A Hessian Soldier in the American Revolution

By Stephan Popp

German corporal Stephan Popp kept a diary during his time in the American Revolution. This present volume is the translation of his diary by Reinhart J. Pope, originally published in 1953.

Corporal Popp takes the reader on a gripping journey, beginning with his departure of his Bayreuth regiment from its home encampment, the voyage to America, and the arrival in New York. Popp then relates events of the war from the vantage point of the Bayreuth regiment, with inclusion also of the activities of an associated regiment sent from the neighboring principality of Ansbach, which was at that time under the same ruler. Popp’s account includes a description of the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, where the Ansbach-Bayreuth troops were taken prisoner by the Americans in October 1781 until their release in May 1783. Popp also describes the journey home, ending with his arrival in Bayreuth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Release date: Dec 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781789125757

Stephan Popp

STEPHAN POPP was born in 1755 in Dachsbach, near Neustadt an der Aisch (then the principality of Bayreuth) in the Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany. He was a corporal in the Bayreuth regiment under Franz Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Christian von Seyboth, who sent Popp to participate in the American Revolution as a member of the regiment in support of the British. Following his return to Germany, Popp married and raised a family, and worked as a music teacher and precentor. He died in Neustadt an der Aisch in 1820.

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Text originally published in 1953 under the same title.

© Papamoa Press 2018, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

A HESSIAN SOLDIER IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

THE DIARY OF STEPHAN POPP

Translated from Original Text by

REINHART J. POPE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

HISTORICAL FOREWORD 4

THE DIARIST 6

PREFACE 9

THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA–1777 11

OPERATIONS FROM THE NEW YORK AREA—1777-81 18

1778 21

1779 27

1780—Events of Note 29

1781 33

THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN AND CAPITULATION—1781 36

PRISONER OF WAR—1781-83 47

1782 49

1783 52

THE RETURN—1783 54

MARCHING SONG—(Translated by Reginald E. Pope) 59

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 61

HISTORICAL FOREWORD

The Pope family to which we belong has been in existence in America since the coming of Christian Anton and his wife, Emmelina (née, Hagen), in the year 1849. The family name was then still Popp, being Americanized in the following generation to Pope. This was, however, not the first time that a Popp had set foot upon American soil. It was known that Stephan Popp, a grandfather of Christian, had been a mercenary on the side of the British in the American War of Independence.

But actual definitive information on Stephan Popp and his activities was not gained until contact was made after World War II with relatives descended from Friedrich Popp, a brother of the abovementioned Christian and also in lineal descent from Stephan. Much credit must be given to Robert Arnholdt and his father, Hans Arnholdt, for finding the diary and for their genealogical research. The elder Arnholdt, having been a judicial official previous to the war, had access to many sources of information. Christian Popp had reportedly seen the war diary of Stephan in a library at Munich, but being only twelve years old at the time did not fully realize its significance.

Probing through the historical depositories at Munich proved fruitless. But as more and more of the family history and statistics were uncovered in the former provinces of Ansbach and Bayreuth, investigations were shifted to this locality. Here in the library of the Bayreuth Historical Society the diary was found, in company with others of a similar nature. After being informed of the desires of the descendants the society loaned the original book to Robert Arnholdt to copy, and later agreed to permit him to keep the original with the only stipulation that he provide the society with a copy. An additional copy, with the necessary spelling corrections and minor alterations of the antiquated sentence structure was then mailed to America.

The reader who desires to check the information in the diary will be struck by the accuracy of the observations recorded. Since some of the information was gained only by word of mouth it is understandable that certain discrepancies in the matter of spelling or even mishearing will creep in—and yet not so much as to preclude identification. If it is also borne in mind that this is a German soldier, a provincial German, in an English army in American territory, it is easy to see that many notations could not help being phonetically recorded. Spelling, in fact, was not standardized as it is today. In this regard, it is necessary to point out that certain locations mentioned in the diary have been altered, been removed, or simply passed from the scene. Since that time, for example, the Rheinfels fortress at St. Goar has been destroyed by the French, Ruhr grown into a great industrial area, Hell Gate altered by blasting, and even the city of Bremerhaven built.

In form the diary was a bound volume, about 5ʹʹ x 7ʹʹ, in running diary form. This same format has been carried over into the translation with the exception of dividing it into chapters to group the information and provide more attractive reading. It appears that the diary is a rewrite from notes and jottings, and contains some later reflections. The language of the translation has been designed to abide as closely to the spirit of the original as possible. This is to preserve the diary’s value as an original document, and to insure that the voice which speaks from this volume will be that of its original author.

The diary also contained the maps which together with several examples of the book have been supplied on microfilm by Arnholdt. The diary contains in addition a description of an English man-o-war, accounts of several hailstorms, a paraphrase on the Lord’s Prayer dealing with the acquisition of Bayreuth-Ansbach by Brandenburg, and a few prescriptions. Since these are not part of the main narrative, they have been omitted from this translation.

February 7, 1952

By the Translator

THE DIARIST

The diary gives us few clues to the person of Stephan Popp himself. His ruggedness, his piety, his patience, his bravery, even his cockiness, as also his inquisitive nature, are all qualities which we gradually become aware of. But of a personal nature he records only his age at starting—twenty-two years.

It is from the records of the church registers of Dachsbach and Neustadt-an-Aisch that much of the other information is derived. Stephan Popp (probably Johann Stephan) was born in Dachsbach, near Neustadt-an-Aisch, on January 4, 1755. This is the region of Ansbach-Bayreuth. He was the fourth child and second son of Johann Georg Popp (no dates), and his wife, Margarete Barbara (née, Drescher). Of the family Popp previous to this we know that Stephan’s grandfather was Ulrich Popp (June 17, 1668-Nov. 29,