Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/313

 Rh £1,770,000 sterling. This was in addition to the pay of the soldiers and to all expenses except those of recruiting and equipment.

There can be no question that for this large sum of money Great Britain obtained the services of excellent soldiers. It is true that the Germans were several times unsuccessful when left to themselves and not accompanied by English troops. Breymann's Brunswickers at Bennington found it impossible to get over the ground with reasonable speed, but the whole of Burgoyne's army was singularly slow in its movements. That general, in a private letter, speaks of the Germans at Saratoga as “dispirited and ready to club their arms at the first fire.” Yet they had fought with valor in the earlier part of the campaign, and had rendered essential services both at Hubbardton and Freeman's Farm. At Saratoga the Brunswick regiments held the most exposed part of the line. Turning now to the war in the Middle States, we see the Hessians taking the leading part and behaving with great gallantry at White Plains and Fort Washington. We see them, made over-confident by success, surprised at Trenton and defeated at Red Bank. On the former occasion they were thrown into confusion, their commander was killed, and the men “never made any regular stand.” On the latter occasion they fought with desperation, suffering a loss of three hundred and seventy-one officers and men, in a force that cannot have exceeded twenty-five hundred. It would lead us too far to consider minutely those actions in which the Germans did not form the principal part of the king's forces, but I think that it would be found that on