Global InformationNicholas Haussegger information
Nicholas Haussegger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1729 Bern, Switzerland |
| Died | July 1786 unknown |
| Allegiance |  Dutch Republic Great Britain United States Great Britain |
| Service/ | Infantry |
| Years of service | ?–1756 1756–1764 1776–1777 1777–? |
| Rank | Colonel (Continental Army) |
| Battles/wars | Forbes Expedition (1758) Bouquet Expedition (1764) Battle of Trenton (1776) Battle of Assunpink Creek (1777) |
Nicholas Haussegger (1729 – July 1786) was a native of Bern, Switzerland who arrived in the British Colonies in North America about 1744 as a subaltern officer in the British army during the French and Indian War. After the war he purchased a farm in Lebanon county and became a leader in the local Pennsylvania German community. At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War Haussegger joined the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion as a field officer. He was placed in command of the German Battalion, a unit of ethnic Germans from Pennsylvania and Maryland, on July 17, 1776.[1] He led his battalion at Trenton in late December 1776. A week later, he was taken prisoner at Assunpink Creek[2] and investigated over allegations of desertion and attempting to persuade American prisoners-of-war to join the British army. Evidence credible enough to bring him to trial apparently never materialized,[3] but he felt "neglected and injuriously treated" by the incident and eventually resigned his commission in 1781.[4] He is believed to have died at his farm in Pennsylvania in 1786, however there were also contemporaneous claims made that he went to Canada with his wife.[1][5]
- ^ a b Richards, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1906). The Pennsylvania-German in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783: Volume 17. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania German Society.
- ^ Heitman, Francis B. (Francis Bernard) (1914). Historical register of officers of the Continental Army during the war of the revolution, April 1775, to December, 1783. University of California Libraries. Washington, D. C., Rare Book Shop Publishing Company. pp. 27, 50, 280.
- ^ "To George Washington from Colonel Nicholas Haussegger, 16 January 1777". Founders Online. National Archives.
- ^ "Founders Online: To George Washington from Nicholas Haussegger, 5 February 1781". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ^ "An account of the estate of Nicholas Haussegger, traitor". The Daily News. 1883-11-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-09.