A mass grave of German 'mercenaries' who fought for the British in the Revolutionary War discovered in New Jersey
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Bethany Dawson
Aug 8, 2022, 00:29 IST
A casting made of human remains discovered in an excavation site at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Researchers in New Jersey believe they have found the remains of 13 soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War.
They also discovered a "pristine" King George III gold guinea from 1766.
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Researchers in New Jersey believe they have found the remains of 13 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War.
The 245-year-old remains lay undiscovered until a team from Rowan University and Gloucester county found a human femur in June at the site of Fort Mercer, where the 1777 Battle of Red Bank took place.
They continued excavating the site and found the remains of 12 more individuals, including femurs, skulls, and teeth, the university said. They also discovered a "pristine" King George III gold guinea from 1766, which they say would equate to a soldier's monthly pay.
"As we removed more remains, it became clear to us that this was not one individual. We were looking at a mass grave and, in all likelihood, a Hessian mass grave," said Jennifer Janofsky, the Megan Giordano Fellow in Public History inin Rowan's College of Humanities & Social Sciences.
"We're assuming they're Hessian soldiers based on everything we've found, the context of what we've found, and the artifacts and objects that are in place with them," Archaeologist Wade Catts said.
They were considered mercenaries by the American revolutionaries though some historians argue they were paid auxiliaries to the British army.
In the Battle of Red Bank, fought to capture Fort Mercer on the left bank of the Delaware river, the Hessians suffered 377 casualties out of 2,000 ordered to lay siege. The Americans, integrated regiments of Black and white soldiers fighting for freedom, numbered 500 and lost only 14 soldiers, according to Janofsky.
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The victory was a morale boost for General George Washington's hard-pressed forces and the American cause.
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