Burgoyne, Bruce E. The 3rd English-Waldeck Regiment in the American Revolution, (Heritage Books, Inc., 2008).
Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution, (The Kent State University Press, 1999).
Until recently, the writer of this blog had assumed that there were only two members of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment that served on board the frigate South Carolina. Now this writer knows that earlier assumption to be incorrect. Earlier in research, all this blog writer had to work by was the section of Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, pages 135-170, entitled "Appendix: Roster of the Crew and Marines of the South Carolina". Within this extensive roster, there are only two individuals, Carlos Clayne/Clain and Enrique Veber, who are cited as being members of the Waldeck Regiment. Since that point in time, the writer of this blog has acquired the source cited above the Lewis citation, Burgoyne's work, The 3rd Waldeck Regiment. According to Burgoyne's work, The 3rd Waldeck Regiment, page 224, cites twenty-six men listed as deserters from their status as prisoners-of-war in Havana, Cuba. This same list also cites the associated company of each of these men as well as their date of desertion from the prisoner-of-war status. Comparing these two lists, the roster from Lewis's work and the list of deserters from Burgoyne's work, there are several names that appear on both lists, some in slightly altered forms. This post will deal with these names that appear on both lists as they indicate that more than only two men served on board the frigate South Carolina who had earlier served in the 3rd Waldeck Regiment.
The list that follows contains possibly the greatest amount of information any list has contained to date in this post. The first column contains the names of the men as they appear in Burgoyne's work on page 224 who served on board the frigate South Carolina after their desertion of their prisoner-of-war status in Havana, Cuba. Directly below their names in this first column, appear their ages at the time of their enlistment (if known) in the 3rd Waldeck Regiment, the town/village from which they originated (if known), and the company into which they were enlisted. The second column contains their names as they appear in Lewis's work, pages 135-170 with any alternate spellings of these names. If any "position" appears associated with their names in Lewis's work, pages 135-170, those appear in a third column.
These men's names are as follows:
Johannes Risch John Risch -----------
age unknown, Ulm, 5th Company
Henrich Zimmerman Hendrick Timmerman -------------
20 years old, Pyrmont, 5th Company
Friedrich Rodewald Frederick Rodeswald, Sailor
17 years old, Pyrmont, 5th Company Rodenwaldt
Johannes Meuscke John Menscke -------------
22 years old, Wildungen, 3rd Company
Johannes Goeberl (Goebel, Jr.) John Goebel Sailor
17 years old, Willingen, 3rd Company
Johann Georg Schimmel George Shimmel -------------
17 years old, Heuchelheim, 5th Company
Christian Figge Christian Felgge Sailor
20 years old, Elleringhausen, 3rd Company
Phillip Duesse Ralph Disse --------------
17 years old, Boehne, 5th Company
Christoph Roemer Christopher Romer, -------------
27 years old, Hesperingshausen, Rohmer
1st (Grenadier) Company
Johannes Tuitel Jonas Tuttle, Marine?
age unknown, Yuttle
village of origin unknown,
5th Company
(Note: All of these men held the rank of "soldat" or private soldier, except the last two men, Christoph Roemer and Johannes Tuitel. Both of these last two men held the rank of corporal. It is also of note that the only man from the Grenadier Company was Christoph Roemer, the oldest man cited in this list of deserters for the 3rd Waldeck Regiment.)
(Note: There is some confusion with the fifth man cited above - Johannes Goeberl. There is only a single citation for this individual in Burgoyne's work, The 3rd Waldeck Regiment, and it is as a deserter. His name appears on page 224 of the afore mentioned work. There is no indication as to where he was from in the principality of Waldeck - a rather common notation for the other men of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment. But, under the name "Goebel" there are four names cited - Johaannes, Johannes, Johannes, Sr., and Johannes, Jr. A study of these men indicates that the only one ever listed as a deserter was Johannes, Jr. His name - Johannes Goebel, Jr. - appears on a list of deserters believed to have served on board the frigate South Carolina. Thus, based on this evidence, the spelling of the individual's last name has been altered to reflect this man.)
