Following the Armies: Contemporary Images of Military Women and Children in German Central Europe

A reenactor portraying a Prussian Soldatenfrau
late in the Seven Years War

Dear Reader,

Today, I would like to present several contemporary images of women who followed Germanic Armies during the Eighteenth Century. These women, often the wives of soldiers, traveled alongside the armies of Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa. The first four images come from the collection produced by Johann Christian Becher, Wahrhaftige Nachricht derer Begebenheiten drawn during the Seven Years War.

A Franconian Sutleress, Becher

The first woman, a sutler of some means, wears a red sleeved waistcoat and dark blue jacket and petticoat. Her shoes are obscured, but she wears a round, shallow-crowned felt hat with a red ribbon. Her cart/wheelbarrow contains a cask, bags, and she is pictured with a "Coffee Machine" according to a different version of the same image.  The cookware is not blackened. 

An Austrian Sutleress and her family 

There are some similar elements of dress in this image, showing a black felt round hat, likewise tied with a red ribbon (both are knotted on the right of the wearers' crown). This woman has three children, two walk barefoot, and the third is kept tied around the woman's body. Like the Franconian woman above, this woman wears a dark colored jacket with a bit of red at the sleeves. She appears to have a patterned apron and light colored petticoat with red striping. Her daughter carries a walking stick, bottle, and wine skin or draw-string bag, and has a pink sleeveless top over her shift, a green petticoat, and blue apron. Her son wears a round felt hat, worn knee breeches, and a cream woolen waistcoat. 

A Wuertemberger Soldier's Wife

This woman carries a small child on her head, tied to a basket. She has a straw hat, a long cream-colored woolen or linen frock coat, a black waistcoat, and a white cloth around her neck. Her apron is white with blue floral patterning, and she wears a blue petticoat. She has something strapped to her back and a small keg with a strap. 

A Grenadier's Wife from Mainz, her family and equipment 

This women wears a blue jacket and petticoat, her head is tied in a scarf, and she wears no hat. Her eldest daughter cares for a smaller child on the back of a donkey, in a grey top and petticoat with a light colored neck-cloth and straw hat. The woman appears to have light brown shoes, the daughter wears red shoes. The women leads the donkey and has a walking stick, and what appears to be a linen wallet on her back. 

A French Sutleress and a Hungarian Hussar's wife

The French sutleress (left) wears a brown brunswick or long jacket, what might be a military canteen or a glass bottle, a pink cap, a blue apron and green striped petticoat. The Hungarian woman wears a sleeveless green top, no discernible shirt, a loose head covering underneath a military-style laced cocked hat, a blue hussar's jacket, and a white striped petticoat. Somewhat memorably, she carries a strand of garlic in her right hand, and a chicken or some sort of fowl in her right hand. 

The next few images come from details of the military art of Hyacinth de La Pegna, an  artist who commemorated the Hapsburg victories of the Seven Years War. 

This image shows a Prussian soldier's wife with a blue jacket, red petticoat, and white cap. Her baby, on her back, is swaddled in green cloth. 

This woman, with an orange jacket, white shawl/neck cloth, and white cap wears a red petticoat and has her shirt sleeves tucked into the arms of her jacket. She appears to have some sort of wallet/blanket around her middle, held in her right hand. 

This painting shows Prussian women in states of relative undress as a result of the early morning surprise attack at Hochkirch in 1758. The woman on the right appears to have a white/rose colored cap, and she has her sleeves rolled up, and wears her stays. On the left, a women holds a child in while wearing similar clothing, but appears to have a brown/orange blanket of some sort draped around her. 

This scene, also from the downfall at Hochkirch, appears to show a woman in matching sleeveless top and petticoat fleeing from a tent with a blanket around her middle.  She wears a white cap, and sleeves rolled to above the elbow. 

Pro-Prussian Silesian Woman, surrender of Breslau

This image, taken from a commemorative print of the surrender of Breslau, shows a pro-Prussian Silesian woman, with a dark colored petticoat, light-colored jacket with a light-colored shawl and cap. 

The Begging Soldier's Wife, Daniel Chodowiekci

This image, by Prussian painter Chodowiecki, shows a women with a jacket, two military style cocked hats, a market wallet, some type of leather or linen bag, and a light colored petticoat. As a result of her market wallet, it is difficult to definitively address some of her clothing. 

