No 2

Intriguing facts about Philip’s life

Because we don’t know where he was born and because we have very few information about his life before and even after he arrived in Canada in 1783, we are left with many unanswered questions. I don’t expect, over the years, to find answers to the majority of these interrogations.

I am convinced that devoted members of our family have already found most of the vital documents about him. Nobody will come up in the near future with a file detailing the events of his whole life, from his birth to his death. There are reasons why it is difficult to gather more information on Philip Long who lived in the 18^th century at widely different places before he settled down in Lac Témiscouata, Qc.

First, like most people at that time, Philip was not highly educated: he could barely sign his name. He didn’t leave behind any personal writing. Most of the significant documents about him come from his relationship with British officers while he was a public servant.

Second, Philip lived in a time where the recording of information about citizens was still crude. In fact, the church, and not the government, did the major recording of vital information during the time Philip was living in Canada.

Third, Philip lived at a time where communities were being established. The first arrivers were, for the most part, living on their own with no help from the outside. They had received a land grant in remote places where they had to concentrate their efforts on surviving above all.

Fourth, it took many years for church and civil officials to offer regular services to all the communities spread in an area. For instance, the priest or the minister of a church would visit the communities a few times a year, even when a church was built in an area. The recording of the major family events was only done when the family was able to travel to a regional church, either for a baptism or for a marriage.

Fifth, some documents about Philip’s life are very revealing about who he was. For instance, he received a parcel of land in Meductic NB, like the other Loyalists who came in Canada in 1783. That land grant tells us that he was a Loyalist. The muster rolls showing his name tell us that he was a Loyalist soldier. But, most of these documents are related to the period of time following his arrival in Canada.

Sixth, before Philip got married with Julie Couillard, he was spotted in different places. It’s only after his marriage that the build-up of documents started. Before, he was more or less a nomad. During this period of his life, it is clear that he didn’t leave « traces » in civil or religious institutions.

Specific questions about Philip Long’s life

For these major reasons, we are left with uncertainties that have developed over time into hard-edged questions. Let me list a few. I’m sure that you have already formulated the majority of them, if not more.

(1)      If he was a Loyalist, why did Philip moved to Quebec instead of staying in St. John, Fredericton or any community in Nova Scotia where the Loyalists were getting organized into communities? Why was he more attracted towards Quebec than Nova Scotia?

(2)      Why did he choose to marry a French-speaking girl instead of an English-speaking girl? Was he already able to speak French when he met Julie Couillard?

(3)      What kind of training and background prepared him for carrying mail from Quebec to Fredericton an average of nine times a year for 19 years in a row, at a time when he was over 50 years old? The distance is 600 Km, one way.

(4)      Why did he choose to become a long-distance mail carrier instead of a farmer, for instance? At one time, he lived in Quebec City with his wife and two young children. Surely, there were job opportunities less challenging than carrying mail on an incredible distance.

(5)      If he had been born on American soil, why did John Mann, a journalist arriving from Scotland, wrote that Philip spoke English with propriety? He should have spoken English with fluency.

(6)      The oral tradition of our family is not extensive. Moreover, our current knowledge casts doubts about many aspects of it, if not all of it. The oral tradition is quite specific about his birth country, but not at all informative about his life soon after. I would expect the opposite.

(7)      We have had reasons to believe that Philip was born either in England, in United States or even in Scotland. Nobody has, yet, been able to find a birth certificate in those countries that would fit him reasonably well. Are we looking in the right place? If you have on hand a sensible birth certificate, send it to me, and I’ll pay the postage!

(8)      He was supposed to have left to his heirs a fortune. All the documents we have point in the opposite direction. This legend of the 20^th century proved to be false, a hoax.

(9)      The children of Philip and Julie didn’t know the precise age of their parents. The age on their respective birth certificate is an approximation made by the priest. How could these same children know that he was born in Scotland and had immigrated in Pennsylvania? 

(10)   While writing to a British commander, he talks about His King and His Country. Why not talk about Our King and Our Country if he was a Loyalist? Was Philip referring to a different King and Country?

Philip was a Private in the King’s American Regiment

(11)   From many sources, it is clear that Philip was much older than his wife Julie? Why did he get married so late in life? His military career, from our documentation, cannot be a restraining factor, because he seemed to have been in loyalist regiments from 1781 to 1783 only. Could it be that his military career had started much sooner? Was he part of the British army before the ARW started?

