The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. As part of this, I’m writing monthly columns about the politics of the era, written the same way I’d write them today. The events described here took place in August 1776. You can sign up for our monthly newsletter here:
The ink is barely dry on the fateful document, and already one awful part of it is coming true.
The Declaration of Independence that the Continental Congress approved on July 4, and whose members signed August 2, lists a long series of grievances that Colonists have against King George III and his government.
They are generally in the past tense, but one is notably in the present tense: “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.”
This line was based on well-founded information received on these shores that the king was in the process of contracting with the principality of Hesse-Kassel for that government to supply troops to fight alongside the British in North America. Those reports are now about to prove true; the first shiploads of Hessian soldiers are now said to be just days away from sailing into New York harbor. The king, unable to subdue us with British soldiers, now resorts to foreign mercenaries to do his bidding.
(Modern editor’s note: While the Colonists considered the Hessians to be “mercenaries,” they do not fit the modern definition of mercenaries as soldiers of fortune. These soldiers should more properly be regarded as British allies because that was the political relationship between Britain and Hesse-Kassel at the time — one state aiding another. The Americans of 1776 had no time for such legal niceties; they just saw foreign soldiers and called them mercenaries. If you want to find true mercenaries, they tended to be on the American side, such as the Marquis de Lafayette — although those French officers and soldiers generally were motivated to assist the American cause because of idealism, not simply to make money. The Hessians, by the way, arrived on Staten Island on Aug. 15, 1776.)
Just as we Americans attempt to cast off royalty and all its trappings, the spiderweb of royal connections seeks to ensnare us with a new foe. I daresay most Americans could scarcely identify Hesse-Kassel on a map, even if we had one. Whatever have we done to offend Frederick II, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, as its ruler is known? We have no quarrel with him, nor he with us — and yet 12,000 of his armed men are now en route to our shores to subdue us at the point of a bayonet.
Why is this happening? At the risk of opening old wounds, we must remember that the current royal family in London is the offspring of foreigners planted on the throne by an accident of genealogy. When Queen Anne died without an heir (despite 17 pregnancies), the crown passed to her second cousin — of the Hanover family in Germany. Britons were content with a foreign-born king as long as he was Protestant and generally inconsequential, as George I was. Not until his grandson, the current George III, was there a British-born Hanoverian king, but we must remember that George III is not simply the king of Great Britain; he retains his ancient title as Elector of Hanover, with duties and responsibilities to that continental principality. One of those is that of an ally with Hesse-Kassel, a small nation-state that would be of no consequence to us were it not for those family ties between its sovereign and the one in London.
Hesse-Kassel is a curious place. Frederick II is said to rule as an enlightened despot, but it is also one of the most militarized lands on the planet. Frederick II keeps a standing army far beyond the size he needs to defend his seat; he derives revenue by renting out his troops to whichever ally is in need of them — and willing to pay.
At the moment, that is Frederick’s nephew, George III, who has been forced to hire foreign troops because he lacks the will to summon his own people into battle. The king understands that foreign wars are quite unpopular, so rather than wage one with his own conscripts, he has simply paid his uncle to supply him with soldiers.
These shiploads of Hessians will soon augment the British force that is now gathering for a push to seize the city of New York. There can be no doubt that this is where the next blow will land. General George Washington has established himself there, and the British must force him out or surrender their claims upon us.
What we’ve seen so far is a diplomatic dance as the two armies gather. To his credit, the British General William Howe has attempted to avert a clash of arms, although he has badly misread the temper of the times. Howe sent an emissary carrying a letter for Washington but refused to recognize Washington’s status as a general, because that would imply recognition of the whole American structure of independence. Instead, he addressed his missive to “George Washington, Esq.”
Washington consulted with his aides and instructed his aide, Joseph Reed, to refuse delivery on the grounds that there was no one in the army with that title. Howe tried again, this time addressing his message to “George Washington, Esq, etc., etc.,” presumably on the theory that the “etc.” might allow Washington to claim he was being addressed as a general while allowing Howe to insist he never did any such thing.
Washington again refused to receive the letter.
Finally, Howe asked if Washington would receive an emissary without a letter involved. Washington relented; the British colonel sent to treat with Washington informed him that Howe had come prepared to offer pardons. “Those who have committed no fault want no pardon,” Washington replied.
With those nine words, the die now seems cast — there will be a battle for New York, and it will involve those Hessian soldiers who are soon to arrive.
We anxiously await further word from the north and fear what news it might bring.
