Having established that everyone was angry with everybody else, let us pause to ask: Why did foreigners seek to help the American rebellion, and the rebellion seek them? Foreigners came for all kinds of reasons. Some were adventure seekers and the Revolution was the main venue of action around the globe at this moment; others were looking to burnish their military resumes with wartime experience. Some were running from problems in their home countries, while still others were looking to make a little money. Many were looking to settle old scores against the hated British from the Seven Years’ War. The last and smallest portion, unfortunately though probably not surprisingly, were there because they believed in the nobility of the American cause. Not surprisingly, the latter group generally provided the best results.
The major reason the colonial rebels sought the services of foreigners was obvious—the need for specific skills they possessed. First, as explained earlier, the Americans were lacking homegrown talent in certain specific technical disciplines. Second, the American bench was not very deep. It was somewhat short on leadership, experience, and tactical expertise. Third, Washington himself desired an army that would be trained to fight like and to take on a European force, a responsibility ultimately addressed by Prussian Baron von Steuben.
There was a certain hypocrisy associated with this approach. One of the “long train of abuses and usurpations” by King George III enumerated in the Declaration of Independence is the following: “He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.”[18] Yet the American side made plentiful use of foreign soldiers throughout the Revolution. According to historian Eric Spall, “We explained our way out by emphasizing American Revolutionary leaders simply cloaked their mercenaries in the guise of the ‘disinterested and heroic’ volunteer. By portraying them as volunteers, many Americans chose to depict foreigners in the Continental Army as men who were dedicated to Revolutionary ideals rather than motivated by self-interest.”[19] Washington recognized the contradiction, writing “it is by the zeal & activity of our own People that the cause must be supported, and not by a few hungry adventurers.”[20]
History is littered with the use of mercenaries, whether the users were short-handed or not. It may be difficult to ignore the hypocrisy of the Americans doing likewise, but perhaps harder to envision that the Americans would not have employed qualified outside assistance, as and when needed, to secure victory for the cause. After all, even Washington wanted to fight the British on the standard of European style warfare. The cliché that one country’s mercenary is another’s freedom fighter applied then and still applies even today.