Unit History
The 8th Hessian infantry Regiment known by two different names during the period of the American Revolution, von Trümbach and von Bose, respectively. In keeping with tradition, Hessian Regiments were named after their commander. The Regiment was commanded by von Trümbach until 1778 when Major General C. von Bose became the commander. The von Trümbach regiment came from the German State of Hesse-Kassel and began their march from Hofgeismar on 13 February 1776 to the port city of Bremerlehe, in the north. The regiment then set sail on 23 March to New York on August 15th 1776. The Regiment arrived at Sandy Hook, New Jersey as part of a large fleet of troop transports with other Hessian units. The Regiment participated in numerous actions in New York. Regiment von Bose transferred south in November 1778 and participated in the capture of Savannah, Georgia and the Battle of Stono Ferry, South Carolina. The Regiment also participated in the capture of Charleston, South Carolina in May of 1780. The Regiment was later assigned to Lord Cornwallis’s Army and participated in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March of 1781. The Regiment’s musketeers accompanied Cornwallis into Virginia, while the grenadiers stayed in New York throughout the war. The German troops accompanying the Cornwallis' expedition to Yorktown were the Hessian Jagers, Ansbach Bayreuth Infantry Regiment, Ansbach Bayreauth Artillery, Fusilier Regiment Erbprinz and the Musketeer Regiment von Bose. From 1760 forward, the regiment was structured with two battalions of four musketeer companies. Additionally, two grenadier companies formed a Grenadierbataillon which became a part of the Lengerke Grenadierbataillon in April of 1776.
Company Chefs during the American Revolution:
1. Kompanie: Leibkompanie
2. Kompanie: 1775-1781 Oberst Karl Ernst von Bischhausen, 1781 Major Maximilian Wilhelm von Oreilly
3. Kompanie: 1775-1776 Oberstleutnant Justus Heinrich Block, 1777 Major Johann Christian du Buy
4. Kompanie: Major Borries Hilmar von Münchhausen
5. Kompanie: Kapitän Friedrich Heinrich Scheer
Company Chefs during the American Revolution:
1. Kompanie: Leibkompanie
2. Kompanie: 1775-1781 Oberst Karl Ernst von Bischhausen, 1781 Major Maximilian Wilhelm von Oreilly
3. Kompanie: 1775-1776 Oberstleutnant Justus Heinrich Block, 1777 Major Johann Christian du Buy
4. Kompanie: Major Borries Hilmar von Münchhausen
5. Kompanie: Kapitän Friedrich Heinrich Scheer
Chefs
Rather than being numbered, Hessian regiments were designated by the name of their 'Chef'. The regiment can be traced back to 1701 when it was formed as Regiment Schöpping zu Fuß.
- 1701 Oberst Melchior von Schöpping
- 1703 Oberstleutnant C. H. von Exterde
- 1718 Oberst Rau zu Holzhausen
- 1736 Oberst W. A. M. von Waldenheim
- 1744 Generalmajor H. von Mansbach
- 1763 Generalmajor von Gräffendorff
- 1767 Generalleutnant Prinz Moritz von Sachsen-Gotha Altenburg
- 1775 Generalmajor von Trümbach
- 1778 Generalmajor C. E. J. von Bose
Tagebuch des Regiments von Bose
The greatest amount of information on the Regiment to include troop movements, engagements, moral, physical condition and more, comes from the journal kept by Lt. Colonel du Buy, which covers the years 1776 to 1783. The journal is very specific and exact. The journal is not written in the current-day German language, but rather a 17th Century style of "Kurrentschrift". In order for the journal to be translated, several different period charts of Kurrentschrift must be employed to decipher each letter, and then translated into current-day German, and then into English. Often times, words used by du Buy are no longer used in the German language, so great lengths are taken to look through old German dictionaries to work out the best possible meaning of the words employed by du Buy.
