Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina in the American Revolution, (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
Middlebrook, Louis F. The Frigate South Carolina: A Famous Revolutionary War Ship, (Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1929.)
In the past five years since the writer of this blog began this minor work, he has become interested in certain aspects of the frigate South Carolina and her two voyages in the service of the rebel/patriot cause during the American Revolution. Initially, it was the realization that Peter Amiel was most probably a spy for the Crown. Next, it was the incredible story of Gustavus Henderson/John Rose as a member of the Germanic nobility of Estland who had fled to America after killing a man in a duel or an "affair of honor". There have been numerous other as well that have engaged the curiosity of the writer of this blog over these five short years. But, there have also been those that the writer of this blog has begun to despair over due to the continued lack of evidence or proof of any kind as to what exactly happened there. The account of the individual members of the Voluntaires du Luxembourg and their ultimate fates is one of those that continues to stymie the writer of this blog. But, the writer of this blog has also become accustomed to suddenly and almost miraculously having one of these conundrums serendipitously reveal itself in the course of research on another topic. The confused matter of the marines of the second, brief voyage is indeed one of those that seems to have partially revealed itself while investigating the marines of the former German auxiliary troops that served on board the frigate South Carolina.
The roster of the captive Americans as composed by the purser of the HMS Quebec, James Esten, contains all of these names but, not in alphabetical order. It would appear that the prisoners-of-war were recorded in the log of the Royal Navy man-of-war as they were individually brought before the purser without even allowances for rank and rating on board the patriot frigate South Carolina. Officers and "gentlemen" were mixed together with petty officers and enlisted sailors or marines with no attempt to separate them at all. The only half-way attempt to separate them consists of all of the men in question - marines - are included at the end of the roster drawn up by the purser with no one else following their listings.
The specific facet of these marines that has fascinated the writer of this blog for so long is that unusual nature of the spellings of their full names. Both their first and last names are spelled in most unusual ways and these names appear as such in both Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170, as well as on the roster of the captive American prisoners-of-war carried by the HMS Quebec as it appears in Middlebrook's work, The Frigate South Carolina, pages 23-25. Yet, closer investigation seems to disclose that these men's names as recorded are "distorted" and occasionally "grossly transliterated" into almost unrecognizable forms. Yet, these men already exist in the roster of Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170. By their inclusion, the roster is made even lengthier and can give the illusion of more men having served on board the frigate South Carolina than actually did serve. The focus of this specific post will be to locate the actual spellings of these names and associate the incorrect transliterated name with the correct spelling of the crewman or marine who did indeed serve on board the patriot frigate. By discerning the actual spellings of these men's names, the writer of this blog hopes to locate other "missing" marines of the former German auxiliary troops from among which these men would have been recruited by Commodore Alexander Gillon and other German-speaking recruiters who visited the prisoner-of-war camps in Lancaster and Reading, PA.
These men are all found on the roster of captive American prisoners-of-war as entered by the purser of the HMS Quebec as she carried them into New York City harbor between December 20-23, 1782. The writer of this blog has alphabetized these names for ease of location by the readership of this blog as well as including their "position" as recorded in Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170. These men are cited as follows:
Name: Position:
Hug Alerberg Sergeant, Marine?
Aug Wee Keelufer Sergeant, Marine?
Gole Kelin Kerfer Corporal, Marine?
Gole Pape Corporal, Marine?
Enoch Allen Marine?
Richard Bartholomeu Marine?
Caleb Boyle Marine?
John Brunig Marine?
John Conrade Marine?
Wilhelm Derger Marine?
John Fillar Marine?
Willaim Gallagher Marine?
Jonas Holsmai Marine?
Charles Temmison Marine?
William Kean Marine?
Schan See Kezoff Marine?
Arnt Killarman Marine?
Verd Lefelke Marine?
Christo Lomullar Marine?
William Morriss Marine?
Pfiefer Quilge Marine?
Adam Shelter Marine?
Johan Smite Marine?
(Note: the above list of marines on board the frigate South Carolina is taken from the much longer roster of captive Americans as cited in the earlier post entitled "'Bound for New York City, Pt. II' - Roster of Captive Americans on board the HMS Quebec - December 20, 1782 -" and was posted on "03/25/2015".) The second column of the cited roster above entitled "Position" is taken from Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix" Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", page 135-170. It would appear that since the Middlebrook work predates the Lewis work by quite some time that the latter work depended on the former work for its entries of the cited men. That may not be the case though if Dr. Lewis worked from an original copy of the ledger of the crew and marines that served on board the frigate South Carolina.
The following citations of the names listed above are alphabetized according to rank by the "transliterated" name first along with any "position" assigned to that name by Middlebrook and Lewis. Below that name is the correct spelling associated with the actual individual's name. Also, any pertinent information is also included as found in Smith's or Reuter's works. The men are as follows:
Aug Wee Kellufer Sergeant, Marine?
