Wilhelm von Knyphausen

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Wilhelm Reichsfreiherr^[1] zu Innhausen und Knyphausen (1716 – 1800) was a Hessian general during the American Revolutionary War.

In the army of Hesse-Kassel, Knyphausen was a lieutenant general. With 42 years of military experience, he traveled to North America in 1776 and led Hessian troops in the Battles of White Plains, Fort Washington, Brandywine, Germantown, Springfield, and Monmouth. In 1779 and 1780, he commanded British-held New York City. When Phillip Leopold von Heister left for Germany, von Knyphausen took command of the German troops serving under Sir William Howe. Because of von Knyphausen's seniority, ranking British officers held dormant commissions outranking him in case the British commander became disabled. Despite this, von Knyphausen was trusted by his British superiors. Sir William Howe gave him responsibility for the right flank at the Brandywine, tasked with keeping the attention of the Continental commanders on the river line at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He also commanded the vanguard of the army withdrawing from Philadelphia at the time of the Battle of Monmouth. Knyphausen left the North American theater in 1782 in part because of ill health, including blindness in one eye caused by a cataract. (His wife had died in 1778.) Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg succeeded to command of the Hessian troops in New York.

James Fenimore Cooper, in his memoir A Residence in France, states that in 1776, Knyphausen,

"...a rigid martinet, knew nothing of the sea, and not much more of geography. On the voyage between England and America, he was in the ship of Lord Howe, where he passed several uncomfortable weeks, the fleet having an unusually long passage, on account of the bad sailing of some of the transports. At length Knyphausen could contain himself no longer, but marching stiffly up to the admiral one day, he commenced with "My lord, I know it is the duty of a soldier to be submissive at sea, but, being entrusted with the care of the troops of His Serene Highness, my master, I feel it my duty just to inquire, if it be not possible, that during some of the dark nights, we have lately had, we may have sailed past America?"

The Regiment von Knyphausen served in the Americas from 1776 to 1783. It took part in the attack on Fort Washington and was in garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. Major von Dechow, who was in command in late 1776, warned Colonel Johann Rall to fortify the town, advice that was ignored. During the Battle of Trenton the regiment tried to escape across Assunpink Creek but was forced to surrender. Major von Dechow was mortally wounded during the battle.

[edit] Sources

Max von Eelking, The German Allied Troops in the North American war of Independence 1776-1873, trans. J. G. Rosengarten (Albany, 1893; Baltimore, 1969).
Rodney Atwood, The Hessians (Cambridge, 1980).