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Johann Ewald's American War Diaries: A Hessian's Memoir of the War for Independence · Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 250 Years of the Declaration of Independence

• 0:09
  Speaker 0: He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works.
• 0:22
  Speaker 0: The
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: show is sponsored by the America Centrum in Hamburg, Germany.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: And I'm your host Andrew Sola.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Today we're going to delve deeper into German connections To the American War of Independence By examining the life Of the Hessian officer.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Johann Ewald Evald was born In seventeen forty-four in Kassel Which Is about two hundred miles or three hundred kilometers south of Humberg.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: He Was a professional soldier A hessian Jaeger commander who had already amassed a good deal of military experience on the European front during the Seven Years War, which we've discussed a lot.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: But he was fighting in Europe and The Seven Years' War not in North America.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy-six at the age of thirty two He and his elite Yeager troops were sent to north america To fight on behalf of King George against American patriot revels.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Over the next couple of years, he fought in a number battles and learned good deal about irregular warfare including guerrilla war partisan strategy insurgency counterinsurgency tactics.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: When British surrendered at Yorktown in seventeen eighty-one Aewald his Hessians were among those captured since an officer was released on parole in the dignified European way And he stayed in New York City until the formal end of the war, in seventeen eighty-three.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: In seventeen eighty four eight long years after his arrival in North America He was evacuated back to Europe and here returned to Castle in April I believe of seventeen eighty Four.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So those are the basic facts of this life.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: But what makes a vault most interesting for us today is that he collected?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: A diary of his wartime experiences in north america and many many years later They kind of came to historians in really interesting circumstances, which we'll discuss later.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: So our theme today is the Hessian mercenary or hessian honorable officer Johann Ewald.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: who was he?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: How did he find himself fighting an award thousands of miles away from home?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: what do you think about The Patriots desire for independence and freedom from tyranny?
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: And What Did He Learn About The Americans Irregular Military Tactics?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: And lastly, of course.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: We always wonder what lessons can we learn today by looking at this unique perspective Of the American Revolutionary War?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: My special guest is a world expert on Johann Evald Professor James McIntyre.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: welcome James.
• 3:16
  Speaker 0: Thank you
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: James.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: as associate professor of history at Moraine Valley Community College He is the editor of The Journal Of The Seven Years War Association and author of numerous books about the Revolutionary war, including Johann Ewald Yeager Commander.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: He's also the translator and editor of Ewald's monograph published before he left for North America.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: which is a wonderful German title for thoughts of a Hessian officer on what has to be done during a tour with the detachment in the field.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Links to both these are in show notes, so let's just start now by thinking about that opening passage you read from The Declaration of Independence describing these Hessians as foreign mercenaries who are being sent to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Evald does not thinking of himself is a barbaric killer...is
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: he?"?
• 4:35
  Speaker 0: No!
• 4:35
  Speaker 0: Not at all.
• 4:36
  Speaker 0: Evald sees himself as serving his count The Landgraf Which was his ambition from early in life, you know.
• 4:46
  Speaker 0: one of his goal was to serve in the Hessian army and One of the things that comes across quite clearly In His writings even early on.
• 4:56
  Speaker 0: And The biography his son wrote of him in the early nineteenth century He is determined bound and determined To Serve in the hessian Army?
• 5:08
  Speaker 0: And he sees himself as following the will of his.
• 5:12
  Speaker 0: Again, his is duly ordained leader not elected but
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: But there's the strong sense of like honor and yes in legality In what they're doing.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I mean by no respects does he think?
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: He has some sort of invading mercenary at all?
• 5:31
  Speaker 0: Oh No Not At All And okay.
• 5:33
  Speaker 0: So What That Speaks To Is This You Know Since The Declaration We in North America Have Look tended to look at these German troops that were sent here, the Hessians—the troops from Heskassel being the largest contingent as these mercenaries.
• 5:52
  Speaker 0: And there's a certain strand in the historiography of Germany where they're talked about that way.
• 5:59
  Speaker 0: but really in the nineteenth century what happens is –they start to be referred too–as subsidy troops and this was an idea.
• 6:08
  Speaker 0: These smaller German states which are part of the Holy Roman Empire If you find them on a map from the eighteenth century, they're kind of sandwiched between the big guys France Prussia Austria.
• 6:19
  Speaker 0: And so they look towards.
• 6:21
  Speaker 0: one or the other of these states were even Britain to essentially be an ally and what he's different princes had that they could bring two in alliance was their military end across the eighteen-century.
• 6:36
  Speaker 0: what britain had done in his wars with france was there made these connections with various German states, and their armies kept French troops pinned down in Europe.
• 6:48
  Speaker 0: And the Royal Navy could go along...go around the world and grab French colonies and damage the French overseas
• 6:56
  Speaker 0: empire.".
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah it's so fascinating!
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: So there is this sort of structure already an accepted structure.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: what a mercenary is illegally?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: What a legal mercenary isn't?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: these are more like treaty
• 7:11
  Speaker 0: Yes,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: but you do pay for them.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: That's what.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: that's where this mercenary sort of accusation comes in right?
