German soldiers who fought in the American Revolution

October 2, 2015 1:09 PM

I've listened to most of the Wartime podcast and enjoy it. But there is one episode that really caught my attention. As a Canadian, I don't know a great deal about the American Revolution and I had no idea that a huge number of Germans fought for the British. This episode gives a fascinating glimpse into who these Germans were. Check it out.
posted by Phormio (66 comments total)

This is how the first of my ancestors to come to America got here.
My great great great great great great great granddad was a mercenary soldier ama.
posted by phunniemee at 1:12 PM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

They feature pretty prominently in the ridiculous Sleepy Hollow TV series as well. As Baddies.
posted by srboisvert at 1:14 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Another piece of history that was covered better by Bugs Bunny than by any of my classes in school.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:14 PM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Who am I? I'm Sam Von Schmamm the Hessian … that's who I am”
posted by No Robots at 1:19 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Was it over when the Germans lost the American Revolution?"
posted by octobersurprise at 1:23 PM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

I remember the Hessian bogeymen being a big part of my American Revolution education when I was in elementary school. But I grew up in Virginia.
posted by selfnoise at 1:33 PM on October 2, 2015 [9 favorites]

Growing up in New Jersey, one of the few points of pride we got in the Revolutionary War was the Battle of Trenton, when Washington led a bunch of soldiers over and beat a whole regiment of Hessians on the day after Christmas. So we were all very aware of the German presence.
posted by graymouser at 1:35 PM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

Wow. Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:41 PM on October 2, 2015 [6 favorites]

Wow. Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?

Americans in many parts of the country do not know that the Civil War was fought because of slavery so I'm going to say that's largely a no.
posted by phunniemee at 1:44 PM on October 2, 2015 [23 favorites]

Point taken.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:44 PM on October 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

Wow. Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?

I'm pretty surprised by this, too, but I've always been a history nerd, so I guess it's not as commonly known as I assumed.

Let's not forget the French, as well, who fought on the winning side. Many posit it was the winning side, to a large degree, because of France's involvement.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:46 PM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?

Many Americans probably don't even recall Washington's famous instructions: "Ok, men. Get in the boat."
posted by octobersurprise at 1:47 PM on October 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

In Omaha, we call hard rock fans Hessians. I have no idea why.
posted by maxsparber at 1:47 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

And there's Germans who fought with the colonials, too. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben whipped the Americans into shape one winter.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:48 PM on October 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

The Rob Lowe episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" focused on his Hessian ancestor.
posted by bentley at 1:54 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm a descendant of a Hessian mercenary! People in certain parts of the USA ask about your family history all the time, and I always get a kick out of telling them. It's even cooler than "my great grandma was a mail-order bride who bailed on the deal."
posted by JoeBlubaugh at 1:56 PM on October 2, 2015

Max, you sure you're not thinking of heshers?
posted by Demogorgon at 2:13 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

And there's Germans who fought with the colonials, too.

I'm descended from one of those guys - came over to the colonies to farm, I think, and then either he or his son(s) enlisted in the Revolutionary cause. (Someone else in my family was the genealogy nut, I've only glanced at the research.) It's funny, I have a sort of obscure German last name and so sometimes people assume I'm from a recently-immigrated-enough family to be, like, in touch with my German roots. Nope!
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:21 PM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben is a facinating part of American history in his own right. The first Inspector General of the U.S. Army, established standards of sanitation and camp layout, wrote their first drill manuals (in French, because he didn't speak English), and (evidence suggests) homosexual.
posted by fings at 2:22 PM on October 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

There's also Casimir Pulaski
posted by blaneyphoto at 2:33 PM on October 2, 2015 [9 favorites]

Wow. Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?

I'm a history nerd, and a US history nerd at that, and I just never paid much attention to colonial/Revolutionary War era history. It was always taught in a really dull way in my history classes. At least, I didn't pay attention until Hamilton happened, and I guess it's my new fandom now judging by the current bent of my tumblr and tumblr dash. Thanks, Alexander Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Also, I wonder if this is a regional thing. We focused a fair amount on pre-statehood California history here, and it seems like we comparatively ignored the Revolutionary War. Is it different in states that were the thirteen original colonies?
posted by yasaman at 2:33 PM on October 2, 2015

As another fellow Canadian, I also have recently developed an interest in the American Revolution.