August Wettlaufer - this name does not appear in either Smith's or Reuter's works but, according to Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, page 169 he is cited as "German marine, Regiment von Reidesel". This would indicate that he is most likely from the principality of Brunswick, even though his name does not appear in the Brunswick sections of Smith's or Reuter's works.
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Gole Pape Corporal, Marine?
Johann Gottfried Pape - Smith's work, Monograph No. 1, page 36, establishes his birthplace as being Lesse. He was thirty years and nine months old at the time the roster was composed on which he appears. The notation associated with his name is "...discharged in Canada, 1783.". He is also found in Reuter's work, page 61, and all of his personal information as cited above is confirmed along with the fact that he was born in 1753 and was a member of the 2.Rec. This same source cites him as being "...released in America (Canada) on June 29, 1783.".
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John Brunig Marine?
Johann Brunig - this individual is cited twice in Lewis's work, page 139. The first instance is cited immediately above. The second citation follows this first one and cites him as "Johann Brunig" and that he was a private in the Regiment von Specht. Smith's work, Monograph No. 1, does not cite him at all and Reuter's work, page 13 cites him as being Johann Conrad Buhring. He is cited in Reuter's work as having deserted his status of prisoner of war at Cambridge, MA on November 30, 1778. He was a member of the "Convention Army".
(Note: Johann Conrad Brunig is unusual in that he was indeed a private in the German auxiliary troops but, was a skilled craftsman. Reuter's work cites him as being a gunsmith attached to the General Staff.)
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Jonas Holsmai Marine?
Jonas Holtzemer or Holtzmar - this individual appears in both Lewis's work, page 151 and Smith's work, Monograph No. 5, page 61. Lewis's work cites his proper last name as being "Holtzemer" while Smith's work cites it as being "Holtzmar". Both Lewis's work as well as Smith's work cite him as being a private of the Infantry Regiment Erbprinz. He was most likely from the principality of Hessen-Hanau. The notation associated with his name is "...entered service aboard American warship, October 16, 1782.".
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Christo Lomullar Marine?
Nicholaus Lohmuller - this individual appears in both Lewis's work, page 155, and Smith's work, Monograph No. 5, page 61.Both Lewis's work as well as Smith's work cite his last name as being "Lohmuller". Both works cite him as being a private in the Infantry Regiment Erbprinz. The notation associated with his name is "...entered service aboard American warship, October 16, 1782.".
(Note: this is the first instance of a completely different first name appearing for a specific individual. Lewis's work, page 155 cites his first name as being "Nicholaus" and Smith's work, Monograph No. 5, page 17 cites his first name as being "Nicol(as)" while the citation on page 61 of the same work cites his name as being "Lohmuller, ---" with no first name given. Again, one of these names could easily have been the individual's first name and the other his middle name. Also, the first name of "Christo" which appears on the roster of captive Americans on board the HMS Quebec seems to be a diminutive or abbreviation of "Christoph" or some variation of that given name.)
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The writer of this blog feels elated at discerning the true forms of these last names behind some of these more "distorted" and "grossly transliterated" names. These indeed were men who actually served on board the frigate South Carolina and they and their true names have been discovered. Also, we can see from this "small victory" that there are indeed some sergeants and corporals mixed in among those who decided to desert their prisoner of war status and serve for the rebels. The previous indications were that none of the NCOs were swayed to desert their prisoner of war status and that they were separated from the enlisted men while the German-speaking recruiting officers spoke with them. But, here we have identified one sergeant and one corporal who appear to have deserted their prisoner of war status and signed on board the patriot frigate for her second and brief cruise.
The writer of this blog has deliberately avoided "writing himself into situations" that beg further questioning prior to exhausting a previous line of questioning. In fact, if one views the blog as a whole (and a large whole it is) very few direct questions are posed to the readership of this blog. Yet, sometimes history has a way of forcing us to ask further questions while we are still answering earlier queries. Why do these names appear here on board the HMS Quebec and not on either of the other two Royal Navy men-of-war that carried American captive mariners and marines into New York City after the capture of the frigate South Carolina? Why are the spellings so disparate and incorrect from the proper names of the few marines that have been "ferreted out" in the course of this particular post? What happened that the purser of the HMS Quebec, James Esten, so seriously misspelled so many of these men's names? These pressing questions, and almost assuredly a multitude of others, will not be answered when and if further information comes to light.
But, the writer of this blog senses that the list of marines who served on board the frigate South Carolina, were captured on December 21, 1782, and were transported on board the HMS Quebec to New York City is lengthier than the five names cited above. Upon closer examination, some of these last names have serious misspellings involved in their transcriptions. The writer of this blog feels that the five names cited above are correct in their associations as cited and that there are others contained in the above roster of captive Americans carried on board the HMS Quebec into New York City that only need to have their proper names discerned. This could be a lengthy process but, one that will have a great deal of satisfaction associated with it. As new discoveries of these men are made, their names will be included along with those already recorded here.