• 7:19
  Speaker 0: yes You Do Pay For Them and That'S Where the Mercenary Spin Can Come In.
• 7:27
  Speaker 0: And I think it's also important to keep in mind that you know Jefferson was writing a document Of Strategic Communication.
• 7:33
  Speaker 0: he Was.
• 7:34
  Speaker 0: He Was Trying To come up with as Many Grievances to Justify What The Colonists Were Doing As He Could
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And certainly, foreign infidel mercenary forces rather than sort of legally allied troops coming to help put down an insurrection doesn't play well plays better politically.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: then saying that these are just normal honorable soldiers coming today their duty.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: That would be a funny line.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: he is at this time transporting large armies well-trained, honorable men to support his claim to still be king.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Now that doesn't work!
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: All right let's go back now.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Avald's youth.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: there is not a lot say about it but lets sort of get us from Avalds births too.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: him serving in Europe during the Seven Years War please?
• 8:28
  Speaker 0: Certainly so.
• 8:30
  Speaker 0: as you mentioned he was born in Kassel very much involved in these treaties, the subsidy treaties with other states.
• 8:44
  Speaker 0: At that time they are fighting in The War of the Austrian Succession and I mention this because he grew up In a town That's the capital.
• 8:53
  Speaker 0: so there certainly going to be A lot of troops.
• 8:56
  Speaker 0: There is Certainly Going To Be A Lot Of Military Pomp and Circumstance And i suggest that Very Much influenced him in his earliest days.
• 9:06
  Speaker 0: Among the earliest writings we have is him talking about his desire to be a soldier in and not just a soldier, but an officer.
• 9:17
  Speaker 0: In The Hessian army which Is of An important point because he's Not a noble And for the most part the Officer Corps was restricted To the nobility.
• 9:28
  Speaker 0: His family is not supportive.
• 9:30
  Speaker 0: His parents actually die in his youth and his grandmother, his paternal grandmother oversees his education.
• 9:38
  Speaker 0: As he is more and more inclined to join the army an uncle takes him to one of early battlefields in The Seven Years War Sondershausen shortly after the fighting when they're still you know burying the dead and cleaning things up kind of scared straight right like are you sure you want to do this?
• 9:56
  Speaker 0: because?
• 9:58
  Speaker 0: and he responds with, oh how glorious a way to die.
• 10:02
  Speaker 0: And at that point his family kind of says all right we give up you know there's no convincing
• 10:07
  Speaker 0: you.".
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Sorry!
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: That story is interesting for a number of reasons but I think the first thing that came up of course was the kind of common practice of viewing a battle as a spectator.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: sport at the time can?
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: You just do it little detour and explain in two thousand twenty six, a little bit strange.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And I think it has a connection then to the concepts of irregular warfare and stuff versus regular battles.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you know regularly battles where you can view them in Europe as a spectator sport kind of verses this these non set piece battles.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: or You know that battle can go anywhere and you can get overrun even though your just specating.
• 10:53
  Speaker 0: yes i mean for most part civilians don't tend to be spectators at these set-piece battles.
• 11:04
  Speaker 0: They're because it's a dangerous place to be, they will come shortly afterwards and you know big part of this is along with the soldiers on the winning side plunder the dead ,they'll also help clean up.
• 11:25
  Speaker 0: Oftentimes the commander of the victorious force will go around and impress The peasants from those surrounding villages to you know, help take care for the wounded.
• 11:36
  Speaker 0: And so forth.
• 11:38
  Speaker 0: So it's not like today.
• 11:40
  Speaker 0: where?
• 11:41
  Speaker 0: the imagery we get of an engagement?
• 11:46
  Speaker 0: You know a battle is going to be heavily censored.
• 11:51
  Speaker 0: They're not gonna show what actually happens to human beings in combat because of the psychological damage it could do.
• 11:59
  Speaker 0: But for people living in the eighteenth century, this was very common for them to see just exactly what a cannonball or musket wound can do
• 12:11
  Speaker 0: someone.".
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: The phrase spectator sport I was overselling The.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the point I'm trying to make is that Evald's grandfather or uncle could take him to a battlefield.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Oh, I mean like which Which is like an interesting day out.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: we might say
• 12:29
  Speaker 0: yeah It there's no restrictions on.
• 12:32
  Speaker 0: and again as I said it's very much one eighty from today where Get something like that would be cordoned off.
• 12:39
  Speaker 0: people would be kept away.
• 12:41
  Speaker 0: in the eighteenth century They were bringing people to the field to help clean it up.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's carry on then too.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: So he is now convinced that he wants to be a soldier.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: He was not of the noble class so we can't become an officer.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: We asked him to figure it out in different ways.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And so he does join The Hessian Yeagers and Does see battle In the Seven Years War in Europe?
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Correct
• 13:07
  Speaker 0: Well...he actually joins a regular regiment Regiment from Gosa in And so he serves in a regular entry infantry regiment and the latter campaigns in the western theater.
• 13:19
  Speaker 0: So, you would be part of what was called The Allied Army under the overall command of Ferdinand Brunswick who is Frederick the Great's brother-in-law?