I think latent America-phobia is responsible for why aren't taught more about it.


I had no idea that the patriots invaded Quebec, for example. Or that the whole concept of English Canada would not have existed without the loyalist efflux after the war.

I really enjoyed the audiobook of McCullough's 1776. Really really good listen.

Also, as an accompaniment, the site Animated History is really fun. A visual, mid 1990s internet/geocities animated guide.
posted by cacofonie at 2:47 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

One more descendant of fighting Germans. On one side, an ancestor who as a teen enlisted in the Continental Army, and actually had a job escorting and guarding captured Hessian soldiers under Abraham Lincoln's grandfather. According to family lore, he also translated for the army and, uh, less documented, was the fact that George Washington referred to him as "Mikey." (His name was Michael).

Another German ancestor has a bit more sketchy connection. It seems he may have arrived as a Hessian soldier and promptly deserted. In the happy story, he did so and in the process, stole money from the British Army (probably pay for the Hessian forces) and ran off to live in the wilderness of Appalachia until the war was over. In the less happy story, he still deserted, but stole money from the Continental Army and hid in the woods. The former story is the most prevalent, but people trot out the other. Neither side have a documented story. I need to check to see if he requested a pension.

There's a few more, in addition to non-German veterans, but those are the two that I know the best off the top of my head.

In Charlottesville, Virginia, we have an entire shopping center called "Barrack's Road," which has a Hessian cavalryman as a symbol on its signs. The reason being that captured Hessians were barracked not too far away during the war. To echo selfnoise above, depending on where you live in the States plays a strong role in how well you know the Revolution.
posted by Atreides at 2:57 PM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

In Omaha, we call hard rock fans Hessians. I have no idea why.

Burlap sacks a big part of the Omaha hardcore scene?
posted by nathan_teske at 3:03 PM on October 2, 2015

Do Americans not know the "Washington crossing the Delaware" story was a surprise attack on Hessians?

I think to most of my teachers, lessons about Hessians were all too derivative.
posted by roystgnr at 3:21 PM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Wasn't the Headless Horseman a Hessian?
posted by blaneyphoto at 3:34 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

There's also Casimir Pulaski

I went to a Polish grammar school, we matched around a statue of him each morning.
posted by a.mosquito at 3:41 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wasn't the Headless Horseman a Hessian?

Not entirely.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:49 PM on October 2, 2015 [20 favorites]

Yasaman, the revolutionary war is huge in NJ. History classes spend so much time on it that they barely get past the civil war by the end of the school year. We have all the local places like Washington's Headquarters near where we live, the Old Barracks in Trenton where we went on school field trips, and of course the story of Washington crossing the Delaware to beat the Hessians who were all hung over from Christmas celebrations. And NYC has the annual Steuben Day Parade, and us Poles have the Pulaski skyway until it falls down. Locally we also have Jockey Hollow where the soldiers were encamped and the Tempe Wick House with a legend that a girl there hid her horse in the house from the British soldiers.

Not at all surprising this history is not big in CA, where you have the Missions and the Spanish in charge at the same time the Revolutionary War was being fought on the East Coast.
posted by mermayd at 4:06 PM on October 2, 2015

I wonder if this is a regional thing.

As child who went to elementary school a few miles away from the Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia, probably, yes.

I was educated knowing about the roles the German mercenaries and the French troops played, because much was made of the October 19, 1781, surrender at Yorktown where the French troops were present to watch General Charles Cornwallis surrender.

