A Visit to Saratoga National Historical Park

 

The Visitor Center for Saratoga National Historic Park

Last month we wandered over to New York state to visit Fort Ticonderoga and the Saratoga National Historic Park.  I had ancestors fight in both locations in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.  In preparation of the trip I had already researched these ancestors, and I had placed queries with the historians at both parks.  See below for how to contact the historican at Saratoga.

During the American Revolution, in 1777, the British forces tried to separate New England from the southern colonies with a series of attacks in the Champlain and Hudson River Valleys. British, Canadian and German armies met up with the American forces at Saratoga.  There were two important battles here and a three day seige.  Finally British General John Burgoyne was forced to surrender.  It was a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War, and it was the first ever surrender of the British Army.  The Battles of Saratoga changed the world forever. 

You can begin your visit at the Visitor Center, where I met up with the historian who I had communicated with earlier about my ancestors.  One fought on the American side, and the other was a Hessian soldier (a doctor and surgeon)  the British side. He recommended we take the park map, which led to a ten mile driving audio tour you can follow with an app.  We also watched an orientation film at the Visitor Center, and toured the museum.  

The email I received from the Saratoga National Historical Park Ranger and Military Historian:  "Your ancestor was the Compagnie Feldscher - Company Surgeon - of Captain Julius von Poellnitz's company of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment von Riedesel. As you say, he served in Burgoyne army in the Northern Campaign of 1777. Given the regiment he served in, he probably cared for the wounded in the aftermath of the Battle of Hubbardton (fought July 7, 1777) and the Battle of Freeman's Farm (fought September 19, 1777)."  Of course, sitting with him and watching him mark up my park map with all the places where my Hessian soldier was quartered, was injured, and where he served in the British hospital and prisoner of war camp was a highlight of the trip.  If your ancestors or relatives were at Saratoga, it is well worth the trip! 

The audio tour can take up to three or four or more hours, especially if you get out at every stop, walk the trails, take photos, and read all the signage and monuments.  There are ten stops on the audio tour inside the National Park. The tour leaves the park and ends a few miles north at Schuylerville, where the surrender site and the Saratoga Monument are located near Victory Woods.  The park is dog friendly, there are picnic sites and restrooms along the way, and also horse and bike trails. There is also a Wilkinson National Recreation Trail through parts of the battlefields and other natural areas. 

A display about the Hessian soldiers who fought at the Battles of Saratoga

Each stop on the audio tour had a three dimensional map and information

The Neilson House, headquarters for Benedict Arnold and Enoch Poor's brigade

A monument to the unknown soldiers at Saratoga Battlefield

A monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish officer and military architect at Saratoga 

The famous "Boot Monument" 

Benedict Arnold is not named on this monument at all

Erected 1887 by

JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER

Bev: Maj. Gen: SNY

2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n

In memory of 

the "most brilliant soldier" of the 

Continental Army

who was desperately wounded

on this spot by the sally port of

BURGOYNES GREAT (WESTERN) REDOUBT

7th October 1777

winning for his countrymen

the decisive battle of the American Revolution

and for himself the rank of

Major General

A view of the Hudson River Valley from Bemis Heights, Saratoga National Historical Park

We enjoyed our stay in Saratoga and also saw the Saratoga Spa State Park and toured the Automobile museum.  We ate dinner at the lovely Old Bryan Inn, built in 1773 and probably hosted some of the characters that made the nearby battles so famous.  There are also the historic Saratoga Springs Racetrack and the nearby mineral springs and spas to visit.  

Inside the Old Bryan Inn

For the truly curious:

The official Saratoga National Historical Park website:   https://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm  

Queries to the historian at Saratoga NHP:  https://www.nps.gov/sara/contacts.htm    

Johann Daniel Bollman, my Hessian ancestor: 

The Boot Monument (Benedict Arnold) at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Monument

The Olde Bryan Inn:  https://www.oldebryaninn.com/   

Saratoga Spa State Park:    https://parks.ny.gov/visit/state-parks/saratoga-spa-state-park   

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo "A Visit to Saratoga National Historic Park", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 22, 2016, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-visit-to-saratoga-national-historical.html: accessed [access date]). 

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

An exhibit on the German soldiers

Saratoga National Historical Park visitor center

photographed 16 August 2026

This 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 other southern colonies. The first big battle of this campaign was at Bennington, Vermont, in August, and was soon followed by the battles at Saratoga, New York in October. The British forces lost both battles, and surrendered at Saratoga on 17 October 1777.  The defeated army was marched to Cambridge (outside of Boston, Massachusetts), including the de Riedesel family and all the captured prisoners of war - German and English.