• 13:29
  Speaker 0: He fights at these battles Wilhelmstahl, Warburg, Vellinghausen Becomes a lieutenant.
• 13:42
  Speaker 0: so and the big picture.
• 13:45
  Speaker 0: The seven years work consumed officers in really incredible proportions simply because they were expected to lead from the front, of course leading you expose yourself too much greater danger.
• 14:02
  Speaker 0: one case in point There's one of the Prussian families in Eastern Europe lost no less than twenty of their male members during a war.
• 14:12
  Speaker 0: Consequently, this window seems to open up where non-nobles who show... And he is educated!
• 14:20
  Speaker 0: He can read and write which definitely applies.
• 14:24
  Speaker 0: so that this window opens some non-nobles from middle class get into the officer court.
• 14:30
  Speaker 0: Evald He is a very diligent worker and he's noticed by the upper echelons in the Hessian army to say, hey this you know This is a good candidate
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: And so after he acquits himself well in The Seven Years War Then he does become an officer and eventually joins then the elite corps there.
• 14:57
  Speaker 0: correct In years After the war he's posted to garrison duty.
• 15:02
  Speaker 0: he fights a duel in seventeen seventy and loses his left eye.
• 15:07
  Speaker 0: After some rough months worried about what the count is going to do about this, uh... He's forgiven.
• 15:15
  Speaker 0: any actually sent two of the collegium carolinium which was it sort finishing school for these protect officers these noble officers in the hessian army.
• 15:26
  Speaker 0: and that's where he writes his first treatise which you had mentioned earlier, and then is sent off to the Heskissel Jaeger Corps.
• 15:40
  Speaker 0: And promoted to captain in it as
• 15:42
  Speaker 0: well.".
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I'd like you just describe quickly what's important about that first monograph he wrote – thoughts of a Hessian officer on what has to be done during a tour with detachment at the field?
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: This was kind-of important for later purposes Because some of the ideas I think he writes about there He sees reflected in the strategies that the colonial militias if not, The Continental Army are using later and American Revolutionary War.
• 16:11
  Speaker 0: Yeah And his own Jaeger.
• 16:14
  Speaker 0: What's really striking?
• 16:15
  Speaker 0: About is monograph.
• 16:16
  Speaker 0: Is he will talk about different aspects Of what they called at the time petite care small war What we would today call irregular warfare, right?
• 16:27
  Speaker 0: Small detachments accompany even a squad going out searching for an enemy.
• 16:37
  Speaker 0: Outpost trying to gain prisoners gaining intelligence at times going behind enemy lines rating and generally stirring up confusion behind enemy line.
• 16:49
  Speaker 0: And in this treatise when he discusses these things, um...he does two things.
• 16:55
  Speaker 0: One- He follows the common practice of today which was to refer other previously republished military authorities especially.
• 17:05
  Speaker 0: you know there's still some that sort of Renaissance humanism floating around so referring back to ancient Greeks and Romans.
• 17:13
  Speaker 0: but what really stands out is He'll also bring in examples from his own experience in the Seven Years War.
• 17:21
  Speaker 0: At times, and I know at Vellinghausen this happened with his regimen they would take parts of a unit and actually send regular troops out to act somewhat like irregulars—to raid or go on patrol
• 17:37
  Speaker 0: etc.,
• 17:38
  Speaker 0: so he did have that experienced previously.
• 17:41
  Speaker 0: He also is bringing up ideas of.
• 17:44
  Speaker 0: it would work better if we could do acts and so When he comes over here, he has the opportunity to take those ideas and test them in practice.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: That's interesting.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: And that sort of the dichotomy.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: I'm trying this out up here.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: You've said petite gore let's use the word irregular warfare.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: now.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I think most of our general, the general population.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Our understanding of European battles back then is very like these people marching in line standing together shooting and Then one side leaves so very controlled in that respect.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: That's regular warfare at the time a regular warfare than as all this other stuff reconnaissance sowing confusion gathering intelligence capturing prisoners All of these other things.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to what extent was that irregular warfare considered dishonorable at the time.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And then, and if we're making that distinction well why did they insist on that distinction?
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Certainly from a modern viewpoint all of that irregular warfare is totally regular.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you know
• 18:54
  Speaker 0: yeah it's... It is really interesting distinction.
• 18:59
  Speaker 0: as far as the honor piece goes I think a lot depends on who's doing it, in the sense that if you have troops like this really begins during the War of the Austrian Succession.
• 19:19
  Speaker 0: Maratheza of Austria is hard-pressed so she calls upon the Pandors and these other Irregulars from southern border with the Ottoman Empire where both sides practice irregular warfare as kind of a way of life.
• 19:38
  Speaker 0: And she brings these troops into central Europe where they're fighting in the low countries, whether or not they think it's honorable?
• 19:47
  Speaker 0: The other belligerents especially Prussia recognize very quickly that have to come up with a countermeasure... Where it might not be as honourable!
• 20:00
  Speaker 0: It certainly is very significant for younger officers.
• 20:06
  Speaker 0: It's all over the writings, it's alloverthe experience.
• 20:09
  Speaker 0: a lot of these younger men who are out to make a reputation will raise up a unit of irregulars and if that-if it performs well its an avenue to promotion!