Similarly, I have an exhaustive understanding of the Civil War, if by "exhaustive," you mean, "my AP American history teacher was a Civil War scholar who insisted on calling it the War of Northern Aggression," but things like the 20th century distressed him, so whatever I learned about U.S. history post-Teddy Roosevelt, I learned on my own.
posted by sobell at 4:10 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

It is strongly suspicioned that we are from a Hessian who stayed behind. The first instance of Eikner (a phonetic spelling of Eichner) occurs during Washington's presidency in South Carolina...
posted by jim in austin at 4:28 PM on October 2, 2015

I grew up learning who both Steuben and Pulaski were, and in turn, learning that there were Germans on both sides of the conflict. There's a middle school named after Steuben and a high school named Pulaski.

In Milwaukee.

Of course.
posted by droplet at 4:52 PM on October 2, 2015

Virginia's got a Pulaski county -- named for Count Casimir Pulaski, who fought with George Washington -- and nothing is as delightful as hearing folks call it PEW-laski county.
posted by sobell at 4:58 PM on October 2, 2015

Another descendant of a Hessian here: near as I can tell, he was drafted unwillingly, and his prince basically rented him and his fellow soldiers out to the British army. He was shipped over here to fight those darn rebellious Colonials, but he met a Pennsylvania farmer's daughter: at that point he deserted, got married, and became a brick maker. Ended up with at least 12 kids, so I'd say he and the farmer's daughter did okay.
posted by easily confused at 5:12 PM on October 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

it seems like we comparatively ignored the Revolutionary War. Is it different in states that were the thirteen original colonies?

Hell yes. Our field trips were to the Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, the House of 7 Gables, Bunker Hill, Walden Pond, Paul Revere's House, the Freedom Trail, Old Ironsides, Plymouth Rock, Emerson's The Old Manse where his wife wrote on the glass window pane with her diamond ring, Durgin Park, the Shot Heard 'Round the World bridge, the Mary Had A Little Lamb schoolhouse, the Old Burying Ground. Possibly the eras got a little jumbled.

It was about ten years of visiting family in Hunterdon County, New Jersey before I made the connection that the Delaware River was *that* Delaware River though.

I know we were definitely taught that the reason the British lost was because they employed mercenaries who were Only In It For The Money.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:29 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Max, you sure you're not thinking of heshers?

I've seen it written both ways, and wouldn't be surprised if the term came from the mercenaries (as in Teutonic, warlike, menacing; and perhaps by analogy with Goths, that other dark-clad rock subculture named after a group of frightful Germanic people from centuries ago).
posted by acb at 5:36 PM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Many Americans probably don't even recall Washington's famous instructions: "Ok, men. Get in the boat."

"Called Popeye."
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:37 PM on October 2, 2015

I remember being taught in primary school what an evil, unscrupulous bastard King George was for using mercenaries against us during the Revolutionary War. It made it really hard for me to swallow when the Bush administration told us how great it was that we were using mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:45 PM on October 2, 2015

My great great grandmother was a Hessian princess.
posted by dr_dank at 6:26 PM on October 2, 2015 [10 favorites]

Huh. I definitely remember learning about Hessians in elementary school here in Texas.
posted by kmz at 7:06 PM on October 2, 2015

I wonder if this is a regional thing.

Native Ohioan here. We spent a decent amount of time on the American Revolution in class, but not nearly as much time as we did on the Civil War. I think I must have had the Union counterpoint to sobell's American history teacher. The results are somewhat similar -- 20th century never quite got covered.

I did learn about the Hessians though.
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 7:54 PM on October 2, 2015

Yes it's regional. Though I suspect I still know more about the Revolutionary War than East Coasters know about, say, Spanish California.
posted by dame at 8:02 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Being educated in Calif, obviously.
posted by dame at 8:03 PM on October 2, 2015

Near my hometown is a former POW camp that had the strange distinction of housing Hessian prisoners from the Revolutionary War and (much later) German prisoners from WWII.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:29 PM on October 2, 2015

Oh my goodness, this is a chance to plug one of my favorite history books, David Hackett Fisher's Washington's Crossing. The book is about way more than Washington crossing the Delaware, it is a careful guide to the early Revolution, and has long wonderful passages about the Hessians--who they were, where they came from, their motivations, and their fates.
posted by LarryC at 9:02 PM on October 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

I wonder if this is a regional thing.