Journal of Lt. Johann Carl Philipp von Kraft
Another source of information is the diary of Lt. von Krafft, a soldier in Capt. Eichenbrodt's Grenadier Company in the North. The grenadiers of Regiment von Bose primarily served in New York during the war, but von Krafft's journal is still a valuable source of information in regards to the appearance, morale, duties, and off-duty activities of the Hessian soldiers.
von Krafft writes for example on 28 April, 1781- "This evening the whole garrison of New York fired salutes to “Victory” on account of the victory gained by Lord Cornwallis over the Rebels under Gen. Green in North Carolina, in the month of March of this year, during which engagement however the Hessian regiment von Bose had done almost all the fighting under the command of Lieut. Col. Dübbÿ (Du Buy) but had lost many in dead and wounded."
von Krafft writes for example on 28 April, 1781- "This evening the whole garrison of New York fired salutes to “Victory” on account of the victory gained by Lord Cornwallis over the Rebels under Gen. Green in North Carolina, in the month of March of this year, during which engagement however the Hessian regiment von Bose had done almost all the fighting under the command of Lieut. Col. Dübbÿ (Du Buy) but had lost many in dead and wounded."
Regiment von Trümbach Officer and Non- Commissioned Officer Roster (1776)
Hochfuerstl. Hessen-Casselischer Staats- und Adreß-Calender (1776)
Regiment von Bose Officer and Non- Commissioned Officer Roster (1780)
Hochfuerstl. Hessen-Casselischer Staats- und Adreß-Calender (1780)
Regiment von Bose Officer and Non- Commissioned Officer Roster (1781)
Hochfuerstl. Hessen-Casselischer Staats- und Adreß-Calender (1781)
Colonel Faucitt to Lord Suffolk on the Appearance of the von Trümbach Regiment 1777
"Trumbach's Regiment made the finest appearance and seemed to me at first to be superior to the others; but upon closer Inspection I imputed this Advantage to its Clothing, which is faced with white, with white Cuffs, Waistcoats, & Breeches; -the others, with red and yellow. The Front and Rear Ranks in general are of an extraordinary Size and Strength: in the Centre Ranks there are some short men.; but these are only 17 to 20 Years old, and all very awkward in handling their Arms, and Marching, which could otherwise, as they are Recruits that were raised for the Augmentation: but they have been drilled constantly twice a Day, ever since they ave been in Cantonments, in order to be forwarded, as much as possible, in such Parts of the Exercise, as relate to the most immediate Service. The Arms, Accoutrements, & Clothing of the Whole, are complete, and in perfect Order"- P.R.O C.O 5/139, No. 25b (Col. Faucitt's Report to Lord Suffolk)
Papers of General Carl von Bose, Charlestown 1781 (NYPL)
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The vonBose Musketeers and The Battle of Guilford Courthouse 15 March 1781
The following is an excerpt from the “Reports from Lieutenant-Colonel du Buy of the vonBose Regiment to Lieutenant-General von Knyphausen. In camp not far from Wilmington, Cape Fear River, North Carolina. “ Although your Excellency has in all probability been informed by means of the newspapers of the action that took place between our own and the enemy’s army on 15 March, still I will take the liberty of giving a short but authentic account of it. In spite of the enemy always having been greatly superior to us in numbers since the beginning of the campaign, and especially after the unfortunate affair with Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, in which the 7th regiment, the 1st battalion of the 71stand the Infantry of the Legion, as well as 2 three-pounders, were taken, still they did not consider it advisable to meddle with us but retired by forced marches across the Dan into Virginia, thereby abandoning the two Carolinas to us. Upon this, Lord Cornwallis went back with his army to Hillsborough, where the Royal Standard was raised to salute of twenty-one guns as a sign that both provinces were conquered, after which Many came in from the environs with or without arms and took the oath of allegiance. Meanwhile General Green, who had received a considerable reinforcement, re-crossed the Dan and approached our army. Upon receipt of this news, we immediately left Hillsborough and marched out to meet the enemy. They retried as usual. It was not possible to pursue them because we were obliged to go to the nearest mills for want of food. General Green received a second considerable reinforcement of 3,000 men under General Steuben, consisting mostly of Virginians and the so-called Blue Mountain boys, all good shots, so that his army was now 8-9,000 strong. With this force, that was five times superior to ours in numbers, he thought he would be able to attack us. “On 14 March Lord Cornwallis received the news that Green had encamped with his army at Guilford Courthouse, 10 miles distant. About 5 o’clock early on the morning of the 15th, all the baggage, pack-horses, wounded and sick were sent away under convoy of the North Carolina Volunteers and one officer and twenty men per regiment, and the army set out in the following order at 6 o-clock. (Attachment A) “Towards 10 o-clock our