• 20:20
  Speaker 0: Its way to get noticed by The Monarch And you can be promoted often times..its temporary...you know what they would call them?
• 20:28
  Speaker 0: A brevet promotion.
• 20:30
  Speaker 0: However If again their service continue to show promise they might be formally, you know it set at that rank.
• 20:40
  Speaker 0: At the end of the war and so It's seen as a way for officers to make a reputation.
• 20:47
  Speaker 0: Now then if they fail They can obviously lose their reputation.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I kind of want to take this tactical distinction of regular an irregular now over-the-pond To The Seven Years War in North America where it seems like irregular warfare is the norm.
• 21:07
  Speaker 0: Yes, well for many of the colonial militia groups to a large extent yes especially those coming from the frontier.
• 21:18
  Speaker 0: you know part of The Continental Army at its inception were these riflemen that we're called up from Virginia Maryland and Pennsylvania.
• 21:28
  Speaker 0: They were seen as frontiersmen, they are seen as troops that excelled at irregular warfare.
• 21:35
  Speaker 0: Why?
• 21:36
  Speaker 0: Because there was fighting the Native Americans very often and some history of this going back through the French-Indian war... Of course you have people like Robert Rogers and his rangers And so on.
• 21:51
  Speaker 0: The Yeager as well is a British light.
• 21:54
  Speaker 0: infantry companies were seen as a countermeasure to this.
• 21:59
  Speaker 0: It specifically states in some of these subsidy treaties that they want Jaeger, they want Rifleman and the reason was Jaeger is Hunter!
• 22:10
  Speaker 0: And so they actually we're part of a guild that was entrusted with maintaining game on the count or king or whichever nobles Demands right there.
• 22:24
  Speaker 0: They're private hunting grounds.
• 22:27
  Speaker 0: So they were seen as being woodsmen, and we're seeing is having the sort of skill set that would allow them to Compensate when fighting other irregulars in Europe or fighting frontiersman a North America
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Or in the case of British Colonials Fighting Native Americans
• 22:44
  Speaker 0: exactly
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: also Irregular warfare all right.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: so I want to talk about Evald's orders to go this new Revolutionary War in the United States, but I think it's important because as we talk about that experience will be going into his diaries which i mentioned at the beginning.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: But I think its just for you tell a story of how WE now have access to this diary and is quite fascinating story.
• 23:14
  Speaker 0: Absolutely It Is!
• 23:17
  Speaker 0: So Joseph P. Tustin who was the translator and editor of the diaries was serving in the american occupation of germany following the second world war.
• 23:30
  Speaker 0: And one thing that i think tends to get forgotten is just how devastated germany was and how that affected the civilian population, People were starving and consequently they were selling off family heirlooms at anything.
• 23:51
  Speaker 0: They could get their hands on really at Incredibly low prices just to get enough money to get some food.
• 23:58
  Speaker 0: so one day a woman comes to the base where Tustin's assigned And has three volumes of this Diary, and he you know glances over it looks through It can kind of recognizes wow?
• 24:13
  Speaker 0: This is pretty significant.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it had never been published or written about before.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: no
• 24:19
  Speaker 0: not
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: in two hundred years are so one hundred seventy five years.
• 24:23
  Speaker 0: yeah really seems like they've all had written this down and did do some editing.
• 24:30
  Speaker 0: summer vision later on that's very clear.
• 24:32
  Speaker 0: just from the content
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of
• 24:35
  Speaker 0: you know there is definitely some reflective passages in his diary where its clear.
• 24:40
  Speaker 0: he went back later on at for some original notes.
• 24:43
  Speaker 0: what we have Is the version where he had gone back and done some of his own editing and said you know this occurred to me, it's clear that okay.
• 24:51
  Speaker 0: This occurred to you but It something that would only really be confirmed in after the war at any rate.
• 24:59
  Speaker 0: Tustin purchases these And then recognizes there is a fourth volume out.
• 25:05
  Speaker 0: they're missing.
• 25:06
  Speaker 0: He does an extensive search eventually finds and acquires that In introduction His translation of Avald's Diary Of The American War, he is at great pains to make sure that the Providence Is Clear.
• 25:23
  Speaker 0: That these were legally acquired.
• 25:25
  Speaker 0: they were not looted but He brings this back To the United States with him and Translates it.
• 25:33
  Speaker 0: It's eventually published as a single volume by Yale University Press comes out in nineteen seventy nine just past the bicentennial And since then, it's really been one of the core works for understanding The Hashim Perspective and also understanding how the war was fought.
• 25:52
  Speaker 0: Because at the tactical level Aval gives you a lot of detail including even sketches in times on how he deployed troops.
• 26:01
  Speaker 0: so that insight which until now had kind
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: And also like specific data points, too.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Like I had sixty cannon or fifteen light infantry...like really detailed stuff sometimes
• 26:15
  Speaker 0: appears
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: in there.
• 26:16
  Speaker 0: Absolutely!
• 26:16
  Speaker 0: Or this you know..I had so many men with me and i was operating With this other officer who has so Many Men under him?