Agreeing with that, I really think it is. We covered the Revolutionary War much more than the Civil War, and our Civil war coverage was pretty definite on the whole "It was about slavery and economics, and also slavery is bad, very bad" thing, I think because we were in rural SD and while literally almost everyone is white, basically every white person is a descendant of a post-civil war German/Scandinavian farmer who was probably pretty racist but definitely not a slave-holder. It's pretty easy to talk about it as an event that has nothing to do with us, and thus we are free of any guilt over the whole slavery thing. That's a problematic force I think.

Anyway, I mention that to mention that I'm from a really German heavy place. We got a heaping dose of Von Steuben and Pulaski, and how great it was to have SKILLED GERMAN SOLDIERS (did I mention about 1 in 3 of my graduating class went straight into the military? They eat that right up.) training BRAVE AMERICAN REBELS how to defeat the EVIL, MERCENARY-HIRING BRITISH for FREEDOM. We also learned about the Hessians, but I remember being shocked to learn that they were German later in life. They were always, always called "European Mercenaries" in class, and I assumed they were just a conglomeration of various violent Europeans. I was also shocked to learn that neither Pulaski or Von Steuben were actually German but Polish and Prussian. I figure that it was easy enough to fudge them into being German, and that they did it because the rest of US history that involves Germany is pretty much a hate-fest and they wanted one chance for 'German' to not mean 'Enemy' in US history.
posted by neonrev at 9:03 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

My earliest American emigrant patronymic ancestor, Caspar Weiberg, was the pastor of a large German-language church in Philly during the Revolution. While the British held the city he took the opportunity to deliver a sermon to his congregation, which in the instant apparently included members of the Hessian officer corps, on the doctrinal and biblical necessity that said soldiers switch sides.

He was jailed by the British thereafter and the church was requisitioned by the military; accounts vary, but uses may have included either or both stable and hospital.

I once found a reference to this event via Google books which included the story of his release after a period I recall (possibly inaccurately) as two years. The book related that one of the same Hessian officers interceded on his behalf with a senior British military commander. Unfortunately I have never been able to surface the result again. Guess I'll go try!
posted by mwhybark at 9:22 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

In Detroit we remember Polish Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko. There's a statue and everything!
posted by BinGregory at 10:52 PM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

We have a pair of cast-iron fireplace Hessian soldier andirons. I didn't know the history, actually, until we were given them. It's nice to just imagine them as any random household enemy with flames flickering behind them.

I haven't burned my wrist on one throwing a log on the fire yet but I'm looking forward to doing so at some point.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:48 AM on October 3, 2015

Of COURSE there were all kinds of Europeans in the war. For starters, in the 18th century, there were no real nation-states. The majority of people living in France did not speak "french," there was no Italy and no Germany. Britain was an uneasy alliance between a bankrupted Scotland, an occupied Ireland, and an imperial England ruled over by a German prince.

The War of Independence really should be seen as more a part of the ongoing rivalry between the English and the French, not some sort of inspired ideological drama.

After a few colonists started an uprising in '75, the French saw an opportunity to create some mischief for the English. The politically aware colonists (as everywhere and always, a small fraction of the overall population) in the 13 colonies were evenly split on rebelling against England's raising taxes to pay for the fighting London paid for to protect the Atlantic colonies from French raiders from '57-63, and they really hit the roof when the English preserved some land for the native Americans behind the "Grenville line," essentially the unoccupied lands along the Appalachians.

If France hadn't shown up in the mix, we'd all be saying "aboot" and watching hockey. Once Benedict Arnold won at Saratoga (bemis ridge) [after he botched the attack on Quebec, btw], the French decided the thing was a viable venture.

The rebels won because the French Fleet bottled Cornwallis at Yorktown, and most of the weapons and ammunition used by the rebels was French. This is to say nothing of the finance. And the British were busy putting out fires EVERYWHERE and had to ditch the American colonies [the parallels to SE Asia in the 1960s-70s might strike some]. But that's also why the British sent the Hessians to the colonies to fight: they didn't have the manpower available, and George (of Hanover) came from Hesse, and the crown therefore still had German subjects.

