Description

The Royal German Regiment Zweibrucken, led by Prince Christian von Zweibrucken, is the focal point of this publication, which is based upon a heretofore unpublished manuscript by H.A. Rattermann found among the papers in the Rattermann Collection at the University of Illinois-Urbana by the noted German-American authority, Don Heinrich Tolzmann, who also edited the manuscript for publication. Rattermann's account follows Prince Zweibrucken and his charges from April 15, 1780, when they sailed for America. After landing in Newport, Rhode Island on July 11, Zweibrucken's unit encamped at various places in New England. During the spring and summer of the following year, They were instrumental in launching feint attacks against British General Henry Clinton's forces in New York, while a large American army was beginning to amass against Cornwallis in Virginia. The German unit eventually arrived in Williamsburg on September 26, 1781, and from October 14-17, contributed to the U.S. victory at Yorktown.