• 26:23
  Speaker 0: They were posted here and i Was posted There and This is how we moved out.
• 26:28
  Speaker 0: You Know he Really Gives you the nitty gritty details
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: of
• 26:33
  Speaker 0: How his part Of The war was Conducted.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's carry on our story now and Let's just talk about Avald coming to America in seventeen seventy six.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: so You know.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: presumably he gets some notification that That has been rented out along with his Jaeger Corps To another war
• 26:56
  Speaker 0: Mm-hmm.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: So how does that work?
• 27:00
  Speaker 0: They would form up the heat.
• 27:02
  Speaker 0: He was based in Ziegenheim And so one, his company would be brought up to strength.
• 27:10
  Speaker 0: They usually are understrength during peacetime.
• 27:13
  Speaker 0: just save money and then they would march two ports of embarkation first in Northern Europe than sail across to England where they would form with part of a larger convoy an eventually come to New York City were.
• 27:31
  Speaker 0: he arrives in the fall of seventeen seventy-six too late to take part and fighting on Long Island but in time, they took part in attack on Fort Washington.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Can you just describe the significance of those engagements?
• 27:49
  Speaker 0: So what Avald had already missed was Washington attempting to defend New York City first by deploying much his Continental Army crown forces under General William Howe, and in August of seventeen seventy six the fighting commences with what we refer to as The Battle Of Long Island or The Battle of Brooklyn Heights.
• 28:17
  Speaker 0: And how outflanks?
• 28:19
  Speaker 0: Washington captures a number of Continental troops?
• 28:24
  Speaker 0: Washington has his back-to-the wall at And thanks to John Glover and his Marblehead Mariners, they managed to evacuate the bulk of the Continental Army across from Long Island onto Manhattan in a single night.
• 28:42
  Speaker 0: There's then subsequent fighting at Kipps Bay, at Throgsnack... These are engagements where The British are using their control over local maritime lines for communication outflank Washington and his troops or attempt to do so.
• 29:01
  Speaker 0: There's only one American victory, which is at Harlem Heights in September of seventy six.
• 29:06
  Speaker 0: And then the pursuit goes on up two white planes.
• 29:10
  Speaker 0: where again?
• 29:11
  Speaker 0: The Americans hold their own but are forced to retreat once again.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: What does what as a welds sort of take away from this engagement?
• 29:22
  Speaker 0: well if all isn't there for White Plains.
• 29:26
  Speaker 0: So to attempt to control the Hudson, they had built these fortifications.
• 29:33
  Speaker 0: One in Manhattan Island or one on The New York Side right?
• 29:38
  Speaker 0: Fort Washington and another on the Jersey side, Fort Lee.
• 29:42
  Speaker 0: And so William Howell doubles back after white planes To secure his rear area.
• 29:49
  Speaker 0: take this fort which is built at the top of a high ground Overlooking part of the island and a vault is leading.
• 30:00
  Speaker 0: The yeah, it's part of yager core up this high ground engaging with the Americans.
• 30:06
  Speaker 0: he Is very much opposed to their cause?
• 30:10
  Speaker 0: He sees them as rebels Though he does quickly gain some appreciation Of they're fighting proficiency as he has coming up against riflemen.
• 30:21
  Speaker 0: so troops who are armed and perform something like his Yeagers.
• 30:29
  Speaker 0: And in fact, at one point in pursuing some he actually goes too far with a contingent of His troops... ...and is almost cut off until one of His superiors brings up reinforcements.
• 30:43
  Speaker 0: that actually comments to him, Avald you say not do this on your treatise then go ahead Kind of like, are you paying attention to what she actually wrote sir?
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: So for me.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: What's interesting about this story is the idea of sort of established lines where it's allied territory on one side of this river and enemy territory On The Other.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: there's a lot Of confusion here...the British Army could be nominally in control of an area but There Could Be Lots And Partisans Or Militia
• 31:17
  Speaker 0: Absolutely
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Like Doing It.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: How Is Avald Thinking About This?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: so he went too far, but everywhere is too far.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: kind of
• 31:26
  Speaker 0: well and that's one of the Sort of dichotomies of the partisan.
• 31:32
  Speaker 0: if you will ready to establish your reputation To do good work as a partisan.
• 31:37
  Speaker 0: You're always kind of pushing the envelope.
• 31:39
  Speaker 0: How much farther can I go?
• 31:41
  Speaker 0: Why?
• 31:41
  Speaker 0: because over this rise there might be you know An unsuspecting detachment of the enemy.
• 31:48
  Speaker 0: maybe i can have an officer that we can bring back and get some useful intelligence from.
• 31:53
  Speaker 0: Maybe there are some supplies and i can't get those.
• 31:56
  Speaker 0: and you know my men will have more food better food whatever what end their army will be struggling for supplies.
• 32:04
  Speaker 0: so there's always this kind of push on one hand, and also when u are successful in those kinds operations and you bring back additional supplies to the main army on your side.
• 32:18
  Speaker 0: This brings you recognition from your commanding, y'know?
• 32:20
  Speaker 0: From the overall Army commander.
