Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/135



Brunswick contingent of the German troops hired by England to suppress the revolt in her North American colonies was commanded by Baron Friedrich Adolph von Riedesel. He was of a noble Hessian family, and was born in 1738. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Marburg to study law, though he hardly knew how to write and had learned but a few scraps of Latin. A battalion of Hessian infantry was quartered at Marburg at the time, and Riedesel liked better to look at the soldiers than to listen to the professors of the school. The major, who had made the boy's acquaintance, saw the chance of a recruit. He advised Riedesel to enter his company in the hope of advancement, and told him, moreover, that he was well acquainted with his father, and would write to him to ask his consent to the scheme. Shortly afterwards the major told Riedesel that he had heard from the latter's father, who had consented to his enlistment. The boy was delighted at the news, and was presently mustered into the service. When he wrote to thank his father, however, he received a disappointing answer. The Baron von Riedesel had never heard of the major, and had never granted permission to his son to leave the profession chosen for him. Now that the young man had entered the service, his honor obliged