Louise Hall Tharp: The Baroness and the General. Boston: Little, Brown, 1962. 458 pp.
Tharp’s biography is still one of the best books on the neglected topic of German involvement in the Revolutionary War. Based on extensive archival research, this highly readable and informative volume profits from the author’s gift for drawing vivid personalities.
Somewhat unusual (for 1962) is the focus on the mercenaries who were employed to suppress the rebellion, especially during the campaigns in Canada and at the battle of Saratoga. Moreover, she follows the adventures not primarily of General von Riedesel, a competent if somewhat plodding cavalry commander, but of his spirited wife, Frederika von Massow. This noblewoman from the court of Brunswick managed to raise a family (a proliferation of daughters) while accompanying her husband throughout his campaigns. She stayed at his side during the period of captivity, which featured at least one pleasant interlude – dinner with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.
This volume is well worth looking for in your second-hand bookshops. I found a copy in Rochester, NY. Rochesterians wondering who the Troup Street Bridge is named for will find their answer here. “Colonel Robert Troup, the American escort [for the Riedesels], was twenty-one years old, a law student when the American Revolution broke out and destined to become a judge and a power in the Genesee Valley of upper New York State.”
The translations from German sources are sometimes more readable than accurate. In one of his reports, General Riedesel is said to write, “The only wonder is how the rebels could make this long march of forty leagues through deserts and dense woods and carry, at the same time, rations for fifteen days on their backs.” Even in 1776 there were no deserts in Quebec. The cognate for the German word Wüste would be “wastes” as in Milton’s “wastes of Hell.” While the word can have more than one meaning, the passage should read, “The most amazing thing is how the rebels could make this long march of forty leagues through wilderness and dense woods…” (pg. 54)
The clear, detailed maps alone are a model that many more recent books could well emulate.
Update: Readers should also consult David MacNab’s guidebook, Ten Exciting Historic Sites to Visit in Upstate New York (2016), which includes much practical information for those wishing to visit the Saratoga battlefield.
© Hamilton Beck
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