Johann Daniel Bollman was the compagnie feldscher (company surgeon) under Captain Julius Poellnitz's company of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment under Major General Von Riedesel.  This was all under Burgoyne's army in the Northern Campaign of 1777.  He was part of the Battles of Saratoga, including the Battle of Freeman's Farm fought on 19 September 1777. 

Dr. Johann Bollman was taken prisoner at Saratoga when he was wounded. As a prisoner he aided wounded British soldiers, and was part of the field hospital set up along banks of the Hudson River below the battlefields.  He was part of the march to Cambridge, and was included in the prisoner exchange when some British troops were sent to Halifax.  Most of the other prisoners, known as the Convention Army, were marched south to Virginia.  Under the terms of the "Convention of Saratoga" it was agreed by truce that the troops would be sent back to Europe and not fight again in the conflict. It is estimated that about 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers were captured at Saratoga (British, German, Canadian and other loyalists).  In Cambridge about 1,300 escaped. Another 600 men escaped during the march to Charlottesville, Virginia later in 1779. They were held there for about four years. 

We know that Dr. Bollman must have been part of the earlier prisoner exchange to Halifax prior to 1779, since he petitioned for compensation for providing medical services in Nova Scotia for the period of 25 November 1779 to 10 March 1780.  He married, Jane Bremner, the widow of German settler Philip Augustus Knaut, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on 14 February 1782.  

The Baron Von Riedesel's wife, Frederika Charlotte, kept a journal of her experiences in America. Her writing includes witnessing the Battle of Freeman's Farm on 19 September 1777 in Saratoga.  She describes the battle, and caring for the wounded in the aftermath.  She witnessed the surrender at Schuylerville on 17 October, and traveled with the defeated army to Boston with her children.  She and her family, including the children, were prisoners for four years as part of the Convention Army.  Her letters and journal were pubished in a book in 1800.  Although she never names Dr. Bollman, he must have worked with the Baroness, and seen the same horrific wounds and sights.  It is a valuable book for understanding the battle and the prisoners of war. 

Later in Nova Scotia, Dr. Bollman became active in politics and served as a member of the House of Assembly representing Lunenburg Township from 1793 to 1809.  He was appointed one of the first Health Officers in Nova Scotia on 14 May 1799.  In the Nova Scotia Archives there is another petition of John Bolman to the House of Assembly requesting reimbursement for vaccinating Mi'kmaq in Mahone Bay for small pox in 1817. 

Dr. Bollman also appeared before the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1793.  He was running for office agains Lewis Morris Wilkins. After Dr. Bollman's election was announced, Wilkins and some followers trashed Dr. Bollman's house and apothecary shop in Lunenburg. They destroyed 150 window panes as well as doors and furniture. In the medicine shop over 100 bottles were destroyed. Bollman's lawyer wrote "His said dwelling house was rendered uninhabitable, his family and himself obliged to fly from the same and his business and trade as a Druggist and Apothecary was totaly prevented, stopeped and put to an end so that the said John Bolman being obliged to ship up his said shop the windows thereof and the Drugs and Medicines as aforesaid and divers other wrongs and outrages then and there committed against the peace of our Lord." According to Dr. Bollman, Wilkins called him "that Hessian Bugger".  (see the book Surgeons, Smallpox and the Poor below) 

Johann Daniel Bollman and his wife, Jane, had eleven children born in Lunenburg:

1. Jane, born 1 Jan 1764, married John Pernette

2. John, born 1785, died 16 May 1811 at the Battle of Albuera in Spain

3. Henry, born 1 August 1787, married to Mary (Unknown)

4. Mary, born 25 Noember 1788, died 9 February 1865 in New Dublin, Nova Scotia (unmarried?)

5. Ann, born 22 December 1790, died 21 March 1872 (unmarried?) 

6. Robert, born 1 April 1793, died 8 August 1817 drowned at sea

7. James Bethel, born 26 May 1795, died before 1833

8. Caroline, born 16 May 1797, married Roger Aitkan

9. Edward Bremner, born 23 October 1799, married Sarah Creighton

10. Bremner Frederick (my 3rd great grandfather), born 25 February 1802, married Sarah Elizabeth Lennox and had three children. I descend from from their daughter, Ann Margaret Bollman (1835 - 1923) who married Professor Caleb Rand Bill of Nictaux, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and they removed to Salem, Massachusetts (my great, great grandparents). 

