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Our German Ancestors:

the Hesse-Hanau Jäger Corps

When we think of the men and women who came to Canada centuries ago, we normally think of the French and English, and perhaps the handful of colonists from other European countries that figure in our family trees. When we think of the soldiers that were sent here, our minds might go to the Carignan-Salières regiment, whose men stayed in great numbers after their service, and who appear in many French-Canadian family trees.

In light of this, it may be surprising to find out that about 10,000 French Canadians have a German soldier as an ancestor. Enter the Hesse-Hanau Jäger Corps.

German Fighters in the American Revolutionary War

At the start of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), alliances were created between the United Kingdom and several German principalities. [At this time, the German Empire was composed of some 300 principalities, electorates, duchies, margraviates, landgraviates, bishoprics, abbeys, seigneuries and free towns.] The Germans agreed to dispatch troops to North America to assist the British Army in the war, whose numbers were inferior to that of the colonies they were fighting. In return, the UK would financially compensate the German principalities. In 1776, such an alliance was created with the territory of Hesse-Hanau, whose capital Hanau was located 25 km east of Frankfurt. Wilhelm I, the count of Hesse-Hanau and cousin to King George III of Great Britain, agreed to send soldiers organized into four regiments: one comprised of foot soldiers, one artillery company, one light infantry corps and one ranger corps. A total of 2,422 soldiers came from Hesse-Hanau. In all, nearly 30,000 German soldiers were sent to fight for the British.

Outdoorsmen, hunters and foresters

In 1777, Britain requested that an additional corps of Hesse-Hanau soldiers be formed: the chasseurs, or Jäger Corps. The French word chasseur and the German word Jäger mean "hunter". The soldiers recruited into the Jäger Corps were said to be outdoorsmen, hunters and foresters. They were all volunteers. The British specifically requested this type of men because it was believed they would fare better in the harsh North American environment and the hunters would make better marksmen. Some were even game wardens in the noble or royal forest preserves in the German empire.

That same year, the Chasseur regiment of Hesse-Hanau left Hanau under the command of Colonel Carl Adolf Christoph Von Creutzbourg and travelled to the Portsmouth, England. From Portsmouth they sailed across the Atlantic and arrived in Québec in the spring. While most of the Hesse-Hanau regiment remained in Canada, a portion of their soldiers did participate in active combat in the Colonies. In October 1776, the Hesse-Hanau artillery division participated in the Battle of Valcour Island (located on Lake Champlain). In 1777, the Hesse-Hanau artillery and infantry took part in General Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign. Vastly outnumbered by the American force, Burgoyne was forced to surrender on October 17, 1777 in Saratoga [present-day Schuylerville, New York]. The British and German troops he led were kept in captivity until the end of the war.  

The Jäger Corps specifically also saw active fighting. A company of Jäger light infantry under first lieutenant Jacob Hildebrand joined British Commander Barry St. Leger in the western offensive of the Saratoga campaign. St. Leger's force also included loyalists and indigenous allies, mostly Mohawk and Seneca. The Jäger soldiers participated in the Battle of Oriskany and the Siege of Fort Stanwix before finally retreating north to Canada to join the rest of their troops.

For most of the war, the majority of the Hesse-Hanau regiment was stationed as garrison troops in Canada, protecting the border in present-day Québec and Ontario. From the port at Québec, the troops crossed the north bank of the St. Lawrence River to Montreal and Lachine. They were confined to La Prairie, L’Assomption, Terrebonne and Pointe-Lévy, among others. It's been said that during the American Revolutionary War, 1 in 22 people in Québec was a German soldier.

In 1783, once the war was over, the German troops were given the choice of settling in Canada or returning home. Over half of the German soldiers originally sent over to the New World decided to settle there.

As one Hessian officer commented, "Although seeing little real war, they led a wholesome life in the Canadian woods, rivalling the Indians in their long marches, hunting and fishing, and enjoying life much more than the German soldiers at home or in the southern colonies."

In addition to the 2,422 soldiers of Hesse-Hanau, nearly 30,000 other German soldiers were involved in the American Revolutionary War. After the end of the conflict, some 1,000 to 1,500 men chose to remain in Canada. Most of the soldiers who remained married French-Canadian women. Given that most Germans were of Protestant faith, they likely converted to Catholicism before marriage.

Today, roughly 10,000 French-Canadians have a German soldier as an ancestor. If your surname follows, you may have a German soldier as an ancestor: Arnoldi, Bauer, Berger, Besner, Besré, Black, Brown, Carpenter, Caux/Claude, Eberts, Frédéric, Grothe, Hamel, Heynemand, Hinse, Hoffman, Hunter, Inkel, Jordan, Koenig, Laître/Lettre, Lange, Lieppé, Maheu, Matte, Nieding, Olivier, Pave, Piuze, Pétri, Plasse, Pratte, Rose, Rouche, Schenaille, Schmidt, Schneider, Steinberg, Stone, Trestler, Wagner, Wolfe. Some of these surnames were simply translated from German into French or English, while others went through a more complex transformation.

As author, historian and descendant Jean-Pierre Wilhemy put it best:

A special thank you goes out to Jens Puhle in Alzenau, Germany, for his help in writing this page.

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Sources and further reading:

• Claude Crégheur, “Les Chasseurs de Hesse-Hanau", Patrimoine et histoire des seigneuries de Lotbinière, Volume 9, numéro 2, Jul 2016, BAnQ numérique (http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/)

• Virginia Easley DeMarce, excerpt from "The Settlement of Former German Auxilliary Troops in Canada After the American Revolution", http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mcdanielshowland/genealogy/html-fr/zellman.txt.

• Anik Laflèche, “Canada and the German mercenaries of the American Revolution”, Library and Archives Canada Blog (https://thediscoverblog.com/2018/01/18/canada-and-the-german-mercenaries-of-the-american-revolution/)

• Louis-Guy Lemieux, "Histoire oubliée : 10 000 Québécois ont des ancêtres allemands", Le Soleil, 8 Jul 2001, pages B1, B3, BAnQ numérique (http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/).

• Jean-Pierre Wilhelmy, "Christian Ernst D. Wilhelmi : les mercenaires allemands au Québec au XVIIIe siècle et leur apport à la population", Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, vol. XXXIII, No 4, Dec 1982, 275-288.