France was seeking vengeance for its losses in the 7 Years War (most egregiously, Quebec. Americans call this the French and Indian War), the first truly world war (for what it's worth, this war included French losses in India, Prussia under Frederick II ("the Great")'s pretty impressive holding off of the Russians, Austria and the French at once, though his victory was more the lucky timing of the ascension of Tsar Peter III who adored Fritz, and therefore switched sides [but I digress]).

France's vengeance bankrupted them, triggering the French Revolution, but that's another story, including great rebels like Tom Paine going to Paris to teach the folks there about democracy.

The whole "revolution" was a sideshow to what was going on in Europe. After it was over, thousands and thousands of colonists moved to "Upper Canada," exponentially increasing the population of the region, and planting the seeds for another war in 1812.

Or something like that.

"Getting its history wrong is part of being a nation." - Ernest Renan
posted by nothing.especially.clever at 5:00 AM on October 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Seconding Fisher's Washington's Crossing. And if you like that read his book Paul Revere's Ride. About much more than the ride, lots of fascinating early revolution in Boston stuff. McCullough phoned in 1776.

I grew up in Michigan and knew all about Hessians, but I was a weird kid. I could have told you which ones of my toy soldiers were the Hessian mercenaries.

And from the King's list of crimes in the Declaration of Independence:

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
posted by marxchivist at 5:05 AM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have reason to believe that I am descended from George Benn, a German who, if this fascinating story is true (and I profoundly hope that it is), had the distinction of serving both the British and the American side. One by choice.
posted by BWA at 7:31 AM on October 3, 2015

Max, you sure you're not thinking of heshers?

I've seen it written both ways

And I always thought hesher was a shortened derivative of hessian. And yeah, the hessian nickname implies "intimidating, tribal, someone not fitting in with polite society."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:25 AM on October 3, 2015

In 1774 at the Continental Congress, 27 voted for and 27 voted against establishing German as the official language of the colonies. This vote was taken to create a hypothetical distance from the British. Fredrich Muhlenberg cast the deciding vote and the colonials decided to govern in English, rather than German.
posted by Oyéah at 9:14 AM on October 3, 2015

Max, you sure you're not thinking of heshers?

It's definitely Hessians in Omaha:

I have used this term RARELY since I left high school, but I have discovered something interesting. I have come to believe that this word is very specifically used in Omaha, Nebraska and nowhere else. I have lived all over the country and visited many parts of the world, but whenever I use this term to describe this type of person, I am always met with puzzled looks. I always end up having to explain myself, which makes my witty comments about Hessians, generally unfunny.
posted by maxsparber at 10:54 AM on October 3, 2015

Bunny, this is some kickass etymology here, yessir. Had no idea.
posted by mwhybark at 10:59 AM on October 3, 2015

Urban Dictionary

Wiktionary

Sesquiotica (wordblog)

All concur, 'hesher' from 'Hessian'.
posted by mwhybark at 11:02 AM on October 3, 2015

This of course leads me to wonder why that afaik there has never been a psychedelic metal band known as Hermann Hessian or Hermann Hesher, but that may simply be my toxoplasmosis speaking.
posted by mwhybark at 11:05 AM on October 3, 2015

All right, so now I need to find out why. Searching the local newspaper archive.

First mentioned in the World-Herald on December 5, 2002:

Influences: Incubus, Hoobastank, Audiovent, Lost Prophets, Queens of the Stone Age, Cursive, At the Drive - In, as much old - school punk as we can get our hands on, Iron Maiden and the classic "Hessian" sound.

Not much else there. Digging deeper:

There was a zine about heavy metal from Olympia, Washington called Hessian Obsession, so the phrase isn't limited to Omaha. It has been archived.

According to this dude, "Hesh" was California slang for drunk, but hard to say which emerged from which.

