Details

Subjects:

Hessian mercenaries -- Diaries.
Trenton, Battle of, Trenton, N.J., 1776.
History.
Hessian mercenaries.
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Participation, German.
United States.
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Personal narratives, German.

Form/Genre:

Diaries.
Maps (documents)
Diagrams.
Codices.
Manuscripts, German.
Manuscripts, European.
Personal narratives -- German.
Personal narratives.

Language:

In German, with one document in French (f. 129-131).

Summary:

Handwritten copy, dated 12 January 1855 (f. 48v), of a diary (Tagebuch) kept by Andreas Wiederholdt (Wiederhold) from 7 October 1776 to 7 December 1780, bound together with copies of and excerpts from other documents (dated 1776 to 1784), related to the participation in the American Revolution of German soldiers from what was then the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. Also included are 2 original items dating from 1776 and 1777. The documents are of various sizes, and all leaves have been mounted on guards. Wiederholdt was a lieutenant in the Hessian regiment under Johann Gottlieb Rall at the time of writing of the diary, and later a captain in the regiment under Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen; he died in Kassel around 1805 (f. 48v). The copy of his diary includes copies of 18 color illustrations, including 5 drawings of ships, 11 maps related to military operations, and 2 different versions of a chart of flag signals. A note written in a different hand at the end of the Wiederholdt diary (f. 48v) identifies the writer of the diary and recounts the history of ownership of the original diary, which was last known to be in the possession of Wiederholdt's grandson, who emigrated to America in 1880, after which his whereabouts and that of the diary were unknown. Of the accompanying copies, most appear to be in the same hand as the copy of the Wiederholdt diary, but a few miscellaneous items (f. 63, 64, 80), as well as the diary of Caspar Recknagel (f. 82-103) might be in different hands. The Recknagel diary pertains to the Battle of Rhode Island in the summer of 1778; and to the departure of Hessian troops from New York to Kassel in fall 1783 to spring 1784. It includes 1 colored diagram across a 2-page spread (f. 89v-90r). The remaining copies include a diary fragment by Colonel (Obersten) Carl Emil Kurt von Donop (f. 104-115), which pertains to the Battle of Trenton in December 1776, and excerpts from letters of other officers in the Hessian regiments, including Adjutant Henel, Lieutenant Henkelmann, Sergeant Flachshaar and Colonel (Hauptmann) Johann Caspar Ries, dating from April 1776 to February 1779 (f. 49r-57v). Some copies are from official documents concerning the Hessian participation, including testimony and other documents from the Hessian court of inquiry on the Battle of Trenton held in Philadelphia in April to May 1778 (Aus den Untersuchungsacten über die Affäre bei Trenton; f. 65-79), and excerpts from the ultimate finding of the court issued in April 1782 (f. 80r). Of the 2 original documents, one is a diary of an unidentified German soldier dated 18 May to 29 June 1776 (f. 116-125), written on board ship leaving from the English channel (Dover, Calais; f. 116r); it mentions Lieutenants Wiederhold and Briede (f. 116v). The other is the end fragment of a letter from Henkelmann, dated from Fort Knyphausen (Fort Washington), New York, in January 1777 (f. 129r-131v). Also included is a bibliography of German-published books and articles about the American Revolution, dating from 1785 to 1839, presumably compiled by the primary copyist (f. 62v). At the back of the volume is a clipping of an article of 1885 from a newspaper in Kassel (pasted in, f. 132-134), which, in a Hessian patriotic spirit, criticizes and discounts the popular view, revived in the plot of a newly published novel, that Hessian soldiers were sold into service during the American wars. Bound into the volume at the front is a cover note (addressed to Herrn Klaunig; f. i), probably by a previous owner, listing the major items in a different order from their order in the bound volume.