• 32:22
  Speaker 0: Evald records quite often in his diary whenever he or the Yeager Corps are singled out by...the overall Commander.
• 32:32
  Speaker 0: He notes it certainly with William Howe, with Cornwallis, with Clinton each commander he serves under and its very clear From what he writes before and after his pride in that recognition.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: so
• 32:49
  Speaker 0: That's when he's out to show as an officer, but there is always risk involved.
• 32:55
  Speaker 0: right you run the Risk of being cut off.
• 33:00
  Speaker 0: You run the risk of actually falling into an ambush by Irregulars on the other side.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: it seems like they're a bit.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: there are like specific goals of this irregular warfare.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: One, gathering supplies to reconnaissance.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: three capturing and I just want to focus on the supply section.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: a lot has been discussed throughout the series about The lack of supplies for all sides in this conflict.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: It seems like one of the central themes Of the Revolutionary War is Just getting enough supplies To even clothe the troops let alone arm them and feed them.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: So, you know how is Avald sort of conceptualizing this in his writings?
• 33:46
  Speaker 0: He does mention it on occasion.
• 33:49
  Speaker 0: Um he actually notes that towards the end of his first campaign here towards the End Of The Seventeen Seventy Sixth Campaign His men are in rags and Cornwallis Actually provides them with some new uniform equipment.
• 34:09
  Speaker 0: obviously writing about him i'm curious about.
• 34:12
  Speaker 0: the british are closed in red the yager clothes and green coats.
• 34:16
  Speaker 0: You know did they get red codes for a time, I suspect you wouldn't would not have unit pride but at the same time new shoes new stockings pants that sort of thing.
• 34:31
  Speaker 0: what been very welcome especially after conducting the kind of operations day were conducting through the fall and into the early winter, sure they pretty much went through the equipment that they did have.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't come up that much in his diaries?
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: It seems like he doesn't then focus on that as much as other exploits of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering and maybe capturing.
• 34:59
  Speaker 0: No He does not
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe we can turn now to talk a little bit about his impressions and his diary of the opposing forces he's facing.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: And I just have some notes here from this diary, He says concerning The American Army one should not think that it can be compared To a motley crowd of farmers which was always the accusation or the disparaging slander that was cast upon the Continental Army and the militias, they were just a motley crowd of farmers.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: But Evald writes no!
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: That is not the case... The so-called continental or standing regiments are under good discipline and drill in the English style as well as the English
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: themselves.".
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: So what do you make
• 35:57
  Speaker 0: which eventually led to me writing about him, is that he IS an objective observer.
• 36:03
  Speaker 0: He is a military professional so he's looking at his opponent not disparagingly like many British officers whose accounts we get you know who look down on the Americans.
• 36:16
  Speaker 0: and oh!
• 36:16
  Speaker 0: We could march across that continent easily with five thousand troops.
• 36:21
  Speaker 0: Evald is taking stock...he's going.
• 36:24
  Speaker 0: Okay, what are their strengths?
• 36:26
  Speaker 0: What are their
• 36:26
  Speaker 0: weaknesses?".
• 36:28
  Speaker 0: And as an irregular operator he's got to be very aware of the capacity of his opponent because if he underestimates them it could be very much to his chagrin when he is operating in the field.
• 36:45
  Speaker 0: Because he will operate without support on occasion unlike the main regular armies.
• 36:53
  Speaker 0: And he is often mentioning the assets.
• 36:57
  Speaker 0: Like, He's often talking about...he's not praising the Americans but he is saying look these are people who should not be discounted.
• 37:07
  Speaker 0: take them seriously.
• 37:08
  Speaker 0: and at another place-and you probably came across this-he wrote concerning what he found in the baggage of American officers right?
• 37:17
  Speaker 0: I've found Tilka field engineer, the instructions of Frederick the Great to his generals.
• 37:24
  Speaker 0: And I found these more than a hundred times.
• 37:27
  Speaker 0: Moreover several of their officers had designed excellent small handbooks and distributed them in the army.
• 37:33
  Speaker 0: so he's recognizing like... These are military professionals as well!
• 37:40
  Speaker 0: If we weren't fighting they would be my colleagues.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: They're creating their own doctrine.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: people do from the research and what has been written before them plus adding their own experience to it.
• 37:56
  Speaker 0: Exactly, and Evald is recognizing this as a good professional.
• 38:03
  Speaker 0: should I mean he's doing What they call in today?
• 38:07
  Speaker 0: In the military net assessment?
• 38:09
  Speaker 0: right looking at what are the strengths and liabilities of my opponents?
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Right um i found this passage interesting again.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: Avald's eye for detail is curious.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: He's watching the Continentals on maneuvers, I think maybe in captivity and he says... Which is a very good thing and penetrating as thick wood or underbrush with entire battalions.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I thought that was just such a fine detail.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: So he's like well, this is strange.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: They there they march very well in formation but they have this weird Angle on it where they keep them man?
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: They skip a man every three men one.
• 38:58
  Speaker 0: Yeah And to me It speaks says you know someone who had been used to operating in wooded areas with his troops kind of going.
• 39:06
  Speaker 0: huh That's an interesting idea.