From the above sources, it is clear that some women wore old or unused cocked hats, and occasionally wore military style coats/jackets. Patterned aprons and blue aprons appear in multiple images, as do petticoats with stripes near the bottom. 

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Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns

Young Historian Spotlight: Casey Hill

Casey Hill working at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Today, we are continuing with the second of a series of interviews with a number of young historians. By the time this series concludes in early November, we will have heard from Jack Weaver, Andrew Warren, Ben Olex, Casey Hill, Samantha Sproviero, and Davis Tierney. All of these individuals are broadly interested in the Kabinettskriege era, and have been selected as a result of recent promotion, impending graduate school applications, or work recently begun in graduate school or at a historic site. Today's young historian Casey, a historian interested in a vital era of colonial conflict. Casey has worked as an historic interpreter at the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments, and is currently in the process of applying to graduate programs in historical archaeology. Casey possesses a broad range of knowledge on the War of Jenkins Era, and plans to study this topic in graduate school.

Alexander Burns : What drew you to study the history in this era? In 2018, much of popular memory of military history in the United States is focused on World War 1, World War 2, and the Vietnam War. What about the history of the 1688-1815 era do you find so compelling?

Casey Hill[1]: What drew me to to the military history of this particular era was actually getting involved in it. From a young age, I have always had an interest in history and naturally, this interest has expanded over the years. In 2013, I made the first step by establishing myself as a volunteer with the National Park Service at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida. I was doing this while working on my undergraduate so unfortunately, I didn’t have ample time to dedicate to it but I managed a couple weekends each month. This was my first involvement with reenacting and living history. I eventually was fortunate enough to  be able to get a student job with the NPS at the Castillo, which really changed things up for me quite a bit. I was able to learn so much about the Castillo and its involvement in history. The main interpretive theme is the time portrayed during the British siege that St. Augustine experienced in 1740. Naturally, I wanted to find out as much as I could, not only for my job, but because I was personally very interested. I learned all about the War of Jenkins’ Ear which I personally find the most compelling about this era.

AB: Is there a particular person, conflict, event, or geographical setting which draws you to this era?

CH: Yes. As I had mentioned before, for me it is the War of Jenkins’ Ear but I would also have to say King George’s War and the War of the Austrian Succession in general. Again, being surrounded by and involved with St. Augustine’s history when I was working there, really sparked my interest not only in that conflict, but the specific siege that St. Augustine experienced in 1740 led by General James Oglethorpe. The British invasions of Florida and the Spanish Invasions of Georgia and the Carolinas have always fascinated me. They are very obscure parts of American history, but are also quite important which is one of the many reasons I love talking to people about it. Political cartoons, ballads, broadsides, maps, pamphlets, commemorative medals, just about any type of 18th century material culture you can think of was produced during this war especially regarding Admiral Edward Vernon and the capture of Porto Bello in 1739, the successful capture of Porto Bello made Vernon an instant hero in Britain and really helped to establish the national pride of Britain, the image of the British Tar and Britannia ruling the waves as we see this famous song come out of this period. That victory also created so much interesting material culture!. My interest has evolved so much that I even find myself acquiring said original items from this period.

Casey working at the  Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments

AB: Casey, that is really interesting. Do you view the War of Jenkins Ear as part of a global conflict between 1740-1748? I know that is a common interpretation of the Seven Years War, and wonder if you have seen it with this conflict as well?

CH: I most definitely do. As far as the War of Jenkins’ Ear goes, Britain officially declared war on Spain in October 1739 and a little over a year later, the War of the Austrian Succession (WAS) broke out in Europe. It was very much a global conflict and encompassed several theaters of war. In addition to the War of Jenkins’ Ear (WJE), these include King George’s War (KGW), which was a conflict between the British and French primarily over Louisbourg and Nova Scotia which erupted in 1744.  WAS also included the First Carnatic War (1746-48) between the French and British over control of Madras and Pondicherry (which were two major battles in their own right) in India, two very important trading ports that the French and British East India Companies fought over for control. There were roughly nineteen battles/engagements that made up KGW (1744-48) which covered the areas of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia as well as roughly nineteen engagements that made up the WJE (1739-48) that covered the south British colonies of North and South Carolina and Georgia and Spanish Florida, the Caribbean, South America and various naval engagements in European waters and the Pacific. It was also very much a global conflict for Colonial Americans as it was the first foreign war they directly fought in. Sir William Gooch’s 42nd Regiment of Foot, or the “American Regiment” was the first all Colonial American regiment raised and put on the British Establishment and consisted of roughly 3,000 men from 10 different colonies from New York to North Carolina. It was established with the sole purpose of fighting the Spanish in the West Indies, primarily the ill-fated Cartagena expedition of 1741. Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s older half brother, was a commissioned officer in this regiment. 

