Chapter 04 | The Acclimation to America
November 13, 1778- “Whack, smack, swish, crack! Wolfgang was sweating and bleeding profusely as he ran the gauntlet for the eighth time. “Only two more to go, he thought,” as he forced his weary and flogged body to the head of the line, and began to run again. He tried not to show the pain, and to show them he could take it, but it was almost unbearable. There must have been 100 men on each side with strong sticks, switches, and clubs. The officer in charge made sure they didn’t slack off, and urged them to hit Wolfgang hard and often- which many seemed to enjoy. After the tenth time through the gauntlet, Wolfgang fell to the ground exhausted, and had to be thrown onto his bunk to nurse his wounds.
As he lay there, his first thought was “Damn, why did I let that big-boss sergeant get under my skin. Why couldn’t I control my temper and my mouth? He knew it was his inherited temper that had done him in. His father had it. So did his grandfather. “Won’t I ever learn to control it?” he seemed to ask God in Heaven, as he winced with pain.
He knew that it was all he had been through since leaving Ansbach that had worn him thin, and made him on edge. It had taken them over 11 months, including 22 weeks at sea, to get from Ansbach, Germany to their first camp in America on Long Island, New York. And he recalled how they had been delayed by fog, low water, headwinds, Kings who wouldn’t let them pass through their territories, desertions, ill equipment for marching, difficulties finding march routes, cold winter weather— and all this was only on the way from Ansbach to Bremerlehe, in Lower Saxony, Germany, where they ultimately set sail for the colonies on April 22th, 1778.
He thought again about the sea voyage, where they had dealt with waves as high as mountains, lack of food, and much sickness. And Wolfgang’s friend Karl was stricken with typhoid fever and died at sea. It was a terrible ordeal, and seeing his body eaten immediately after it fell into the water left a permanent mark on Wolfgang’s memory. Also, the thought of the bad water they had to drink, and the cheap chewing tobacco he had chewed to prevent scurvy from destroying his teeth and gums did make him temporarily forget his badly bruised body, and fall into a deep sleep.
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“Hey Wolfgang,” shouted Ewalt, “I think we are going to like this Rhode Island. I hear we’ll be in a place called Newport all winter.” “Don’t be so all-fired happy, Ewalt,” Wolfgang retorted sleepily, “I’m still hurting from getting the hell beat out of me today.” “Oh, you’ll live,” Ewalt said reassuringly, as he grinned at his friend. “A little fun with a Newport wench is all you need.”
Wolfgang gave him a friendly push, and began to get his uniform and his weapon ready. His mind raced from thought to thought. Who knew when the first fight with the Colonists will begin? How would he react to battle? And what would army life in America be like? And, of course, he thought again, as always, about his wife and family back in Ansbach. He yearned to see them, and to clear up some of the questions he had about Maria Margareta. But he was also excited to finally be a Hessian soldier in America. As he polished his rifle one more time, he could feel the rush, and, under his breath, he seemed to virtually shout, “Let the battles begin!”
But the battles did not begin. Wolfgang settled into a day-to-day routine of standing guard, standing guard, and standing guard. It seems that Rhode Island was thought by the British generals to be a strategic place for the defense of New York, and the mission of the Ansbach regiments was to defend Rhode Island from rebel attack. Wolfgang and his fellow soldiers, if not standing guard, were building and repairing fortifications. They began to become acquainted with the nearby towns, and in a way, began to feel at home.
As fall began to turn into winter, they entered winter quarters in Newport, which were older houses in which no one was living. The houses were heated by wood and peat, which had been cut the past summer. Wolfgang’s first thought was that there wasn’t enough fuel to keep them for the winter, and he was proven to be right.
When the biggest snowstorm ever seen in Newport came at the end of December, Wolfgang, Ewalt, Wilhelm, and many others were sent out in cold, violent winds through 4 feet of snow with 20 foot drifts to find wood wherever they could. “ This garden fence will have to do,” Ewalt said, after an exhausting trek in the poorer part of Newport, “I don’t think it was built very well in the first place.” “Same for this dog house,” Wilhelm exclaimed, “No animal should live in here anyway.” As they chopped up the wood, Wolfgang found a small tree that had escaped someone else’s axe, and soon it was in burning size pieces.
“I’ve never been so cold in my life,” Ewalt said as he shivered violently “ Makes hot hell look pretty good.” “Ewalt, you don’t need any reason to get into purgatory,” Wolfgang chimed in, “They are waiting for you at the door.”
Carrying the wood in a knapsack, they trudged laboriously home. As they neared their quarters, Wilhelm stumbled over something big, and fell headfirst into the snow. Shaking himself off, he turned around and went back to see what had made him fall. As he brushed the snow off of a log-like covered object, his first glimpse of it was that of the grey color of a Hessian soldier’s jacket. “Oh my God,” exclaimed Wilhelm, “It’s a soldier!” As they pushed away the snow, they immediately recognized Adelbert Schmidt, a soldier they had talked to on the ship, from Bayrueth. “He’s dead!, shouted Wolfgang, “He’s frozen to death!”
During the next few days, the storm and extreme cold took the lives of 8 other soldiers, all who were caught in the terrible cold and frozen. Many others had very painful frostbite, and in some cases, almost lost fingers and toes. So it could be said that up to January, 1779, the only battle the Ansbach-Bayrueth Hessians had was one with the elements, and the elements had caused the first casualties. And boredom was again beginning to set in.