(12)   If we compare the civil, military and religious documents about him, it seems to me that the military ones tell us more about his possible origins than the other two sources.

(13)   A recent DNA test tells us that our ancestors are from Central Europe in a region including Germany and adjacent countries. WOW. It seems that we have been looking in the wrong place since the beginning of this research in 1923.

(14)   If you don’t stay close to the documentation gathered over the years about Philip, you will slowly slide from facts to fiction. All kinds of predictions have been running around about Philip’s origins. Some of us are convinced that he was born in a particular country, while others put him somewhere else. Each one of us has his own hypothesis about it. And that’s alright. But where is your documentation to back your hypothesis? Is it a « gut feeling » or something more elaborate?

(15)   I don’t have to tell you that many aspects of Philip’s life will never be uncovered, simply because there are no traces or documents about it. But, there should be a birth certificate somewhere. I’ll never stop searching, because I’m convinced there is one. I’m not searching for the size of his boots, but for his birth certificate. Let’s not loose sight of common sense along the way.

These questions can serve to spark your interest about my ancestor. You might not be interested, though, to make any effort in finding his birthplace. That’s perfectly acceptable.  But, if you simply want to learn more about him, it means that you are part of our adventure. I appreciate any level of participation in this long-lasting research project. 

No 3

My perception of a significant or a vital document 

in a genealogical research like ours

Modern vital documents are written in such a way that it fits one individual and only one. Why? For instance, if a household is part of a census, there are many information pertaining to each member of the family: the name and the age of each one, the maiden name of the mother, the location of the household, the house number, the birth place of each one of them, the siblings, and so forth. Every bit of information contributes to distance each individual from others in the same area with the same family name.

(a)  A trace in the religious registers

The religious documents of the 18^th century are sometimes the only source of information that can be found about an individual. Philip was living in the USA and Canada at a time where churches were being built here and there. You would leave a trace in the church registers, if you got married and if you had your children baptized.

(b) A trace in civil registers

    You would leave a trace also in civil registers, if you had    received a land grant or participated in a census.

1786 Census in Pennsylvania

(Can you read the name, Elias Long Jr?)

(c)  A trace in someone else writings

If your ancestor was lucky enough to live in a community where someone was well educated and wrote about the community, his name could be mentioned in his writings.

(d) A trace in the military registers

Your ancestor would leave a much more profound trace, if he was part of the army. Because a war was going on in the USA and because Philip was part of it, we were « blessed » by a series of muster rolls on which his name appeared as a soldier.

(e)  Contextual evidence

But, how sure are we that his name on a muster roll corresponds to him and not to somebody else by the same name? In the case of Philip, the circumstantial evidence and documents seems sufficient to say that our ancestor was a member of the King’s American Regiment and that he received a land grant for his participation in the ARW as a Loyalist. One document was not enough, but, since he left a trail of documents, it is largely enough to prove that he was present in the USA at the time of the ARW. You already know about this collection of documents reported in Benoît Long’s document, which can be made available to you anytime upon request. 

I built up a list of all Langs/Longs who arrived in Philadelphia

from 1680 to 1780 (122 passengers). I can send it to you on demand.

(f) A continuous trail

The main characteristic of these military documents is their continuity. They are all military documents (nature) and the dates follow each other in a continuous flow (chronology). They are extremely well knitted together. Moreover, he said, to American censors in 1831, that he was an American Loyalist. Years before, he said the same thing to John Mann, a writer from Scotland who met him at Lac Témiscouata. This is not hearsay: these are historic documents from people who met Philip himself. I take these particular documents at their full face value and make sure that I never loose sight of it from then on.

He kept a strong relationship with British officers during his entire life. He became a civil servant when he had the responsability of carrying the Royal mail between Quebec and Fredericton. The nature of his relationship with the British government represents also a sound and expected continuity in his life.

We cannot be wrong about Philip Long’s life

after he set foot in Canada. The huge documentation found

and presented by previous researchers is additive and overwhelming.

Case closed.

(g)  The stand-alone documents

Most of the 18^th century documents are what I call « stand-alone » documents. They give a specific information without any context. For instance, the name of an individual appears on a census. It only says that this individual lived in that community at the time of the census. If you’re looking for the presence of a woman not at the head of a family, her name is not mentioned anywhere. What a shame!

If I find a Philip Long on a census (like the one above), it doesn’t mean at all that it is about my ancestor. The name Philip Long was quite common, for instance, in Pennsylvania during the second part of the 18^th century, especially after he had left USA.