AB: How do you plan to continue your research into this era? You have been employed in public history setting, and are currently applying to graduate programs. Why have you chosen your particular path?

CH: I am also in the process of applying for graduate school; planning on pursuing historical archaeology, collections management, and historic preservation. I also do substantial independent research on my area of interest which includes collaborating and/or visiting historic sites that are relevant to my research but also acquiring primary sources that pertain to my area/conflict of interest. I would also love to do some proper funded research, perhaps in my masters program with a visit to Spain to visit some of the archives, museums, and libraries. I hope to eventually start giving talks/presentations on the War of Jenkins’ Ear using my collection as a visual and tangible aid, which I managed to do at my previous job and hope to continue in the future.

AB: What have you been reading, recently? Could you recommend one book on your topic of interest, or any recent work on the era?

CH: Since I have many books on many different topics of the period, I will stick with the main topic of the era being discussed. Apart from the primary source material from my collection, I have a handful of good books I could recommend for the War of Jenkins’ Ear period. The one I have acquired recently, which actually just came out in 2016 and I highly recommend, is titled The Temptations of Trade: Britain, Spain, and the Struggle for Empire by Adrian Finucane [University of Pennsylvania Press]. The others I would recommend (and have read) are: America’s First Marines: Gooch’s American Regiment, 1740-1742 by Lee G. Offen, On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World by Paul M. Pressly, Trade and Privateering in Spanish Florida, 1732-1763 by Joyce Elizabeth Harman (a great little book!), A Relation, or Journal, Of a late Expedition, &c.: A Facsimile Reproduction of the 1744 Edition with an Introduction and Index by John Jay Tepaske [Bicentennial Floridiana Facsimile Series/University of Florida Press] (this is also available digitally), and last but not least, Informed Power: Communication in the Early American South by Alejandra Dubcovsky.

AB: Thanks! Is there a reason you enjoy Finucane’s book? Can you tell us a bit about it?

CH: I am always excited to see new books/research/material come out about this period. I found that it read very well and I feel it greatly explained the reasons behind the lead up to the outbreak of the War of Jenkins’ Ear, beginning right around the time of the end of the War of the Spanish Succession when Britain wins the right to begin trading with the closed Spanish market by way of the Assiento all the way through to when war was declared, and even the years of conflict. April Hatfield of Texas A&M University summed up this book pretty well and I would like to use an excerpt from what she said: “Adrian Finucane puts a human face on the Caribbean’s imperial and commercial struggles by bringing to life the stories of the South Sea Company’s agents in Spanish America. In the process, she answers a number of important questions about the nature of eighteenth-century trade and illustrates how British and Spanish empires, despite their unrelenting rivalry, depend on one another.” It is always important in this field to try to “put a human face” to any type of struggle or conflict that is going on to help try to understand the bigger picture, and I believe this book does that very well by not only telling stories of the South Sea Company agents experiencing the rising tensions first hand, but explaining the fact that Britain and Spain heavily relied on each other in trade in the West Indies, but at the same time, fought for dominant control of the seas and for free and warranted trade rights. It’s interesting also because Spanish Florida relied heavily on trade from the northern British colonies of Georgia, the Carolinas, and even New York (though it was illicit) because St. Augustine could no longer rely on the nearly nonexistent yet promised supplies from the Spanish via Mexico City. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting aspects of this conflict, and this book really helps to delve deeper into that. I would like to end my answer with the last line of this book: “The increase in imperial control enacted by the British and Spanish in the second half of the eighteenth century shifted the opportunities of empire away from those who succumbed to the temptations of trade during earlier iterations of empire.” I think that is one of the most important lessons that can be taken from this conflict. 

AB: Thanks Casey! We look forward to following your career as it continues!

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[1] Casey Hill graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2015 with his BA in Anthropology, focus specifically in historical archaeology. He hopes to one day work with a university, museum and/or a historical site/city as a historical archaeologist. He plans to begin his MA next year in Historical Archaeology (maritime and terrestrial). His is particularly interested in the late 17th century to the mid-18th century. His main area of interest for research is Western Europe, North America, and the Caribbean (particularly during the colonial period) the War of Jenkins' Ear/King George's War/War of the Austrian Succession. He has worked for two years (2015-2017) as a historic interpreter at the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments in St. Augustine Florida.

