Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/136

 118 him to stand by his colors, but he must look for no more assistance from his father. Nothing remained for young Riedesel but to make the best of his circumstances. The whole affair was but an instance of the German recruiting system of the time.

The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had let out some of his regiments to England, Riedesel accompanied his battalion to that country with the rank of an ensign. He had not stayed there long enough, however, to learn the language perfectly, before his regiment was ordered back to Germany to take part in the Seven Years' War, in which England and Prussia, with Hanover, Brunswick, and some of the smaller German states, were opposed to France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. From this time Riedesel's advancement was rapid. He became a favorite of Prince Ferdinand, and exchanged the service of Hesse for that of Brunswick. He had risen to the rank of colonel at the time of the outbreak of the American Revolution, and was appointed major-general on the day when he marched from Brunswick at the head of the contingent for America.

Riedesel saw nothing disgraceful in the work in which he was engaged. He was a soldier of a type common in the eighteenth century, and in military matters knew no duty but his orders. He was, moreover, a tender husband and father, and his wife and children were to follow him to the New World as soon as the health of the former would allow it. “Dearest wife,” writes he from his first halting-place, “never have I suffered more than this morning as I came away. My heart was breaking, and if I could have returned,