How can I be sure that a Philip Long who appeared on a census or on a birth certificate in Pennsylvania is or is not about my ancestor? There were other individuals by the same name in Pennsylvania and in other States during that period. The information gathered on each one of them shows that they all stayed in the USA after 1783.

(h)  Cross-referencing

They are relatively easy to cancel out using a technique called « cross-referencing » which means finding contextual information showing that this particular Philip Long was not a Loyalist soldier, or that he died at that place, or that he was a Patriot soldier, or that he received a military pension after the war for many years afterwards, so on and so forth. Most of the serious researchers of Philip Long know about all these « candidates » in the USA or in the British Isles.

My research in Pennsylvania has uncovered some more candidates, but not one seems to fit my ancestor’s profile. The bulk of Loyalists was in New York rather than in Pennsylvania. Many Longs participated in the ARW, but on the Colonials’ side, with the Patriots.

The main difficulty for us on this side of the Atlantic is the fact that it took more than a century to build up a system of recording basic statistics about the population. If your ancestor immigrated to America during the 18^th century, you will be lucky if you find his name on a passenger list (most of them were destroyed) or on a primary census done every seven years in a few States. For many descendants of these immigrants, a DNA test is, nowadays, the only way to « guess » where your ancestor lived before they immigrated to America. The lack of written information has rendered DNA testing immensely popular.

Passengers aboard the Charming Betty who arrived in Philadelphia PA, on October 12 1733, and who signed the Oath of Allegiance at the Philadelphia Court House. Johannes Adam and John Jr Long (his son) signed the document upon their arrival from Heidelberg, GR. They went to live in Rowan County, NC

BUT…….

Is it possible that Philip could have been a citizen born in the Southern States without ever showing up in vital documents because he was staying at his father’s place until the ARW started? Even if it seems improbable, it is still possible. He could also have immigrated in the USA while he was a child and stayed at his father’s place until he decided to enlist in a Loyalist regiment. After all, there were strong Loyalist families and communities in the Southern States. I found one Philip Long from South Carolina and another one in Pennsylvania, but they were Continental soldiers. I was able to prove that they stayed in USA well beyond the 1783 date. 

No 4

The American Revolutionary War 
1775-1783

1. What are some of the factors that brought about the ARW?

The Seven Year’s War in 1763 is at the root of disenchantment of the population towards the British government. As a consequence of that war, the French were defeated by the British troops and left America. But, another consequence was that the British government was crippled by an enormous debt, so much that they had to impose a tax on the American colonies. Parliament increasingly sought ways to alleviate the financial burden caused by the conflict. Assessing methods for raising funds, it was decided to levy new taxes on the American colonies with the goal of offsetting some of the cost for their defense. Because the British Parliament in England voted that tax, fierce spokesmen from the colonies did not accept one more tax without having a seat at the table. They came up with a simple phrase that summarizes the general feeling of the population in America: 

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

The movement towards independence had just received the kick-start that many were hoping for. In fact, it was not the first and only tax imposed on the colonies without their consent or any form of consultation. The colonies refused the Stamp Act (1765) and violence took the streets. The British Parliament, for the next few years thereafter voted other laws, the next one being more coercive than the previous, only to realize too late that they were now separated from America not only by a vast ocean, but also by a vast difference in their political views. A war for political independence was just around the corner in 1775 and the British never saw it coming.

2. The « Boston Tea Party »

The colonies tried in many ways to manifest their disagreement to the British Parliament. The people itself had its own ways for expressing their refusal of many unbearable taxes, even the one on the imported tea. In 1774, the opportunity came up in the port of Boston where a ship loaded with tea arrived. Angry citizens climbed aboard and threw the whole shipment overboard.

From 1773 and 1775, various propositions were put forward by the colonies to reach a middle ground. Nevertheless, Britain kept on pushing the colonies in the corner, not expecting them to resort to a military solution to solve a political problem. It was more than a difference in political views: the colonies couldn’t progress while being considered as simple and obedient subjects to a government on the other side of the world. Independence was long overdue in 1775 and a war had become unavoidable. The issue of that war would serve as the final decision to resolve this unsolvable political conflict.

Throw away your forks and pick up your guns:

war has just started!