11. Charles Morris, born 23 December 1805, married Clara Collins

In the records of the Anglican church in Lunenburg you can find the deaths of Johann Bollman and his wife.  He died on 17 September 1833 and she preceded him on 6 March 1829.  There doesn't seem to be a tombstone for either one of them in the local cemeteries. He served as a doctor in Lunenburg for 54 years. 

For the truly curious:

"Surname Saturday ~ BOLLMAN, my Hessian Ancestor", posted 1 March 2014:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html    

"The Hessian soldier who stayed in the New World", posted 19 November 2009:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-mayflowers-part-4.html   

Frederika Charlotte Riedesel,  Letters and Journals relating to the War of the American Revolution, and the Capture of the German Troops at Saratoga, by Mrs. General Riedesel. Translated by  William L. Stone, published at Albany 1867.  Available to read and download at Google Books online. 

The Hessians of Nova Scotia, 1994, compiled by Johannes Helmut Merz.  

The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz, 1965, University of Michigan, see page 111 for references to Dr. Johann Bollman. 

Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799,  By Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pages 160- 161 for references to Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman. 

A Directory of the Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758 - 1958, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1958. 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Loyalist Ancestors - The Hessian soldier, Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 1, 2016, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-loyalist-ancestors-hessian-soldier.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ BOLLMAN, my Hessian Ancestor

BOLLMAN

Johann Daniel Bollman was born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany.  I do not know his parentage, and I have not found his exact date of birth.  In 1776 he arrived in North America with Baron de Riesdesel’s Brunswick Regiment of Hessian soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary War.  They left Germany in February and arrived in Portsmouth, England on 18 March 1776.  It took six weeks to cross the Atlantic and landed in Quebec. 

This regiment was brought to Canada to save it from the Revolutionary War by cutting off New England from southern colonies and driving them to surrender.  They were at the Battle of Bennington in August of 1777 where 200 Hessians were killed and 700 were captured.  In September they lost the Battle of Saratoga, and my ancestor, Johann Daniel Bollman, was captured.  Luckily, he was a valuable hostage, since he was an officer and the surgeon of his regiment.  He was exchanged quickly, and the rest of the prisoners of war were marched to Massachusetts.

The prisoners who were exchanged were sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I have found Dr. Bollman’s petition asking for compensation for providing medical services to the prisoners between 25 November 1779 and 10 March 1780.   He eventually settled in Lunenburg, a mostly German settlement not far from Halifax, where he lived for 54 years.  He married Jane Bremner, widow of settler Philip Knaut.

Dr. Bollman was active in politics and represented Lunenburg in the House of Assembly from 1783 to 1809.  He was appointed a health officer on 14 May 1799.  Besides his civic duty records, I also found many mentions of him in The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz.  Apparently he had a lawsuit against another German doctor in town, Joseph Falt and it was recorded in this diary.  Adolphus Gaetz was a Lunenburg businessman who wrote a diary form 1855 – 1873, and this manuscript is in the Lunenburg County documents of the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm) 

There was another incident in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia involving Lewis Morris Wilkins.  Dr. Bollman ran against Wilkins in the provincial elections of 1793 and won.  Wilkins and for other residents vandalized his house and apothecary shop breaking 150 window panes, furniture, doors and over 100 medicine bottles.  Bollman’s lawyer wrote “His said dwelling house was rendered uninhabitable, his family and himself being obliged to fly from the same and his business and trade as a Druggist and Apothecary was totally prevented, stopped and put to an end so that the said John Bolman beign obliged to shut up his said shop the windows thereof and the Drugs and Medicines as aforesaid and divers other wrongs and outrages then and there committed against the peace of our Lord. “ [Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799,  By Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pages 160- 161.]

Another excerpt from Johnny Bluenose at the Polls, by Brian Cuthbertson, Formac Publishing, Halifax, 1994, page 166:

"Among the few Loyalists who came to Lunenburg was the former surgeon in General de Riesdesal's Hessian Regiment.  A native of Mageburg in Germany, John Bolman married the widow of Phillip Knaut shortly after arriving in the township where he soon rose to social prominence.  Another Loyalist was Lewis Morris Wilkins, the son of Isaac and the Shelburne Loyalist elected to the Assembly in 1785. Before the American War Lewis had gone to King's College (later Columbia University) in New York.  He had likely studied law with his uncle in Shelburne before deciding to practise his profession in Lunenburg. It was a wise decision because there was not to be another lawyer in Lunenburg for many years; he was able to develop an extensive practice not only there, but also increasingly in Halifax and Pictou.  Wollenhaupt declined to reoffer. Both Wilkins and Bolman seized the opportunity to run for the single township seat. Bolman was nearly twice the age of the youthful Wilkins and this was likely in his favour, though Bolman did not win by a large margin, the vote being 164 to 123."