For ease of reference, this writer will add the previous two member's names of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment to this list so that it will be complete:
Karl Kleine Carlos Clayne/Clain recruiter
19 years old, Bringhausen, 3rd Company
Johann Henrich Weber Enrique Veber soldier
age unknown, Wahlen, 1st Company
There are some interesting similarities among these men. All of them whose ages are known, except Cpl. Christoph Roemer, are between the ages of 17-22 years old. It is a feature of Hessian/German regiments at this point in time to recruit young soldiers for service among their forces. Their young age was possibly a factor in their decision to desert their regiment. But, even more interesting, is that all of the men come from three of the companies of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment. There are two who were members of the 1st Company or the Grenadier Company - Christoph Roemer and Johann Henrich Weber. The rest of the men come from either the 3rd or the 5th Companies of the regiment. Yet, the 3rd Company was captured at the fall of Fort Bute and the other British-held posts along the Mississippi River and were being held in December 1779 at New Orleans. The four men cited above as being members of the 3rd Company - Karl Kleine, Christian Figge, Johannes Meuscke, and Johannes Goebel, Jr. - were all transferred to the 5th Company in December 1779 on paper. So, technically all of the personnel of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment who are cited as deserters in the fall of 1782 in Burgoyne's work, The 3rd Waldeck Regiment, page 224, except those of the 1st or Grenadier Company, were members of the 5th Company. The actual citation on page 224 of the above mentioned work cites the original companies of each of these men - the 1st, 3rd and 5th - into which they originally enlisted. As an aside, this blog writer finds it interesting that all of the men who deserted from the 3rd Waldeck Regiment were from either the 1st (Grenadier) Company or the 5th Company. Commodore Gillon may have given access by the Spanish authorities in Havana, Cuba to these men only or there might have been some "extenuating circumstances" that made these men more susceptible to the arguments of Commodore Gillon. In their cases, Commodore Gillon was obviously successful in getting them to change their allegiance.
Also, a few questions arise which might possibly be addressed at this point in time and may well provide for filling in some historical information on each of these men and thus making them a bit more real. The first question deals with when each of these men actually deserted. In Burgoyne's work, The 3rd Waldeck Regiment, page 224, not only do we find these men cited as deserters and the companies with which they are associated but, we also find the dates of their desertion from the 3rd Waldeck Regiment. The spellings of the names are taken from the second column cited above in the original list of these men. These are the names as found in Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina, pages 135-170. These dates of desertion are listed as follows:
March 19 1782 - John Risch and Hendrick Timmerman
March 21, 1782 - Frederick Rodeswald
March 24, 1782 - Ralph Disse, Christian Felgge and John Menscke
March 25, 1782 - John Goebel and George Shimmel
March 31, 1782 - Carlos Clain/Clayne, Christopher Romer, Jonas Tuttle and Enrique Veber
(Note: Christopher Romer, a corporal and member of the 1st or Grenadier Company, has this citation listed after his entry - "...deserted on March 31, but rejoined the regiment as a private by December 1782". None of the others of these men have this same citation after their entries. The interesting point here is that Christopher Romer filed a claim against the state of South Carolina and was awarded a certificate for 96p/10s/1d on September 13, 1783 for his services to the state of South Carolina. This is less than nine months after rejoining the 3rd Waldeck Regiment in December 1782. This leads one to ask whether Christopher Romer may have deserted a second time after rejoining the 3rd Waldeck Regiment in December 1782 and then went on to file his claim against the state of South Carolina?)
The frigate South Carolina arrived in Havana, Cuba harbor on January 12, 1782. She remained there until April 22, 1782 when she sailed for the British-held colony of New Providence and assisted in the capture of this colony. Not only do all of these men's dates of desertion fall within the time frame of the frigate South Carolina being in Havana, Cuba harbor but, they all fall between March 19-31, 1782. This lends credence to the fact that these men did indeed listen to the persuasions of Commodore Gillon, no doubt delivered in their native German, but, also succumbed to these arguments and signed on with the frigate South Carolina.