3. Let’s make it short and decisive!

Since the British government wanted to end the American revolt before it would drag England in another never-ending war, they hired German troops at the very start. The German mercenaries were already known for their efficiency. But, before they could get to America, war was already on the way and Britain had lost its first battles in Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The British troops had to retreat to Boston where they were surrounded by an enraged militia, citizens of all walks of life that had left their families to put their lives in jeopardy in order to settle this matter.

A succession of battles would be fought during the first few months after the battle of Lexington. On both sides, Generals and subordinates were being replaced, as they were getting ready for a long war. Time for political diplomacy was over when General George Washington was given the command of the Continental army, the Patriots.

General George Washington

in Valley Forge Pennsylvania

Fresh British troops were arriving one ship after another, soon followed by the German regiments. The Continentals ran quickly out of gunpowder. They had to import some two million pounds from friendly countries. France seized the opportunity to supply the Continentals with this badly needed resource. France had lost the Seven Years’ War not long before and was eager to take it up again with England.

4. Quebec becomes a battleground overnight 

and against its will

Battle in Quebec City

The Continentals, fearing an intervention by the British once in Quebec, a neutral and safe ground for the arriving British and German troops, sent troops up to Quebec and Montreal to cut off that route. General Guy Carleton was in charge of the British troops in that area. He inflicted important damages to the Continental militia who had to retrieve to Ticonderoga. Even with a reduced army, the Continentals had reached their main goal: preventing British troops from coming down to New York from the North.

The Continentals were, nevertheless, slowly loosing another battle, the one of the public opinion. Their tactics of invasion were feared. Cities and villages were becoming battlegrounds, something that the general population had not anticipated. If the Quebecers went along with the Continentals, at the start, their morale support soon faded away.

At first, Quebecers were on the side of the Patriots, 
because they too wanted their independance from England.

5. The British are surrounded

Even with the help from the Germans, the British army had only one strong force between New Hampshire and Georgia: Boston. The Continentals had formed a temporary government in each of the thirteen states and were ruling. The Loyalists were less organized. Nevertheless, along the way, they were able to form some 60 militias or provincial regiments along side the British and German troops. In 1781, it was clear that Britain was fighting an already lost war in the hands of the Continentals. One of these provincial regiments was the King’s American Regiment of which Philip was a member from 1781 to 1783.

The first time that the name of Philip Long appeared on a muster roll is the one of the West Florida Royal Foresters, a discovery made by Ghislain Long. Since that discovery, and that of many other muster rolls showing Philip in the King’s American Regiment, this document has baffled everybody. We knew from one of Philip’s letters that he referred to his participation in the war as early as 1775. So, between 1775 and 1781, where was he?

This « gap » in his military and civil life has led to numerous hypotheses on our part. We all assumed that, once this gap filled, it would lead us to his birth place. The reasoning behind that hypothesis was pretty straightforward. But, filling the gap proved to be a challenging task for all of us.

I remember very well, some years ago, I leaned toward the possibility that he was a British soldier who had been sent to help a militia to organize itself into functional regiments. The militia was very often formed on the church steps with regular citizens without any training whatsoever in the science of war. I worked with the PRO in London, but they couldn’t find any trace of Philip Long in their regiments. After a few months of research in 2007-8, I decided to call it quit. To my knowledge, nobody else took this hypothesis seriously enough to find significant documents.

Let’s come back to the ongoing war. In 1776, British General Clinton was defeated in every attempt made to conquer the North and South Carolinas. The campaigns in Britain and Ireland to organize and send troops overseas were time-consuming and those troops arrived too late to compensate for the ground already lost to General Washington from 1775 to 1776.

But, when a defeat seemed inevitable in 1776, Britain managed to sent some 32 000 troops in America, the largest demonstration of force ever launched by England, and by any other country in the known history of mankind. With war comes strategic errors, and the British made some, costly ones. The British chose to divide their forces into small units. The Continentals, on the contrary, were regrouping and making significant progress as soon as 1777, even to the point of capturing 1 000 Germans soldiers caught by surprise during a cold night of December. The daring strategies of General Washington were producing significant results.

The surrender of General Burgoyne (Britain) 

in 1777 at Saratoga NY

The first surrender of the war by the British, General Burgoyne in Saratoga NY  (1777), was an alerting sign that the Continentals were one step ahead of the British. But, one day, victory was near for one side; the next day, the other side had made more captures than they could handle. Nothing was decided, yet. The war was increasing in intensity and in cruelty for the soldiers. As the officers on both sides were playing chest with their regiments, the soldiers on the battlefields were fighting to stay alive against their opponents and diseases.