• 39:10
  Speaker 0: You know, when I get back to my unit i'm maybe gonna try this and see how this can
• 39:18
  Speaker 0: work.".
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Another comment here—and this goes to the supply... And I think that is very much a praising comment about The American Soldiers.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: He says "...the regiments of this army consist well-built man whose appearance suffers very much indeed from a lack of clothing, hats and shoes.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: For I've seen many soldiers have the summary without shoes with tattered breeches in uniforms patched with all sorts of colored
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: cloth.".
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: And then he goes on to say... deny the disciplined soldiers of Europe what is due them, and they will run away in droves.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: And the general will soon be
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: alone.".
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: But from this one can receive an enthusiasm which these poor fellows call liberty.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: So he's saying here if we treated our own professional soldiers so poorly They just leave!
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Here I see people who have bested him now officially Serving for an idea rather than a new uniform.
• 40:38
  Speaker 0: Yeah, that section impressed me great deal as well when I read it.
• 40:43
  Speaker 0: It's often said that desertion was the mark of the measure of morale in early modern armies.
• 40:48
  Speaker 0: So and he is saying if our men don't get their due Morale goes down And they would dessert in droves and then they often did In European conflicts at the time.
• 41:01
  Speaker 0: But he's recognizing that this is something different.
• 41:04
  Speaker 0: This is the ideal, and to me it also speaks... It makes you think of John Adams' words right?
• 41:11
  Speaker 0: The American Revolution was what happened in the hearts and minds of people before the first shots at Lexington & Concord where there were these changes in attitude and Avalds picking up
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: on
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: them.".
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: What's hysterical about those passages?
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: after saying wow
• 41:30
  Speaker 0: For
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: liberty, these troops will fight barefoot and without weapons.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: And in the very next sentence he says nevertheless they are true slaves of Congress... ...and let themselves be led like blind men on a string by these fine heads for no monarchy is living done more forcibly than this country.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: I thought that's interesting.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: So he is not buying his own argument that much, what do you make of follow-on?
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Well
• 42:07
  Speaker 0: i think one trying to reassure himself.
• 42:16
  Speaker 0: there are problems and it does strike on a factual point where towards the end troops were levied in pretty draconian ways a lot of times by the Americans, you know there we're at Times people who are convicted of loyalist behavior.
• 42:34
  Speaker 0: We're sentenced to the army Which I've always kind of wondered about like how good if a continental would they make?
• 42:41
  Speaker 0: If they were Loyalists that heart and At the same time You Know on one hand Yeah In Europe most Of The Time men had the choice to join.
• 42:58
  Speaker 0: There wasn't that kind of conscription, although there is the incidence at a very outset in The Seven Years War when Frederick the Great invades Saxony and he basically tells the Saxon army you're fighting for me now.
• 43:14
  Speaker 0: so... He really is trying to reassure himself.
• 43:19
  Speaker 0: I mean That's how i take this passage.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Just took another couple of comments to tie up some things we discussed earlier.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: We talked about desertion.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: and what was Avald's experience with desertion, his own Hessian soldiers?
• 43:36
  Speaker 0: So early on it there is a trend that takes place over the course of war.
• 43:41
  Speaker 0: Early on he comes over an elite unit.
• 43:47
  Speaker 0: people respected skill set who recognize this, have strongest pre-decore.
• 43:53
  Speaker 0: But he even talks about on several occasions in his diary how when they get replacements as the war goes on The quality is not there and desertion goes up As a result.
• 44:08
  Speaker 0: And His attitude...the way it comes across to me Is..he's not shocked by This because He recognizes these are.
• 44:19
  Speaker 0: These troops are not, they're not that great material to work with.
• 44:22
  Speaker 0: To begin with.
• 44:24
  Speaker 0: and so yeah They're not surprising me by running away.
• 44:28
  Speaker 0: It's still something that you know for both the practical purpose of military discipline And also his own sense of personal honor.
• 44:39
  Speaker 0: He is certainly not supportive Of it like he can understand but he will never take their side.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: And generally speaking, the experience of the Hessian and other German Brunswick mercenaries was by end-of-the-war... The numbers are pretty grim.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: I know it's hard to get exact figures but what i've seen is that at least twelve hundred German Mercenaries were killed or died off their wounds But this again going back Lack of supplies.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: over six thousand died of like illness Accidents and things not Not having enough water food medical care And then several thousand to desert in many of those who were imprisoned.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about officers like Avald, but your average Soldier decided to stay In the new United States.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: do you want a comment on any of those figures?
• 45:40
  Speaker 0: certainly Those who stayed, I think becomes a nuanced thing because on one hand they were prisoners.
• 45:48
  Speaker 0: They may have been prisoners for some time if you consider the foot soldiers who are captured at Trenton.
• 45:55
  Speaker 0: there considered prisoners from seventeen seventy six to seventeen eighty three and at times their going out working in performers to supplement their diet and supplement your income.
• 46:13
  Speaker 0: there's also the opportunity in congress actively tried.
• 46:17
  Speaker 0: To get them change sides to recruit from that.
• 46:20
  Speaker 0: those efforts are never hugely successful, and washington is not a huge fan of this either.