advanced guard came upon the corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, which was driven back to the main body of their army. About noon we were near the enemy army and they began to cannonade us. As the whole country is covered with woods and forests, it was impossible to see the enemy, much less their position. The 71st regiment received the order to move into the forest to the right and to draw upen bataille. I received the order to do likewise and to form up behind the 71st regiment in order to support them. Immediately afterwards I received the order that the von Bose regiment was to draw up on the right wing in a line with the 71st regiment. The 1st battalion of Guards formed up behind the Bose to support us. After hastily laying aside our knapsacks and everything that could inconvenience a soldier, the 71st and von Bose regiments received orders to advance and attack the enemy in front of us. The 1st battalion of Guards followed the Bose regiment. We had not advanced more than 300 yards when we found a deep ravine in front of us with high banks and filled with water. We crossed it with much difficulty and then came to a fenced-in wheat field, on the other side of which the enemy, consisting of about 1500 Continental troops and militia, were deployed en ligne. We tore down most of the fences on our side and jumped over the others without, however, being inconvenienced by the enemy, although they were not more than 300 yards distant. I formed the battalion into line with the utmost dispatch and we ran to meet the enemy in tolerable order. They fired a volley but did not have time to reload so they took to flight. We sent a volley after them, jumped over the fences, formed the battalion into line and followed the fugitives at double-pace march; but the latter, profiting by all the advantages offered the ground, halted and discharged their guns at us. We dislodged them, however, every time. Meanwhile, the 1st battalion of Guards, which had been with us, advanced to the right wing of the regiment and now marched with us en ligne. As that part of the enemy army on which the 71st regiment had lighted, now withdrew also, and moved over to the right wing of the enemy pursued by the 71st regiment, there was an interval of more than a mile between the 71st and the von Bose regiments. “The enemy, who was fortunately no longer together, but who still did us much injury from behind the trees in the thick wood, took advantage of the above and surrounding our left flank, came on our rear, so that I was obliged to make the two companies on the left wing wheel around to the right In order to defend our flank and rear. The 1st battalion Guards, whose right wing was also flanked, lost many men and a little ground. Frederick von Scheer at Guilford Here's a primary source that documents the splitting-up of the Regiment von Bose in the woods at Guildford after the rout of the North Carolina militia, from Sergeant Berthold Koch's later recollections. The source gives some indication of the dilemma posed by the inability of formed bodies of troops to catch, or even to drive off, the determined parties of rebels which harried them from all sides: "...the von Bose Regiment pulled out of the battle line and pursued the enemy, but before we knew it, the enemy attacked us again, in the rear. The regiment therefore had to divide into two parts. The second, commanded by Major [Friedrich Heinrich] Scheer, had to attack toward the rear against the enemy who were behind us, and forced them once again to take flight. Lord [sic] Tarleton came with his light cavalry and pursued the enemy. During this time Colonel Du Buy advanced with the first part of the regiment and Major Scheer returned with the second part of the regiment and rejoined the first part." Excerpted from Koch's account of Guilford Courthouse, in: Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded by Hessian Participants, comp., trans. and ed. B.E., Burgoyne (Bowie, Md.,1996), pp. 448-49. Koch had been recruited at the age of sixteen in 1742, and was a veteran of the Seven Years' War. See Atwood, The Hessians, p. 41. “Reports from Lieutenant-Colonel du Buy of the vonBose Regiment to Lieutenant-General von Knyphausen. In camp not far from Wilmington, Cape Fear River, North Carolina. Continued… “In this extremity I advanced with the three companies of the right wing, which gave the Guards time to form into line and advance. Hereupon the enemy, except for a few marksmen, left the field and withdrew further into the thick woods. Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, whom Lord Cornwallis had sent with a body of his dragoons to inquire how we were getting on, came just a’propos to rout the fugitives entirely, but had the misfortune to lose the two first fingers on his right hand by a shot from a rifle. Our center and left wing, which was composed of the 2nd battalion of the Guards (the companies of the grenadiers and light infantry), the 23rd and 33rd regiments, and the cavalry encountered more resistance. The enemy stood posted in two divisions with 4 brass six-pounders in front of them on a small hill which sloped down to our troops, as that the latter, who could only attack with two weak battalions in the front at the most, encountered much opposition, and were twice obliged to retire. The third and last attack made by the 23rd company together with the grenadier company of the Guards was successful and the enemy took to flight, leaving the four guns behind them, and we remained masters of the field of battle. Our loss (which your Excellency will observe from the enclosed list B.), as well as the assistance required by the wounded , had weakened us so much that Lord Cornwallis did not consider it advisable to pursue the enemy any further, so we encamped on the field of battle. All the troops had been exceedingly brave and showed much firmness of purpose and willingness. And I look upon it as the greatest honor of my life to have been in command of the regiment on this occasion when it gained the approbation of the Commander in Chief as well as that of the general public, and I should like in all humility to commend it to your Excellency’s favor. “The 16thand 17th were passed in burying the dead belonging to both armies and making preparations for transporting the wounded among whom, however, there were 70 who could not be transported but had to be left behind in New Garden Meeting House with sufficient surgeons and drugs. “On the 18th the army marched back so as to be near Cape Fear River and open up communication with our ships. Although we had to march 220 miles in order to accomplish this and were burdened with more than 600 wounded and sick, the enemy did not even venture to harass our arriere, but pursued us at a distance as far as Deep River, where they are said to be still. “On the 21st our small army, much fatigued and in rags, moved into camp here, where we shall not remain long according to report, but are only to provide ourselves with small articles of equipment, so as to be able to operate for the next few months during which the heat will not be so oppressive. As far as I can judge from what Lord Cornwallis says, we shall return the same way we came so as to be able to approach Virginia and join the corps under General Philips and Arnold. This is only my idea. Your Excellency will be better acquainted with the plans of operation. “I do not think it possible to give a true description of the campaign we have had –how the men have suffered from hunger and what other hardships they have undergone – the whole would sound fictitious. I have the honor of enclosing hereby a list (Attachment C) in which the marches we had from Charlestown to here are marked as well as their lengths. I have not been able to note down a quarter of the many creeks, most of which have no names. I venture to commend Lieutenants von Leliva and Schwaner, who have held this rank since 1760, to your Excellency’s particular favor. Lieutenant Colonel Du Buy of the vonBose Regiment also wrote from Wilmington, North Carolina in the Spring of 1781: “…I could not refrain from mentioning that our guns were in a very bad condition and almost useless as we had been obliged to leave our gunsmith behind on account of illness when we left New York, and almost consequently we had not been able to have anything done to them for the last seven months, and that I was , therefore, very anxious that we should be supplied with English guns. Without replying to this, the Lieutenant General [i.e., Cornwallis] immediately ordered the officer in charge of the artillery …to deliver me as many of the guns that had just come from England that had been made in the Tower as I wanted for use of the Bose regiment, and to take the old ones instead and give them to the Provincial [Loyalist] troops, who would only desert with them and make little use of them … By this means the Bose regiment is excellently armed and able to perform real good service, and I trust your Excellency will not take exception to the above, seeing that my only object thereby is to uphold the Hessian renommee and our Master’s honor … .” Furthermore, the regiment was "...supplied with all the necessaries in the way of uniforms and clothing. [...] Also as every soldier was destitute of trouser, linen was given out to enable long breeches to be made therefrom for those about to march." vonBose at Yorktown from the journal of Berthold Koch, translated and edited by Bruce E. Burgoyne- On the sixteenth day we remained under arms in the trenches, and the cannonfire continued. The enemy sent a flag of truce inviting our capitulation. Lord Cornwallis replied that they had his conditions, and if they were bot acceptable, the negotiations were ended. The cannon fire continued until one o'clock on the afternoon of the seventeenth day, when the enemy fired the last shot. It killed the regimental drummer of the von Bose Regiment. Major Maximilian Wilhelm von Oreilly (O'Reilly) commanded 285 men of the regiment at Yorktown, Virginia. Soldiers from von Bose defended Redoubt #9 when it was attacked by French troops, and Germans, ironically in French Service, the Royal DuPonts Regiment, the evening of October 14th. At Yorktown, von Bose lost 18 killed, 40 wounded and 11 missing. The main body of the regiment went into captivity after the Battle of Yorktown. The Grenadier Company remained in New York and returned to Hesse-Kassel from there after the war. |