6. The period from 1777 to 1781: 
the decisive period

In the second phase of the war, the British officers, fearing the intervention of France against them, decided to invite the Continentals at the bargaining table. The following document summarizes the unexpected turn around by the British Parliament during that period.

« A Commission was formed to negotiate directly with the Continental Congresse for the first time. The Commission was empowered to suspend all the other objectionable acts by Parliament passed since 1763, issue general pardons, and declare a cessation of hostilities. The Commissioners arrived in America in June 1778 and offered the Americans complete internal self-government as well as representation in the British parliament. Parliament's authority over America would be limited to managing foreign affairs, including trade, in the manner that they did before 1763. Moreover, they agreed that no troops would be placed in the colonies without their consent. The Congress rejected this and refused to negotiate with the commission unless they first acknowledged American independence or withdrew all troops. On October 3, 1778, the British published a proclamation offering amnesty to any colonies or individuals who accepted their proposals within forty days, implying serious consequences if they still refused. There was no positive reply. »

Behind that generous offer, Britain was secretly planning to punish severely the Continentals for their rebellion against their mother country, once the Patriots would have stored their guns. The Continentals turned down the offer.

The last battle in the north was held in 1778.  Sir Hillary Clinton had regrouped in New York. The arrival of the French regiments gave a boost to the British army, but not for long, since they had to move their troops a long way to come to the rescue of other southern regiments in a shaky position. At the same time, General Washington had his hands pretty full when he was faced with mutinies and a breakdown of confidence within his troops.

During the first years of the war, the battles were held in the northern colonies. With the arrival of the French soldiers, the battlefield shifted towards the Southern Colonies. The British captured Savannah, Georgia in 1778, and Charleston in 1780. The British had seized the two major cities in the South.

In the following year, the Continentals regained control of South Carolina and Georgia. It would be the very last turnaround of the war. The British had lost the war to the Continentals. Independence Day would soon arrived, the next day that the last Loyalist would leave New York. Philip Long was one of the last ones to leave the port of New York in 1783 and one of the last ones to receive a parcel of land in Meductic, NB.

7. What were the main battles fought during 

the ARW of 1775-83 and who won each one?

The table below gives you an overview of the main battles and who won in each case. Surely, there were more battles and skirmishes, but these battles in the list are considered the most decisive ones.

The major battles won (X)

by the British (B) and by the Continentals (C) 

during the ARW of 1775-83

Reference

http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/09/top-10-battles-revolutionary-war/

No 5

The German mercenary regiments in the ARW

Hessian soldiers

In 1775, the British government was dragged into a war against its own subjects in Colonial America. Lacking the sufficient resources and eager to put an end to this insurrection of the people before it gets out of hands, they hired well trained soldiers from Germany, some 30 000 German mercenaries. These German mercenaries became the warriors that the Continentals liked to hate…

Their intervention at the beginning of the war was massive and devastating, but it would prove insufficient to beat General George Washington and his patriotic troops to the finish line. The German mercenaries and the Loyalists, their back against the wall, were forced to leave, in 1783, what was already being called the United States of America.

This German contingent of hired soldiers represented about one quarter of all the soldiers Britain sent to America during that war. The Continentals were fueled up by Britain’s decision, saying that the British were not fighting on the same level playing field and that Germany should not get involved in their domestic matters. It has certainly contributed to convince undecided citizens to swap their shovel for a gun. Suddenly, Rebels became Patriots (Continentals) and the war reached its cruising speed in no time.

Germans during the ARW

Référence: http://carlpepin.com/tag/guerre-dindependance-1775-1783/

For the German mercenaries, the end result was devastating in many ways. Of the total number of 30 000 German mercenaries who crossed the Atlantic, only 17 313 returned to Germany. The number of casualties amounted to 7 700: 1 700 were killed in action and, surprisingly, 6 354 died due to illness or even accidents. Approximately 5 000 settled in Canada and in the United States, because many decided to fight for the other side after awhile. (The statistics about the Germans in the ARW vary slightly between sources).

Statistics about the Germans soldiers

Hired by Britain to fight in the ARW

Reference

http://www.landofthebrave.info/hessians.htm

The Germans soldiers in the ARW

Reference
http://silvie.tripod.com/Hessian.html

One of these German mercenaries was lucky to get out of it alive; otherwise, none of us, the Longs/Langs of Clair NB, would be here today. This German mercenary has been the most talked about member of my family, that is, Philip Long. A mercenary soldier is one that fights for a salary and not necessarily for a higher noble cause. Still, I don’t know any war that is of « noble character ».

