms in the region.

Thousands of conscripted Germans continued to arrive in New York. By 1780, a third of British forces were Hessian. Congress offered 50 acres of land to any who switched sides. By war’s end in 1783, approximately 6,000 opted to remain, more than half in the U.S. and the others in British Canada. How many chose to settle in Bucks is unknown. But German immigrants in Upper Bucks and the Lehigh Valley certainly would have welcomed them. It is known that some chose to live in Allentown.

“So it was not a bad ending for Hessian prisoners,” according to historical interpreter Pat Seabright at Washington Crossing Historic Park.

Clearing the record:

My recent listing of 5 actors who played George Washington in 70 previous re-enactments of the Christmas crossing of the Delaware should have included a 6^th. New Hope’s Robert Gerenser portrayed Washington in the annual crossing in 1997, 1999 and 2006.

Sources include”Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War” by Friederika Baer published in 2022, and “What Happened to the Captured Hessians” on the web at www.washingtoncrossingpark.org/captured-hessians/

Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: What happened to Hessian troops captured in Trenton, jailed in Newtown