Military Monday: Henry Horn and Hessian Resources
McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)
Henry Horn (1758-1845) was a McMurray ancestor who came to this country as a Hessian soldier (or “German Auxiliary”) for the British in the Revolutionary War. Henry and about 1,000 other Hessians were captured in the December 26th, 1776 surprise attack at Trenton, New Jersey, by George Washington and his forces, after their famous crossing of the Delaware River. Henry became a Prisoner of War and was taken to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He later stated he enlisted into the American forces in Lancaster, and he served fourteen months in the War. (See Notes below for more posts about Henry.)
There are quite a lot of videos on YouTube about the Hessians, including the above. We are unsure how long Henry stayed in Lancaster as a POW (he is not well documented), so we don’t know if he actually helped build the Carlyle Barracks shown in the video, but it is a possibility since he was a strong young man- maybe only 16 or 18 years old.
Another good resource is the Journal of the American Revolution, a free online magazine that provides articles for scholars and ‘enthusiasts.’ The participants, places, economics, politics, culture, and of course, battles, of the American Revolution, are featured in pieces written by various authors who have extensively researched their topics. A recent article profiles “The Hessians: Johannes Schwalm Historial Association,” a journal that has been a leader in the American research efforts to document the “German Auxiliaries” in the Revolutionary War.
The Hessians: Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association
The editors of “The Hessians…” are not as active as they once were, but the website is still a great resource. They do have a detailed listing of the contents of each journal issue. They told me that they are thinking about putting them online which would be great, but that it might be a while. I originally found this group through the RootsWeb Hessian board, so that too is a great website for looking for more information about a Hessian ancestor.
More to come about Henry Horn as we continue our research.
Notes, Sources, and References:
- How are we related? One of the sons of Henry HORN and Elizabeth (PRETZMAN) HORN was Frederick P. HORN (1796-1867). One of his daughters with Hepzibah (CLARK) HORN was Mary Ann HORN (1824-1891), who married Henderson McMURRAY (1819-1906). Their son Frederick Asbury McMURRAY (1850-1929) was the grandfather of Edward A. McMURRAY, SR. (1900-1992).
- “The Hessians: Johannes Schwalm Historial Association,” Journal of the American Revolution– https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/01/hessians-journal-johannes-schwalm-historical-association/
- Although we still need to finish the story of Henry Horn, you can read what we have written about his military career, starting here on the blog: “Henrich Horn: Military Career”– http://heritageramblings.net/series/henrich-horn-military-career/
- The RootsWeb Hessian board is currently offline due to technical problems, but hopefully Ancestry will bring it back soon. You can find it as AMREV-HESSIANS Mailing List– http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~amrevhessians/c/cem-index.htm
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