My Loyalist Ancestors - The Hessian soldier, Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

An exhibit on the German soldiersSaratoga National Historical Park visitor centerphotographed 16 August 2026This is the first blog post I've written this year about a Loyalist ancestor, for the 250th anniversary of the United States. Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman was born at Hammersleben, Magdeburg, about 1751 and came to North America with Baron de Riedesel's Brunswick Regiment in 1776. Magdeburg is on the Elbe river in Germany, in Saxony-Anhalt. He was my fourth great grandfather, and would have been about 25 years old in 1776.In January 1776 King George of England contracted with the Duke of Brunswick to send troops to America. These soldiers left Brunswick in February under the newly promoted Major General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel. Sixteen ships traveled across the North Atlantic in six weeks, reaching Quebec City in June. The Baron de Riedesel's wife and children followed, and arrived in July. They were part of a British plan under General Burgoyne to cut off New England from the…