Riedesel, Frederica Charlotte, baroness von

(1746-1807) wife of German mercenary officer The daughter of a Prussian general, Frederica Charlotte, baroness von Riedesel was married to General Baron Frie-derich von Riedesel, who commanded the Brunswick contingent of the so-called Hessian or German troops used by the British to fight the Revolutionary War (1775-83). After waiting in Germany for the birth of a child she was

Frederica Riedesel (National Archives)

Expecting, and then experiencing further delays in transit in England, the baroness traveled to Canada in 1777 with three young children to be with her husband as he campaigned in North America. The baroness was with her husband during the fighting that led up to General John Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga (October 17, 1777). She also was with him throughout his captivity, first at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then at Charlottesville, Virginia. When he was paroled and then exchanged, she traveled with General von Riedesel to New York and Canada, leaving North America in August 1783. During her sojourn the baroness gave birth to two children, one named “America” and another who was generally called by one of her middle names—“Canada.”

The baroness is most noted for her detailed diary of her experiences in North America. The diary provides a wonderful insight into the experiences of traveling with an 18th-century army and offers graphic detail of the suffering and dying of the wounded in the aftermath of battle. The baroness first published her memoir in Berlin in 1800, and it has since been published many times.

Further reading: Marvin L. Brown, Jr., trans., Baroness von Riedesel and the American Revolution: Journal and

Correspondence of a Tour of 1776—1783 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965).