Why did Britain hire German mercenaries?

George III of Great Britain, in 1775/1776, desperately seeking to retain control of British North America, signed treaties with a number of German states to supply troops to defend the English interest in this part of the world. 

The significance for the genealogist in North America is that approximately 6,000 soldiers remained on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, some 2,400 in Canada and the remaining 3,600 in the USA. It has been estimated that several tens of thousands -or millions ?- of Canadians and Americans can trace their ancestry back to one of these soldiers. It has been estimated that 1,400 Hessians settled in Québec, and about 1,000 in the Maritime Provinces and Ontario. 

Many authors have suggested that, if it were not for the presence of the German forces, Canada would not exist as a separate nation today. Despite the English defeat and loss of the 13 colonies, England did retain control of the northern territory.

The military strength of Britain was inadequate to suppress the American uprising. It therefore turned to its former allies of the Seven Years War for support, several German principalities. In the 18th century, Germany was a patchwork of independent states, each with its own ruler. Many heads of states were related to British Royalty in one fashion or another. George III signed treaties with six German states: Braunschweig (Brunswick), Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Hanau, Anspach-Bayreuth, Anhalt-Zerbst and Waldeck. As Hesse-Kassel provided the largest contingent of troops, the German forces became known generically as "Hessians".

Hesse-Kassel supplied the largest number of troops by far. Approximately 17,000 soldiers were sent to America, representing about 1 out of 4 able bodied men of military age of the population of that state. The Hesse-Kassel troops were considered superior to those of the other German states. They were well trained on the Prussian system and in good health. 

The treaty signed between George III and Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, was a lucrative one for the German Prince. He would be paid an estimated £3 million over an eight-year period for the services of his army. It was also the 6th time in 100 years that the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel had rented out his troops. Thus, the common soldier could hardly be considered a "mercenary". He received his regular soldier's pay from the Hessian army; the Landgrave received the benefit.

Hesse-Kassel

Hesse-Kassel sent 15 Infantry regiments, each consisting of 5 companies. The strength was 650 officers and men. Also sent were 4 Grenadier Battalions, 2 Jager companies and 2 Field Artillery Companies. Regiments were often named after their "Chef", but not always. Each regiment, when stationed in Germany, was located in its garrison town. For example, the garrison town of the von Knyphausen regiment was Ziegenhain. This can be important for genealogical research, as the church records for the garrison town could contain information on your ancestor.

The Hesse-Kassel forces spent most of their time in the 13 Colonies. They arrived in New York in August 1776 and departed in August 1783. They participated in every major battle of the war, including the battle of Trenton where many were killed, wounded or captured in the American victory. 

In September of 1779, the British, fearing an attack on Québec, ordered the von Kynphausen and von Lossberg Regiments to Canada. The fleet was struck by a severe storm and many ships were lost or captured by the Americans. The remainder of the fleet found its way to Québec, although not until June 1780. One part of the von Knyphausen regiment had to spend the winter in Prince Edward Island, and then resumed its voyage to Québec the following spring. 

 

Braunschweig (Brunswick)

The Duke of Brunswick (German = Graf von Braunschweig), also related to the British Royal family, dispatched about 5,700 troops throughout the Revolution. These forces were organized into 7 regiments or battalions and 1 Yager company and were stationed in Québec. The first division arrived in the summer of 1776 and the troops left Québec in the summer of 1783. They were under the command of General von Riedesel.  It is estimated that 700-800 of these soldiers chose to settle in Canada.

Hesse-Hanau, Anhalt-Zerbst, Waldeck and Anspach-Bayreuth.

The treaties signed with these principalities called for far fewer troops than with either Hesse-Kassel of Brunswick. Hesse-Hanau contributed about 2,000 soldiers and Anhalt-Zerbst about 1,100, with Anspach-Bayreuth about 2,300 and Waldeck 1,225. Only forces of Brunswick, Hesse-Hanau and Anhalt-Zerbst were stationed in Canada.

Most of the soldiers who settled in Canada or the USA either deserted from the British side, or were allowed to remain behind by their superiors. There are an unknown number of soldiers who returned to Germany, only to return to this side of the Atlantic at some later date. Soldiers who chose to settle in Canada were often given land grants, and depending on the jurisdiction, were treated as well as the Loyalists.