Contents:

1. f. 1r-48v: Tagebuch [7 October 1776 to 7 December 1780] / Andreas Wiederholdt.
2. f. 49r-51v: [Excerpts from letters, 1 April 1776 to 8 January 1779] / Henel.
3. f. 51v-55v: [Excerpts from letters, 18 January 1777 to 20 August 1778, and from diary, 7 October 1778 to 5 February 1779] / Henkelmann.
4. f. 56r: [Excerpt from letter, 14 September 1778] / Flachshaar.
5. f. 56v-57v: [Excerpts from letter, 19 November 1776] / Johann Caspar Ries
6. f. 57v-58r: Ordre, den 17 November 1776 [directive expressing satisfaction with the performance of the Hessian troops the previous day] / William Howe, Viscount Howe.
7. f. 58r: [Communication to Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen praising the performance of the Hessian troops the previous day, 17 November 1776] / Leopold Philipp von Heister.
8. f. 60r-61r: Bericht des Obersten Block am Bord des Speedwell vor Anker bei Staten Island, 8 August 1776 / [Justus Henrich] Block.
9. f. 61r: Antwort [auf Justus Henrich Block], Weissenstein, 24 Oktober 1776 / Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.
10. f. 61r-v: [Orders of battle listing Hessian divisions sent to America on 3 February 1776, 29 November 1776, and 23 October 1777].
11. f. 62r: Liste derer Todten, Blessierten und Vermissten, bei der Attaque des Forts Washington den 16. November 1776 / Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen.
12. f. 62v: Literatur zum nordamerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskriege [books and articles published in Germany dated 1785 to 1839].
13. f. 63: Liste der seit dem Abmarsch der hessischen Trouppen 1776 nach America bis Ende desselben Jahrs an Krankheit gestorbenen, todtgeschossenen und blessirten Officiers.
14. f. 64: [List of regiments under Major Generals Hachenberg, Knoblauch, and Bischhaussen].
15. f. 65r-80r: [Excerpts from documents related to the Hessian court of inquiry on the Battle of Trenton, most dated Philadelphia, April-May 1778; and from the finding of the court, Kassel, April 1782] / Francis Scheffer, Johann Jost Matthaeus, Jacob Baum, Pauli, Biel, Reinhard Jakob Martin.
16. f. 82r-103v: Tagebuch [23 July to 29 August 1778; and 3 November 1783 to 22 May 1784] / Caspar Recknagel.
17. f. 104r-115v: [Fragment of a diary, 10 to 31 December 1776] / Carl Emil Kurt von Donop.
18. f. 116r-125v: [Fragment of original diary of an unidentified German soldier, 18 May to 29 June 1776].
19. f. 126r-127v: [Fragment of original letter, Fort Knyphausen, 1 and 15 January 1777] / Henkelmann.
20. f. 128r-v: Extract Berichts vom Herrn Kriegs-Rath Lorentz, New York, 4 September 1777.
21. f. 129r-131v: [Fragment of a letter in French about the Hessian troops, probably addressed to Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, 9 December 1779].
22. f. 132-134: [Newspaper clipping from Casseler Tageblatt und Anzeiger, 27 September 1885].

Notes:

Various contemporary pagination; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto: i, 1-134. Two gatherings, f. 82-91 and f. 92-103, respectively, comprising the Item Tagebuch von Caspar Recknagel, are laid in.
Of the 18 colored illustrations in the Wiederholdt diary, 10 are bound in (f. 2, 10, 27, 29, 33, 39, 40, 41, 45, and 46) and 8 have been removed and are housed in the same box with the bound volume (originally located following f. 2, 3, 6,18, 20, 25, 27, and 45).

Penn Provenance:

Gift of J. G. Rosengarten, 1924.

Publications about:

Learned, Marion Dexter, and C. C. Grosse. Tagebuch des Capt. Wiederholdt. Americana Germanica, vol. 4, no. 1 (1902), p. 1-93. Transcription of the Wiederholdt diary in its entirety, and English translations of some of the extracts from letters of Lieutenant Henkelmann.
Burgoyne, Bruce E. "The diary of Caspar Recknagel : translated from a German manuscript in the University of Pennsylvania Archives" (unpublished manuscript); a typescript copy is included in the box with Ms. Coll. 773. According to Burgoyne in his introduction, the authenticity of this diary is open to question.

Contributor:

Rosengarten, J. G. (Joseph George), 1835-1921, former owner.

Contains:

Wiederholdt, Andreas, 1752?-
Ries, Johann Caspar.
Howe, William Howe, Viscount, 1729-1814.
Heister, Leopold Philipp von, 1716-1777.
Block, Justus Henrich.
Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, 1720-1785.
Knyphausen, Wilhelm, Baron von
Scheffer, Francis.
Matthaeus, Johann Jost.
Baum, Jacob.
Recknagel, Caspar.
Donop, Carl Emil Curt von.

OCLC:

501324082