Dr. Bollman had eleven children.  I descend from his second youngest son, Bremner Frederick Bollman, born in 1802.  I found records for these families in the Anglican and Presbyterian church records in Lunenburg.  One of Dr. Bollman’s sons was named “Henry”, and there was another Hessian soldier named Henrich Bollman who settled in Trois Rivieres, Quebec but I do not know if they were kin.  Another son, John, b. 1785, was killed in the Battle of Albuera in Spain in 1811. 

For researching this family, the Lunenburg town records and the books mentioned above were invaluable.  For more information on the Hessian soldiers and Baron de Risedesel's Brunswick regiment was found in the journals of the Johannes Schwalb Society.  http://www.jsha.org/ 

My BOLLMAN genealogy:

Generation 1: Johann Daniel Bollman, born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany and died 17 September 1833 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada;  married on 14 February 1782 in Lunenburg to Jane Bremner, the daughter of Robert Bremner and Margaret Stewart, Scots immigrants to Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 2:  Bremner Frederick Bollman born 25 February 1802 in Lunenburg, died 15 December 1838 in Lunenburg; married Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, daughter of John Lennox and Ann Margaretha Schupp.  She was born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg.  Three children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaret Bollman, born 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg, died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg to Caleb Rand Bill, son of Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and Isabella Lyons.  He was born 30 May 1833 in Nictaux, Nova Scotia and died 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts.  Nine children.

Generation 4: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 5: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Other Mayflowers, Voyage 4

The Hessian Soldier who stayed in the New World


Part four in my Thanksgiving series about ancestors who DIDN’T arrive in the New World on the Mayflower. My 4x great grandfather Johann Daniel Bollman was a surgeon from Hammersleben in Saxony, Germany. He came to North America with Baron de Riedesel’s Brunswick Regiment of Hessian Soldiers in 1776. The Duke of Brunswick had contracted with England to send 3,964 foot soldiers and cavalry to America. They arrived in Quebec and their military objective was to cut off New England from the other colonies by driving troops down to Albany. They lost the battle at Bennington, Vermont when 200 Germans were killed and another 700 were captured. Again, at Saratoga, the Americans trapped them and took the Germans as prisoners of war for the duration.

Fortunately, as an officer and a surgeon, Johann Daniel Bollman was a valuable prisoner. He was also wounded at Saratoga, and while being held he tended to the other sick and wounded. He was exchanged as a prisoner of war, and sent to Halifax. Eventually he settled as a permanent resident of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the home of many German speaking settlers.

Dr. Bollman was not only a physician, he also became active in politics and served as a member of the House of Assembly representing Lunenburg Township between 1793 to 1809. In 1782 he married Jane Bremner, daughter of Scots settlers and widow of Phillip Knaut, an original Lunenburg grantee. His granddaughter removed to Massachusetts in the 1870s and joined the family tree in the United States.

Bollman Family Tree:

Generation 1: Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman, born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany, died 17 September 1833 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada; married on 14 February 1782 in Lunenburg to Jane Bremner, daughter of Robert Bremner and Margaret Stewart, born about 1764 and died on 6 March 1829 in Lunenburg. Eleven children including two sons who were surgeons…

Generation 2: Dr. Bremner Frederick Bollman, born 25 February 1802 in Lunenburg, died on 15 December 1838 in Lunenburg; married to Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, daughter of John Lennox and Ann Margaretha Schupp, born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg. Three children…

Generation 3: Ann Margaret Bollman, born 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg and died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg to Caleb Rand Bill, son of the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and Isabella Lyons. He was born on 30 May 1833 in Billtown, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, and died on 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts. See my blog posting on October 4, 2009 “Bill Family Reunion” for a continuation of this lineage.

Sources:

“The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz” describes life in early Lunenburg, Nova Scotia between 1855 and 1873. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/

“Johnny Bluenose at the Polls” by Brian Cuthbertson, Formac Publishing, Halifax, 1994

“Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799”, by Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal

Johannes Schwalm Historical Association http://www.jsha.org/ website of Hessian Soldiers and their Descendants in the New World

The records of Saint John's Anglican Church, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Other Mayflowers, Voyage 4", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 19, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-mayflowers-part-4.html: accessed [access date]).