<P> The Studebaker brothers, forefathers of the wagon and automobile makers, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1736 from the famous blade town of Solingen . With their skills, they made wagons that carried the frontiersmen westward; their cannons provided the Union Army with artillery in the American Civil War, and their automobile company became one of the largest in America, although never eclipsing the "Big Three", and was a factor in the war effort and in the industrial foundations of the Army . </P> <P> From names in the 1790 U.S. census, historians estimate Germans constituted nearly 9% of the white population in the United States . </P> <P> The King of Great Britain, whose King George III was also the Elector of Hanover in Germany, hired 18,000 Hessians (career soldiers from small German states) to support British forces . Many were captured; they remained as prisoners during the war but some stayed and became U.S. citizens . German Americans served on both sides of the American Revolution . The religious minorities were neutral . The Lutherans were split . In New York, many were neutral or supported the Loyalist cause . In Pennsylvania most were on the patriot side . The Muhlenberg family, led by Rev. Henry Muhlenberg was especially influential on the Patriot side . His son Peter Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman in Virginia became a major general and later a Congressman . </P> <P> The brief Fries's Rebellion was an anti-tax movement among Germans in Pennsylvania in 1799 - 1800 . </P>

Where did most german immigrants settled in the us