[page 29]


Though they were forbidden from killing Frenchmen, they showed no forgiveness when they would capture one: because when they were killed they could not be identified as being French or American. More than one Frenchman and more than one German perished in these conditions at their hands.

Es ware ihnen wohl verbotten, keine Franzosen umzu-bringen, aber doch rayure wann sie bekammen, ware doch kein Parton vor sie : Dann wann sie umgebracht, konte man sie nicht mehr erkennen , ob es Franzosen oder Americaner waren. Mit diesem Beding aber mußten manche Frantzosen und Deutschen von ihnen gepeiniget werden.

When they managed to take an American officer prisoner, they would attach him to a tree, strip him of all of his clothing and stab his body with pointed stakes or with knives, and when they saw that he was going to breathe his last, they would reach for straw or all sorts of other things with which they covered him before setting the blaze and burning him while still alive.

Wann sie einen Officir von den Americanern gefangen bekommen, so banden sie ihn an einen Baum und zogen ihn ganz nackend aus und stachen im den Leib gantz voll Löcher mit spitzen Hölzern oder Messern, wann sie sahen, daß er den Geist aufgeben wolte nahmen sie Stroh oder sonst dergleichen Sachen und umwickelte ihnen damit und verbrenneten ihn noch lebendig.

On March 6th, we again provided a detachment unit to board ship because the admiral wanted to undertake an excursion to the Chesapeake Bay[92]. The general of the English, Arnold[93], was indeed treating the inhabitants there in a very barbarous manner by hanging them alive.

Den 6ten Märtz gaben wir wiedrum ein Detachement auf die Schiffe weilen der General zu Wasser eine Ausfahrt machen wolte gegen der Bucht von Chessabeck, Weilen allda der General Arnold von den Engelländer sehr unbarbarisch haussete mit denen Einwohnern welche sie lebendig aufhängeten.

The detachment unit was made up of 18 men of each of the regiments’ companies as well as the company of grenadiers from the Soissonnois regiment[94]. As well as

Dieses Detachement bestunde aus 18 Mann von jeder Compag[nie] von allen Regimenter nebst noch der Grenadir Compag[nie] vom Regiment Soissonois. Wie auch

[réclame]

Jäger

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f15/pct:50,0,100,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 29.

[agrandir]


 Notes

92. The admiral in question is no longer de Ternay, but Chevalier Destouches, temporarily commanding the Newport fleet. Destouches wanted to organize an expedition (with the agreement of Washington and Rochambeau) to bring assistance to Lafayette who had been sent to Virginia by Washington in order to confront Benedict Arnold. About 1,600 French soldiers were supposed to land in Virginia, having left from Newport, under the aegis of Destouches and the flotilla. The troops could not disembark due to the fortuitous meeting of French and English flotillas near Cape Henry and the battle that ensued (that Flohr talks about on the next page).
93. This “general of the English”, Benedict Arnold, has not been graced with a title for a long time. See the note 121 below dedicated to his biography.
94. The grenadiers’ companies were in the front line. Armed with grenades, these men would lead the storming of breaches during siege warfare. They therefore advanced ahead of the rest of the assailants. With the wars of the Revolution and Empire, sieges became more rare and grenadiers became elite infantry troops.