The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-06-22
Germans in the Revolution.
ary War.
Lewisburg Saturday News.


Will you permit word from a
Pennsylvania Dutchman who differs
widely from DR.. Lincoln Hulley, if
he is correctly reported in your pa
per, as showing that the German part
of the war was not prominent one.
1t is an old field of research and has
been well worked over, and l know
that the doctors largely disagree OH
the subject. But, Mr.. Editor, inthe
Revolutionary war Pennsylvania
was the keystone and remained so
for nearly 100 years after.
The Quakers and the Germans
together governed The State up to
this war. 1t is a known fact that
Pennsylvania was considered the best
developed colony, and DR.. Rush, of
Philadelphia, has left it on record,
that this was due to the German ele-
ment. | believe it is also true that
our State furnished the largest num-
Der of troops in that war. / have
examined such rolls as are accessi-
bic, and the number of German
names on the rolls is very large.
Bancroft says, "The Germans of
PENNSYLVANIA were all on the side of
freedom" In 1772 the Germans in
Philadelphia organized "the Patri-
otic Society,"" and in 1774 a "Cor-
respondence Committee" both of
which organizations welded great
influence with Germans throughout
the colonies. 1t is a mistake to
think the Germans were all Menon-
ties. Those in Chester, Philadelphia,
Montgomery, Berks, Lebanon, Le-
high, Northampton and some other
counties were not Menonites, but
fighting members of the Lutheran
and Reformed churches.
Now, to conduct war requires
leaders, money and men to make the
rank and file. In the rank and file
! am sure an examination of the old
records will convince DR.. Hulley
that the Germans were there in force.
When in May, l776, the Continental
Congress called upon Pennsylvania
for four companies, the Germans of
the State enlisted five companies, all
Germans, and fully differed by Ger
mans. There is hardly a Pennsyl-
vanian of German extraction who
did not have one or more ancestors
in that war. In my own case they
were on both my fathers and my
mothers side. The Beavers, Stri,k-
lers, Meyers, Fishers, Skaters, Bow
ers, Schmidts, Weisers, Fochts, Rit-
tiers, Heisers, Kuglers, indeed all the
Germans were there.
DR.. Egle and Prof. Rupp, men
most familiar with the history of the
Germans in Pennsylvania, affirm
that of money, of wagons and horses,
of clothing and rations when most
needed, Pennsylvania furnished more
than her share. She was able to do
this because she had the most. DIR.
Egle gives the names Of nine Ger
mans who advanced $4,000 and
saved the army ct a critical time. 1t
was the German women who fur
nished blankets to the army at VAL
ley Forge. 1t is said this was be-
cause while the English women had
no blankets to spare, there was a
surplus in every German house.
Mygreat-great-grandmother Mar
garet Beaver, furnished Washington
at one time 1900 bushels of wheat,
she having previously given her
husband to the cause. My ancestors,
the De Havens, manufactured gum
powder and rifles at the Falls of
French Creek, in Chester County,
while in Montgomery County the
elder Grofs made clothing for the
army in which the younger members
served. Indeed, Mr.. Editor, this
whole slander about the Pennsylva-
MIA Germans arose with Ben Frank
lin, who first feared them and then
hated them, because they would moi
take his newspaper nor get their jot
printing done at his Office, but went
over to old man Sauers at German.
town, Or the office at Ephrata
Franklin was a great man, but lik'
many other people, he let small
things warp his views sometimes
Franklin was also the author of tn
ud,,mh DutchmanO pxnression. bu