Many new camp followers and soldiers alike didn't really understand why the "veteran" reenactors were telling them why they were so lucky. The Battle of Monmouth is infamous for hot weather, humidity and sun-- all which are a reenactor's worst friend. The heat during previous events have caused heat exhaustion, sickness, and even some of the horses to collapse during battle. Reenactors don't joke around when it is a hot Monmouth. Commanders tripple check that everyone has a full canteen, and extra bottles of water hidden away.
So, you can bet that everyone was thankful and pleasantly surprised that the hottest temperature lingered around a still cool 80s with some wind and partly cloudiness.
The Hessians, however, never faired well when it came to the hot weather. Though the Hessians were nearly afraid and both fascinated by many things on their journey to America, the oppressive heat was something that some soldiers could not over come.
Not only does this one little factoid help us understand how unacclimated the Hessians were to the weather here. Many Hessian diaries make notes of some of the first deaths in America. Johann Döhla's diary briefly mentions soldiers dying during or after some of their first marches. Another diary of the Grenadier Battalion von Minnigerode mentioned that the Anspach regiments had said that they had displayed their inability to march. When the English and Hessians were evacuating Philadelphia, meny men were killed by sunstroke. Alongside the heat, the mosquitos in New Jersey had made some of the soldier's faces swell pass the point of recognition. On June 25th, nearly a third of Hessians had been overcome by the heat, and just lay by the roadside. There were many deserters that day.
Luckily reenactments are another story. The Hessians now have good ways.
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