''The Hessian'' is a 1972 novel by

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

set in the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

Plot

The book begins with an incident in 1781 when a small detachment of

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

(German auxiliaries in the British service) soldiers encounter a mentally retarded man, Saul Clamberham, on a Connecticut hill-side. Clamberham follows the Jägers out of confused curiosity, making meaningless markings on a slate. Misunderstanding the situation, an exasperated Hessian officer, with little English, becomes convinced that Clamberham is a spy and has the autistic villager hanged from a tree. Outraged, the local population ambush the Hessians and kill all but a drummer boy who escapes. The narrator of the story: the town physician and a

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

veteran, subsequently discovers that the young drummer Hans Pohl is being sheltered in a Quaker family's barn while township authorities hunt for him. Captured, the Hessian boy is tried for murder. Although his role in the earlier death was limited to beating his drum as the hanging took place, Pohl fatally admits that he would have carried out his duty as a soldier and participated directly in the execution if so ordered. The doctor, himself a victim of prejudice as an English-born Catholic in a small Puritan community, watches helplessly while the German boy is hanged.

Theme

The theme throughout the novel is one of futility, as two innocents are pointlessly killed by men who see themselves as having no choice in what they do.

External links

''The Hessian''
at GoodReads.com 1972 American novels Historical novels Novels by Howard Fast Novels set during the American Revolutionary War {{1970s-hist-novel-stub