s of
prayer.

The religious, sympathetic feelings certainly prevail in the deeply
rooted piety of our (Hessian) people. It was customary on all ships that
as often as the weather and the motion of the vessel permitted it, a
prayer meeting should be held every morning and every evening and a
preaching service on Sundays. Though not obliged to attend, yet one
could regularly see the soldierly religious congregation assembled,
standing with uncovered heads and filled with devotion, drawn thither by
the inner voice of conscience. If the sea were rough then one could hear
the people from their resting places starting up religious hymns.
Communion with God was necessary for the soul; more urgently did the
present remind of eternity, and the very recent past give grounds for
gratitude. The ordinary man had in lieu of other songs learned to sing
his religious hymns at school, and he sang these even during his march
against the enemy. It was not a book of epic poems that accompanied him
on his expeditions, it was a small book of prayer, which even now is a
chief constituent part of the small bookshops of the Hessian
peasant-folk, so precious to him because of the divine power of its
influence, to his mind a pure, old, genuine "Jesus wine." This was the
well known "Habermaennchen," the epic poem and the private chapel of the
warrior as well as of the serving man. And not alone with the exalted
spectacle of divine omnipotence on the furious or rapturous sea--but
even in the camps and quarters the masses of soldiers did not neglect
public worship any more than they neglected a simple military duty. So
with the ancient fear of God of the patriarchs in their hearts the
Hessian people landed on the soil of America.

The dispersion of the fleet had obliged a halt of three days, during
which time the frigates sailed in all directions, collecting the ships
by means of cannon shots, yet this was not entirely successful; fifteen
battered ships had opened their sealed orders and had sailed on ahead to
Halifax, the goal designated therein. The contrary winds prevented the
advance of the fleet. It appeared in great grandeur on the 4th of June;
this was the birthday of King George III. In unusual splendor did the
day shine, on all vessels the red English flag was waving, on all war
ships and all frigates, twenty-one cannon shots resounded at noon and
the transport ships were only too glad to follow with their joyful
celebrations. But on the