Frederika Charlotte Riedesel

Charlotte was born on 11 July 1746 in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel. In the histories sponsored by the Riedesel family, she is referred to as Charlotte. It was common for Germans at the time to be called by one of their middle names. Her father, Valentin von Massow, was a Prussian official, but had been a lieutenant general in the Prussian army. She had travelled with the Prussian army as a child, and learned the hard life of a camp follower. In 1762, Charlotte helped care for Lieutenant Colonel Riedesel, who had been wounded in battle during the Seven Years' War. They were married that same year; Charlotte was sixteen years old. baroness, "full in figure and possessing no small share of beauty." In the following years, the Riedesels had two daughters, Gustava and Frederica, and Charlotte was pregnant with a third, Carolina, in 1776 when Brunswick–Luneburg signed a treaty to support Great Britain in the suppression of the rebellion in their American colonies. Friedrich was appointed commander of Brunswick–Luneburg troops, and he referred to Charlotte as "Mrs. General". "Mrs. General" Riedesel was well received in England in court, but she and her daughters suffered abuse in public, on account of her fashions being mistaken for French. Charlotte awaited her ship to Canada in Bristol, where she is said to have learned the English language and customs within six weeks. General Riedesel insisted she travel with a companion, however, and she could not set sail for Canada until April 1777. ==American War of Independence==

Charlotte arrived in Canada and was reunited with Friedrich in June at Trois-Rivières. She received permission to accompany the army South, on General John Burgoyne's campaign to capture Albany. Her journals reveal her military background, and she was critical of the lack of security at camp. Charlotte and her daughters followed the army in a calash. She was with the army on 19 September and was an eye-witness to the Battle of Freeman's Farm. General Fraser died the next morning, and that afternoon, the house caught fire, and the Riedesel family was forced to evacuate. General Fraser had requested that his body be buried at a redoubt, and Frederika observed the funeral under American cannon fire. After marching north through torrential rains with their equipment mired in mud the Baroness took refuge near Saratoga, present day Schuylerville, in what is now known as the Marshall House, a large wooden structure where yet is preserved the stone cellar where Charlotte sheltered with her small children, women accompanying the army and wounded officers and men. Elsewhere in the house remain beams shattered by American cannon fire and bloodstains in the floor left by "one poor soldier", in the words of the Baroness, whose leg was struck off in the cannonade. Three of eleven cannonballs recorded by Charlotte as having hit the building are displayed. She spent days managing a crowded cellar which became a shelter for women and wounded soldiers as the battle continued. A German soldier described her as an "angel of comfort" who "restored order in the chaos." The heroic and tragic events that took place in the Marshall House are vividly described in Baroness Riedesel's celebrated diary. The Marshall House was placed upon the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Erected in 1770 it is the sole remaining structure in the area predating the Battles of Saratoga. It remains today a private home. Following the British surrender on 17 October, Charlotte and her daughters became the guests of General Philip Schuyler. The Riedesel family traveled with the defeated army to Boston, where they were to sail back to Europe. The terms of surrender were rejected by Congress, however, and the prisoners spent the next four years as the Convention Army. The Convention Army was moved from Boston to Virginia in 1779. Here, General Riedesel collapsed while working in the garden, and Baroness Riedesel spent her time as his nurse. Until he returned to Germany, General Riedesel could not sleep unless Charlotte was with him. in the Americas. In late 1779, the Riedesels were allowed to move to New York City. While residing there in 1780, Charlotte gave birth to their fourth daughter, whom they named America. That same year, a smallpox epidemic broke out, and Charlotte again became the nurse to her household, perhaps even saving the life of her husband, who had asked to die. Finally, in July 1781, the Riedesel family was permitted to leave New York, and travelled to Canada. Here, Charlotte gave birth to a fifth daughter, named Canada, who did not survive. == Family ==

The Riedesels had four more children - nine total - of whom six survived past their first year. After a further campaign in the Netherlands from 1788 to 1793, General Riedesel died in 1800. Charlotte returned to Berlin and published her journals from the war that same year. Her book became an important first-hand account of the Saratoga Campaign. Baroness Riedesel died 29 March 1808 in Berlin. == References ==