The next question is how did these men come to survive the war and file their claims against the state of South Carolina? It is completely possible that these men listened to the arguments of Commodore Gillon, signed on with the frigate South Carolina, voyaged on board the frigate to and participated in the assault on New Providence, then sailed with the frigate afterwards to Philadelphia, PA, reaching that port on May 29, 1782. Once in Philadelphia, PA, these men could have asked for a discharge or quite simply deserted the frigate under their own auspices and melted into the local, German-speaking population there in Pennsylvania. The "Voluntaires du Luxembourg", the original marine contingent of the frigate South Carolina, did this en mass. These handful of German-speaking men could have easily blended in with this much larger group, some of whom no doubt spoke German as their native language also. This is pure speculation but, is again quite feasible.
A brief check of the prisoner-of-war rosters of the three Royal Navy men-of-war, HMS Diomede, HMS Quebec, and HMS Astrea, finds none of the above cited men among the captives carried into New York City harbor in late December 1782. But, interestingly, several of them do turn up in the posts dated "04/15/2015", "04/17/2015" and "05/01/2015". Earlier, these men had been cited in these three different posts but, this writer did not identify them as former personnel of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment who had been captured by the Spanish along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast between 1779-1781. The origins of these men had effectively been "overlooked" in the numerous lists of personnel who served in some capacity on board the frigate South Carolina. In all of these men's cases, they survived the war to file claims against the state of South Carolina, seeking compensation for their services during the war which were on board the frigate South Carolina. Again, for ease of reference, these men and their entries will be cited in full here. Yet, unlike the lists cited above, the men have been placed in alphabetical order for ease of reference, again.
The spelling of the names are as they appear in Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, the section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170.
The following men cited were members of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment who served on board the frigate South Carolina. It is of interest to note that all of these men were members of the 5th Company of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment except Christopher Romer who was a member of the 1st (or Grenadier) Company:
Ralph Disse - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, Y350, (Moss, p. 257). He appears in Lewis's work, page 144, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
Christian Felgge - He served as a mariner aboard the frigate South Carolina, C.S., (Moss, p. 307). He appears in Lewis's work, page 147, and has "sailor" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
John Goebel - He served as a mariner aboard the frigate South Carolina, A.A.2920C; X458, (Moss, p. 366). He appears in Lewis's work, page 149, and has "sailor" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
John Menscke - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, Y390, (Moss, p. 674). He appears in Lewis's work, page 157, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
John Risch - He served on board the frigate South Carolina, Y400, (Moss, p. 816). He appears in Lewis's work, page 163, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
Frederick Rodeswald - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, A.A.6542B; C525, (Moss, p. 826). He appears in Lewis's work, page 164, and has his position cited as "sailor" on board the frigate South Carolina. According to Revill, p. 385, he was issued a certificate for 8p/18s/6d on October 6, 1784 for his services to the state of South Carolina.
Christopher Romer - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, Revill, p. 385, (Moss, p. 830). He appears in Lewis's work, page 164, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina. According to Revill, p. 385, he was issued a certificate for 96p/10s/1d on September 13, 1783 for his services to the state of South Carolina.
George Shimmel - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, Y407, (Moss, p. 860). He appears in Lewis's work, page 165, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
Hendrick Timmerman - He served aboard the frigate South Carolina, Y415, (Moss, p. 932). He appears in Lewis's work, page 168, and has "no position" cited as his position on board the frigate South Carolina.
All of the above cited claims against the state of South Carolina were filed by these men or their representatives after the cessation of the American Revolution. These men evidently chose to stay in America rather than return to their native homeland of the German-speaking principality of Waldeck. One wonders if their families and friends back in Waldeck ever heard from them again or were they simply relegated to a deserters list filed by the 3rd Waldeck Regiment in a military archive somewhere in Waldeck. One thing is almost for certain. These men, like so many other German troops who fought, marched and suffered here in America during the American Revolution, ultimately chose to make their lives here, among the very population they had been sent to oppress and subjugate. That is the magic of America.