There was a Portland metal band called Hessian. Maybe still is.

There is an online program in Hessian Studies.

Wikitionary identifies hesher as coming from Hessian.

The nest guess as to why? Maybe they had long hair like Hessians?
posted by maxsparber at 11:11 AM on October 3, 2015

the 7 Years War (most egregiously, Quebec. Americans call this the French and Indian War), the first truly world war (for what it's worth

This is the war that brought my father's German ancestors to the States. They were tired of having their farm lands trampled in the conflict between the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:17 AM on October 3, 2015

I'm a Hessian descendant as well! Our Hessian got captured by Washington's army, and I guess they let him go after making him promise not to rejoin the British. Also, my dad is a huge genealogy buff, and our family took a trip to the Battle of Trenton historical site, where part of the tour involved a college-aged woman in colonial garb explaining how evil and primitive the Hessians were. But my dad was so pleased and excited that someone ANYONE finally knew about the Hessians, that he immediately interrupted to say, "We're descended from them!" The expression on her face... Man, I felt so bad for her.
posted by unknowncommand at 11:17 AM on October 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

Ah, no, they let him go because he joined the Continental army.
posted by unknowncommand at 11:50 AM on October 3, 2015

We called metalheads "hessians" at my high school in central California in the late 80s - early 90s.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:26 PM on October 3, 2015

"And there's Germans who fought with the colonials, too."

Germans were colonials. They were no different than anybody else in the "colonies". They were the rebels if they were fighting for secession from England. They were loyalists or tories if they were fighting to keep the colonies a part of the United Kingdom.

BTW, if you look at old maps of the time period, you'll sometimes even see it written as "Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland in Personal Union with the Electorate of Hanover"

If you listen to the podcast, the guy specifically mentions that when talking about history, one needs to step into that time in order to better understand how things are. At this time, while indeed most people had come to the colonies from England, many came from all over other parts of Europe. We all know from history (or have forgotten) that there was a huge group of Germans living in the Pennsylvania area. They were colonists, and descendants of colonists, just like anybody else. The fact that descendants ended up usually speaking English shouldn't let us forget that many of those folks weren't from Britain or Ireland at all. They were colonists just like everyone else.

Also back then the idea of a "German" was similar (not exactly... but similar) to how we think of "Latin" or "Hispanic" today. Germany didn't exist as a country. There were hundreds of tiny German duchies and kingdoms throughout central Europe, most of them a part of this weird "Empire" without any real power called the Holy Roman Empire. If you were good with accents, you might have been able to tell the difference between a Saxon and a Bavarian, or a Prussian from a Hessian, or an Austrian from an Hanoverian. All "German"... but each one as distinct as a Texan compared to a New Yorker, or a Venezuelan compared to a Columbian.

Today, the states in Germany, coupled with the separate countries of Austria and Switzerland, are a vague reminder of these major (or minor, depending on your viewpoint) groups or German "tribes".
posted by engelgrafik at 6:40 AM on October 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

In our family and in early family heritage research, the family ethnicity was variously described or remembered as Dutch or Swiss, and Weiberg is inaccurately described in several 19th century church histories as Swiss born. His last name comes from his birth town, Weiberg, Westphalia.

While my grandfather was cantankerously opposed to family heritage discussion (despite such clues as certain foodways, the presence of dachshunds, and a 19th century cuckoo clock) he used the term "Dutch" to cover a wide range of Northern European ethnicities from Czech to German and including what I would consider Dutch. His usage seems to echo that found in the term "Pennsylvania Dutch".

On reflection, I believe his reluctance to discuss ethnicity stemmed from a shamefaced awareness of Germany's role in the World Wars and the American interwar phenomenon of pro-Nazi German heritage organizations. Never did ask him though, the clock ran out.
posted by mwhybark at 10:09 AM on October 4, 2015

The Kentucky Long Rifle was actually developed by German gunsmiths in Pennsylvannia, who were considered the experts of rifle manufacturing in the colonies.
posted by Atreides at 9:41 AM on October 5, 2015