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No. In the 18th century, prisoners of war were treated differently than they are today, and both the Hessians and their prisoners upheld a strong code of honour. Therefore, it was not uncommon to simply keep prisoners under the understanding that they would not try to run away--that meant no Fencing them in or locking them up. Sometimes they were even allowed to go and hunt for their own food.

Hessians are often portrayed as vicious, brutal mercenaries. This is a remnant from an 18th century Propaganda campaign directed against them, even going so far as to claim they would eat children (keep in mind that in the 18th century, information was not as readily available, and many people actually believed these claims!) While the British spoke the same language as the Americans, the Hessians spoke German. They wore very long hair and moustaches, while Americans were clean shaven. This added to the scary foreign effect as well, making it easy for the American propagandists to portray them as foreign, inhuman, and bloodthirsty brutes who tortured their prisoners and did terrible things to their enemies. In fact, the Hessians, being members of professional armies, were some of the "best behaved" troops in the war, but the wartime demonisation of them continues in popular culture to this day.

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11y ago
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11y ago

They probbably took them to their death.

In the 18th century, prisoners of war were treated differently than they are today, and both the Hessians and their prisoners upheld a strong code of honour. Therefore, it was not uncommon to simply keep prisoners under the understanding that they would not try to run away--that meant no fencing them in or locking them up. Sometimes they were even allowed to go and hunt for their own food.

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Q: Were Hessians brutal to their prisnors?
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