• 46:27
  Speaker 0: at the same time as war winds down every one of those soldiers who came over including ones who have been prisoners in theory, would have to get transport back.
• 46:40
  Speaker 0: And so there is this idea of releasing some of the soldiers basically to ease the financial stress on the home government and returning.
• 46:52
  Speaker 0: it's like we're gonna down.
• 46:53
  Speaker 0: they're going to downsize their military anyhow.
• 46:55
  Speaker 0: that's what they do you know?
• 46:57
  Speaker 0: We do when we ratchet down combat operations today.
• 47:01
  Speaker 0: They did then save money from budget And so if you're not going, y'know.
• 47:07
  Speaker 0: If you have soldiers who would rather stay here than go back to Heskissel or Brunswick on Spock let them
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: know.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: it's interesting that the experience of the prisoners of war Back then varied a great deal because some could be kept in like brutal conditions and others Would kind of just be paroled out far away from any of the fighting To do stuff like work on a farm And, you know what?
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: I guess they could escape.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: No one's really guarding them that heavily but there they are out far away.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: But you can also be stuck on a horrible vermin infested prison ship.
• 47:46
  Speaker 0: Well...I mean the prisoners ships were more.
• 47:48
  Speaker 0: What would happen to Americans taken by The British after specifically After Long Island and Also after the siege in Charleston?
• 47:58
  Speaker 0: There Are The Prison Hulks.
• 48:00
  Speaker 0: For the most part, there's a lot of exchanges between Washington and various British commanders in North America about the conditions that Continentals are exposed to.
• 48:12
  Speaker 0: And threatening to expose Crown prisoners mainly The British because There is also this idea That yeah among the British leadership And we have these subsidy troops, but the Hessians are kind of their own thing.
• 48:31
  Speaker 0: I would suspect that while i haven't necessarily seen it written out this boldly That American leaders both political and military Recognize that as a vulnerability on the enemy side.
• 48:47
  Speaker 0: You know?
• 48:48
  Speaker 0: We can drive a wedge between The British soldiers and leaders and maybe some of the leaders, uh...and take advantage of low morale.
• 49:02
  Speaker 0: Though the propaganda that the Hessians often receive of treatment by the Americans what they could expect if they were captured is very negative by design.
• 49:15
  Speaker 0: so you know.
• 49:17
  Speaker 0: So they won't be tempted to just kind give up go into American custody.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Okay!
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: As we said in the beginning Captain, is he still captain Avald?
• 49:28
  Speaker 0: He's still captain.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: You know it goes on parole to New York City and New York city has slowly evacuated And he does eventually catch a ship back to Europe and he does return to castle.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: So why don't you just quickly talk us through the remainder of his life and legacy
• 49:47
  Speaker 0: Certainly all in his return he writes a number of additional works on irregular warfare and becomes recognized as something of an expert.
• 50:01
  Speaker 0: In fact, in the following century Carl von Klauswitz one of the great military thinkers in The Western Tradition actually in his lectures at the Prussian Kriegs Academy cites Avald As One Of The Key Sources On Irregular Warfare And basically says if you want to understand how these small unit tactics work read a vaults books.
• 50:29
  Speaker 0: So he has continuing influence and is also picked up by people in the early twentieth century like the British strategic thinker JFC Fuller who reads him says wow this guy's ideas on irregular warfare are as fresh today they were when you wrote them.
• 50:50
  Speaker 0: so
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: it said his other published books did have traction.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: It's just what so special about this diary is that it wasn't in the public domain until this army officer found it, and one of many things was great about Avald's story.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: We're coming to an end now James And I always ask my guests to reflect then on the two hundred fifty year anniversary And so I'm gonna ask you to do that.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: But, but i want to kind of lead you into this by noting That This Is What Evald Says In His Diary Of The American War.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: He Asks A Rhetorical Question Who Would Have Thought a Hundred Years Ago?
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: That Out Of This Multitude Of rabble would Arise A People who Could Defy Kings and Enter Into A Close Alliance With Crowned Heads
• 51:51
  Speaker 0: sensing some of the significance, what had transpired in North America.
• 51:59
  Speaker 0: The conflict he'd participated and French aid was key to securing American independence.
• 52:07
  Speaker 0: but that idea here is a new state founded by common people not members of the nobility nor members.
• 52:17
  Speaker 0: an aristocracy or hereditary ruling class was something that for Evald who Was born in that sort of society very much had worked to secure his own Upward mobility.
• 52:34
  Speaker 0: and that's sort of a Society found simply stunning Simply amazing.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: And what is your takeaway as a historian?
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: Of this period?
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: two hundred fifty years later, which should we all remember As we look at the Declaration of Independence Two hundred fifty Years ago?
• 52:52
  Speaker 0: Looking back, it seems that Evald really did capture something in the sense not only were these Americans to establish a modern republic based on republican ideals where no one was of ruling aristocracy but that blueprint has been followed repeatedly since.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Professor James McIntyre, thank you
• 53:24
  Speaker 0: very much.
• 53:24
  Speaker 0: Thank You!
• 54:05
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• 54:25
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• 54:46
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