British Journals: Letters on the Battle of Rocoux, 1746

The Battle of Rocoux, by a contemporary artist 

Dear Reader,

Today, we are looking some letters from British soldiers at the Battle of Rocoux, fought on October 11th, 1746. In the War of Austrian Succession, the British military intervened on the continent against the French, trying to safeguard to the Austrian Netherlands.

Both of these letters were reproduced in a rather unlikely place: the journal of British preacher and early Methodist John Wesley. I usually like to give you a picture of a soldier from the regiment being written from, but that requires you going to another website today. The link will take you to David Morier's painting of the 11th Regiment of Foot (Graham's) who fought alongside our authors for today. Her Majesty the Queen has graciously made these beautiful images available to us via the Royal Collection.

"I have long had a desire to write, but had not an opportunity till we came to our winter quarters. When we came over we thought we should have had brother Haime with us, as formerly; but we were disappointed. We were about three weeks upon our march, and endured a great deal through the heat of the weather, and for want of water. At Villear camp, we lay so near the enemy, and were forced to mount so many guards, that we had hardly any time to ourselves, nor had John Haime time to meet with us. We left this camp in twelve or fourteen days' time, and wherever we marched, we had the French always in our view; only a few days, when we were marching through woods, and over high mountains. Coming back to Maestricht, at some camps we have lain so near the enemy, that their sentries and ours have taken snuff with one another; having then no orders to fire at or hurt each other. But the day we came off we found it otherwise ; for at eleven o'clock the night before, orders came for us to be ready to turn out an hour before day, which was the 30th of September. At day break orders came to our regiment, and Colonel Graham's, to ad vance about a mile and a half toward the French. We were placed in a little park, and Graham's regiment in another, to the right of us.

We lay open to the French ; only we cut down the hedge breast high, and filled it up with loose earth. Thus we waited for the enemy several hours, who came first with their right wing upon the Dutch, that were upon our left. They engaged in our sight, and fired briskly upon each other, cannon and small shot for two hours. Then the Dutch, being overpowered, gave way, and the French advanced upon us, and marched a party over the ditch, on the left of Graham's, and fell in upon them ; notwithstanding our continual firing, both with our small arms and four pieces of cannon. So when the French had got past us, our regiment retreated, or we should have been surrounded. In our retreat we faced about twice, and fired on the enemy, and so came off with little loss ; though they fired after us with large cannon shot ; I believe four-and- twenty pounders"

Another letter picks up the story:

"Ever since the 22nd of July, our army and the French have lain so close, and marched so close together, that we have expected them to come upon us almost every night, and have had, for many nights, strict orders not to take off our accoutrements, but to be ready to turn out at a minute's warning. And almost every day, some of our out guards have had skirmishes with them. On September 29, at night, Prince Charles had intelligence that they designed to fall upon us with all their force. So we had orders to be ready, and at break of day our regiment and Graham's were ordered to march in the front of the army, with two Hessian, two Hanoverian, and a part of the Dutch. We marched a mile forward into little parks and orchards, a village being between us and our army : in this posture we remained about three hours, while their right wing was engaged with the Dutch, the cannon playing every where all this time. But we were all endued with strength and courage from God, so that the fear of death was taken away from us. And when the French came upon us, and overpowered us, we were troubled at our regiment's giving way, and would have stood our ground, and called to the rest of the regiment, to stop and face the enemy, but to no purpose. In the retreat we were broke ; yet after we had retreated about a mile, we rallied twice and fired again. When we came where we thought the army was, they were all gone. So we marched good part of the night ; and the next day, about four o'clock, we came to this camp. We left our brother Mark Bend in the field ; whether he be alive or dead we cannot tell ; but the last of our brothers that spoke to him, after he was wounded, found him quite resigned to the will of God.We that he has spared a little longer, desire you to return thanks to God for all his mercies to us."

Both of these letters described the Battle of Roucoux, a rather heavy defeat for the English forces. The writers were both part of a growing Methodist movement within the British army, and gave reports on their experiences to John Wesley.

