Patrik Palme (13 June 1743 – 7 October 1777) was a mercenary from Finland (then a province of Sweden) who fought for the United States during the American Revolutionary War.
Biography[]
Patrik Palme was born on 13 June 1743 in Turku, Finland, Sweden to a military family. His father Karl was a veteran of the Great Northern War, and Palme decided to follow in his father's footsteps. Enlisting in the Swedish Army, he was a member of the Hakkapeliitta corps of Finnish cavalry, but he could not find a way to advance his career. In 1777, he decided to head to the United States to volunteer his services to the Continental Congress, and he was promoted to Captain of a group of seven dragoons and one falconet cannon. Palme was sent to Saratoga (near Blacktown, New York) at the head of this unit in October 1777, and he defended the new settlement of Blacktown from the redcoats before marching north to meet up with Captain Nathaniel Black's forces. Palme would be killed while fighting against the Hessians and John Burgoyne's supply troops during the fighting for Saratoga, and his death was mourned by fellow military adventurers in the colonial cause.