Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/121

 Rh After being quartered at Dumfries and in the Valley of Virginia, and suffering many petty annoyances, the officers were brought, in December, 1777, to Fredericksburg, where they were treated with great hospitality and kindness. Wiederhold becomes really pathetic at the idea of parting from his friends there. The prisoners had been much favored by the ladies of the neighborhood, who are, says the lieutenant, “beautiful, courteous, kindly, modest, and withal very natural and easy.” Sixteen ladies “of the first rank” organized a surprise party, which visited the captain in his quarters, and of which he had been discreetly informed beforehand. He tells us that they came intending to spend only an hour, but stayed from half-past three to ten o'clock in the evening. General Washington's brother, sister, and niece were among them. The German officers regaled their guests with tea, coffee, chocolate, claret wine, and cakes; and entertained them with music, both instrumental and vocal, in which the ladies sometimes joined. “In Europe we should not have got much honor by our music, but here we passed for masters. Sobbe played the flute, Surgeon Oliva the violin, and I the guitar. We were so overwhelmed with praise that we were really ashamed. Their friendship for us was too great. Some of the American young gentlemen were jealous.” All this kindness had its effect upon the captives. At Dumfries, nine months before, Wiederhold had set down in his journal that he would rather have a small farm in Hesse than the greatest plantation in Virginia, and that America was good for people who were