France in the Kabinettskriege Period

Map of France 1675-1726

Dear Reader,

Throughout the Kabinettskriege period, France was the largest single state in western Europe. The French had not suffered the same type of economic and demographic drain from the Thirty Years' War as the German states. In addition, by virtue of the unified nature of the French state, it could afford to raise much larger armies than the smaller, dis-unified states of Germany. Also, as a result of the nature of Absolutism in France, afford to maintain a much larger standing army in peacetime than the English, making mobilization for war much quicker. This has led scholars to refer to France, in the early modern period, as, "The eight hundred pound gorilla of Europe." Why then, in the course of the Kabinettskriege period, did the French lose much of their empire overseas, and not win ground in Europe?

The French Victory at Ticonderoga-1758

Explanation One: The French haven't the Nature for War. 

To this day, in English and American circles, the French are accused of cowardice, effeminacy, and laziness. A common joke is that the French "salute" is raising your hands in surrender. In Last of the Mohicans, there is a scene where a British general expresses these exact views. It should not come to as a surprise to anyone that this is completely anachronistic. During the Kabinettskriege era, the French had an excellent military-one that often terrified their opponents.

During the early part of the Kabinettskriege period, the French military under Louis XVI threatened to destroy the balance of power in Europe. Some of the largest battles of the Kabinettskriege period occurred during the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of Spanish Succession. (See a timeline of the period here.)

While the English choose to focus on this period of history as a time when John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was winning his spectacular victories against the French, the truth is that both sides achieved victories, which is one of the reasons why the war dragged on for almost fifteen years.  During this period, the French were repeatedly able to raise large, well trained armies, which required large alliances of minor powers to stop.

In the middle of the Kabinettskriege period, the French were able to defeat the British again and again during the War of Austrian Succession. British histories of this period choose to focus on the successes in North America, the success against the Jacobite rebellion, or indecisive win at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. The truth is that the French won three out of the four major field battles of this war: Fontenoy, Rocoux, and Lauffeld. In the absence of a large force of Austrians to protect the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium,) the French turned battlefield success into strategic gains time and time again. At the end of the war, the French were forced to give back these conquests to have their own overseas losses returned to them.

Finally, as we have already seen repeatedly on this blog, the French were able to defeat the British in the global Eight Years' War which surrounded the American War of Independence. Thus, we have clear evidence of French capability in the early, middle and late Kabinettskriege era.

Having thoroughly disproved the notion that the French soldiers or armies were somehow inferior, we must move on to-

English Cannons at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) 

Explanation Two: The French had different objectives during the Kabinettskriege era

This idea indicates that the French somehow valued their overseas colonies less than the British during the course of the eighteenth century. Sadly, this idea is also not true.

Unlike the British, the French did not benefit from being unconnected to continental Europe. They had no defensive moat to complicate invasions. The only moat they had was the French army. While the French repeatedly tried to invade Britain throughout the course of the Kabinettskriege era, they also had to defend French borders from British amphibious raids, and the armies of continental Europe-something that the British histories of the Kabinettskriege era spend little time discussing. While the French usually had some sort of ally for their European wars, their allies rarely gave them hard physical support, in the way that the British and Western German states supported each-other throughout the Kabinettskriege era. The British population of North America also greatly outweighed the French speaking population, which allowed the British to raise numerous militia type forces to assist in combating the French. While the French also raised militias, they were very small compared to the British militias.

Why didn't the French send more support to America, and carve out an overseas empire during the eighteenth century? I can only answer that they sure didn't do it for lack of trying. They simply had their hands full.  That leads us to:

Victor-Francois, Duc de Broglie

Explanation 3: Poor Higher Command

While the French often had excellent commanders, such as the gentleman above, they also suffered from a number of poor commanders, particularly in the European theater of Seven Years' War. Since these often mediocre generals commanded, as we have seen above, a large portion of the French military, their poor decisions had an out of proportion effect. To a lesser extent, they also suffered from "victors' disease" from the War of Austrian Succession. They had successfully defeated the British on the continent during the last three battles of the War of Austrian Succession, so there was no reason to improve the army in the intervening years before the Seven Years' War. This, combined with continental obligations, caused the French to lose their overseas empire in Canada during the Seven Years' War, which was the only truly decisive conflict of the Kabinettskriege era.

Sorry-this one ran WAYYY long. I'm thinking about doing posts like this (but shorter) for each of the main European nations in the Kabinettskriege era. Do you like this plan? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

Alex Burns



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