146 ROSENGARTEN—AMERICAN HISTORY. [April 6, 
the force returning to Brunswick was greatly reduced. This letter 
is printed in the Brunswick Magazine of June 4, 1825; the same 
and earlier numbers contain extracts from Papet’s diary, which was 
then in possession of his son-in-law, Captain Heusler, in Brunswick. 
It was not until April 29, 1783, that peace was officially pronounced 
to the troops, and they sailed from Quebec on August tst for a six 
weeks’ voyage home. 
Papet says that the deserters had a price put on their heads, and 
many of them were arrested and brought back, so that the Duke’s 
orders were not very literally obeyed. On their return to Bruns- 
wick the division was reduced to an infantry regiment of two bat- 
talions and a small dragoon regiment. Among them were some 
black men enlisted by Gen. Riedesel as drummers. Until 1806 
the dragoons served as guard of the palace—a sort of recognition 
of their services. Riedesel named one daughter ‘‘ Canada,’’ she 
died in Canada; and another ‘‘ America,’’ who died in 1856. 
Eelking adds to his Lzfe of Riedese/ a list of officers, and among 
them Chaplain Melsheimer figures as a deserter, in 1779; while 
Paymaster Thomas remained in America after the peace of 1783, 
and so did Lieut. v. Reizenstein, Lieut. v. Kénig, Ensign Langer- 
jahn, Ensign Kolte, Lieut. Bielstein, Lieut. Conradi, Lieut. v. Pui- 
seger, and Ensign Specht, while some of those reported ‘‘ deserters ”’ 
and ‘‘missing’’ no doubt remained in America. It is curious that 
in Riedesel’s Zzfe, with its voluminous correspondence with the 
Duke of Brunswick, there is no mention of the letter recommend- 
ing that his officers and men should be encouraged to remain in 
America. It looks very much as if Eelking thought it indiscreet 
to print it, as likely to invite hostile criticism, a caution that does 
not seem to have deterred the editor of the Brunswick Magazine in 
1825, a time when the censor kept a sharp eye on anything that 
might lessen the respect for the Landesvater. In its way it fully 
justifies Franklin’s clever skit at the Elector of Hesse in the ficti- 
tious letter to his commander in America. There must still remain 
in Marburg and Cassel and Berlin and Brunswick, and in the pri- 
vate families of Germany, much interesting and valuable material 
throwing light on the Germans who served under the British flag in 
the War of American Independence. Is it not well worth while to 
get a complete descriptive catalogue of the papers in the Marburg 
Archives? The expense would not be great, and that once secured, 
it would not be difficult to have similar catalogues made for other 