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Ewalt, wanting to be helpful, delivered it. A ship from Great Britian, bringing food and supplies, had docked in the harbor at Newport. Ewalt had pulled the detail of going to the ship and helping get the supplies to camp. But there was mail, too, and Wolfgang was very much taken by surprise to get the first letter from home since he had arrived in America. Wolfgang couldn’t wait to open the letter. He was as excited as a schoolboy as he unfolded the cheap paper and began to read.
“ My dear Wolfgang,” it began, “ Today was cold for this time of year, and I had to talk severely to Georg to get him to bundled up. I swear that boy would go to school naked if allowed. But he is growing up, Wolfgang, and I wish you were here to see it. Maria Magdalena, getting prettier everyday, has begun to be interested in the boys. It seems that her brains become completely disengaged when a good-looking boy is around. It is a never-ending effort to get both of them to do what they should and must…” “What about you and me?” thought Wolfgang selfishly, as he continued to read about what Maria Margarita had been doing, “Do you still care?” As he read the details of life in Ansbach for his family, he finally came closer to the end of the letter, and read on with great anticipation. “ I have been so weary, and those awful headaches seem to come more often, especially when difficulties arise. Just last week, the house needed some repairs, and some men at church helped me fix the leaky roof, and repair the front door so it would close.” “Ernst has been so helpful with things like this, and I am lucky he is our friend. Also, he knows Ewalt Konig, who went to school with me and is a soldier in your regiment-have you seen him?
“Wolfgang, I must close now. It seems like a very long time since you left, and we are all anxious for you to get home. You didn’t make it by the first Christmas, as you promised, but please come back soon. Hugs and kisses from the children and me. Your loving wife, Maria.”
Wolfgang reread the letter and savored it, but still had that feeling that he somehow wanted to feel Maria’s love more, to feel she loved him deeply. Maybe it was just his hang up, but he simply didn’t feel it. And she had to mention Ernst the grocer again! And her query about Ewalt opened up his worry about the “secret” again, making him want to reread the letter.
The letter, even with the news in it from home, still left him, surprisingly, a little despondent and unfulfilled. He continued to reread it, and as with her earlier letter, looked diligently for that sign of special affection. He realized that she had always been a little on the less affectionate and amorous side, and that they did argue a lot during the several months before he left, but he had always felt that she loved him. Now, as when he received her letter earlier, and after Ewalt’s disclosure, he had a difficult time not letting doubt creep in.
But his attention was soon diverted. “They’re here! There here!” shouted Wilhelm, as he ran into the quarters.
“Our new uniforms are here, and boy, do they look great!” he explained, considerably out of breath. Evidently the ship had also delivered the uniforms, and the news of them had flown around the barracks like the down of a thistle on a windy day.
There was no question that the soldiers had reason to be excited. The uniforms were, without a doubt, some of the best looking of any of the Hessian soldiers, or any soldiers, for that matter. Wolfgang held his up, and pride swelled in his heart-he knew that there were no better-outfitted soldiers anywhere, and he was one of them.
The uniforms had white breeches and vest with a blue jacket trimmed in scarlet. This was set off by high, black gaiters with black shoes, and for a final touch, a white cartridge box strap looped over the shoulder. When Wolfgang put on his cartridge box, his knapsack, his canteen, and picked up his musket with bayonet, he felt ready for battle. But why had they not fought the rebels? It sure had been a letdown, and Wolfgang was anxious to begin doing what he had come across the sea to do.
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Wolfgang was filled with loneliness. He had been unsettled by the letter from his wife, and the daily boredom of standing watch, attending to fortifications, keeping the barracks up as best they could, and running errands for the officers had not helped his mood. Even the arrival of the new uniforms had not given him much relief. It was as if his world had become a dark pit again, and nothing seemed worthwhile. Drinking, which for some reason, he was not overdoing as much, didn’t seem to help. Even the change of pace of battle might have shaken him out of his state- but that did not come.
So when Wilhelm suggested that they go to the prayer meeting that Chaplin Eberhardt was holding on Sunday, Wolfgang agreed to go, mainly to do something different to counteract the boredom. Wilhelm also asked Ewalt to go, but was rebuked by Ewalt’s rejoinder, “I might as well try to holler for the Margrave as to start praying to God- they both do about the same amount of good.”
Wolfgang didn’t exactly enjoy the prayer meeting, but there was something that puzzled him. When he got back to the barracks afterward, he noticed that he was more relaxed than he had been for several weeks, and he didn’t seem to be as despondent as before. And there were some things said that had made him think- mainly about the tribulations he had endured in getting to America and had survived- how thankful he was that he was spared the fever that killed Karl, the Jaeger’s bullet that ended Georg’s life, the ill effects from the bad food and water, and the ships destroyed by the mountain high winds at sea. And he hadn’t been a battle casualty yet- for the thought that he would immediately be immersed in battle with the colonist rebels and killed had entered his mind several times on the trip over. Thankfulness, he thought, must be a little like good medicine. In any case, it seemed to help.
The next day, several things happened that changed Wolfgang’s routine, and began to buoy his spirits a little.
First, he received word that he would be one of 40 privates that would join a captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant, and two corporals to guard Fort Dauneck on the bay for eight days. He had heard that there were 24 cannons that shot 18- 24 pound balls, and Wolfgang was excited about the possibility that he would learn how to load and shoot them. And maybe, just maybe, the rebels would be foolish enough to attack the fort, and his wish to do battle would be granted.
Also, word came that upon his return from the Fort, on June 16th, they would move out of their winter quarters into camp. He wondered if they would have enough tents for all the soldiers. And finally, an announcement that had raised great anticipation was that the grenadier company were going to be allowed to go into Newport in their new uniforms for the first time. He could hardly wait!