Nicholas Haussegger Nicholas Haussegger ( 1729 – July 1786 ) was born in Switzerland and fought in the British army during the French and Indian War . After the war he became a leader in the Pennsylvania German community . At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War he joined the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion as a field officer . He was placed in command of the German Battalion , a unit of ethnic Germans from Pennsylvania and Maryland . He led his battalion effectively at Trenton in late December 1776 . A week later , he was captured at Assunpink Creek under questionable circumstances . He apparently defected to the British and George Washington had him watched after he was sent home on parole . He was stricken from the Continental Army in March 1777 . Evidence suggests that he was in contact with the British during the war . In 1782 he was declared a traitor and his property forfeited . He died in July 1786 . French and Indian War . Haussegger was born in 1729 in Bern , Switzerland . By 1756 he was a sergeant in the " Struler " Swiss Regiment , which was in the pay of the Dutch Republic . That year Jacques Marcus Prevost enlisted him and 48 others in the newly formed British 60th Foot , the Royal Americans . During the French and Indian War , he was in action during the Forbes Expedition in 1758 and received promotion to lieutenant . When Pontiac ' s War broke out , he marched with Henry Bouquet ' s column to recover Indian captives in 1764 . After the war , Haussegger settled down in Lebanon , Pennsylvania to raise his family . A homeowner and tavern keeper , he participated in the community , becoming a member of the fire association and a constable . He married Cathrin Elizabeth Guth and the couple had two daughters , Catherina ( b . 1760 ) and Sarah who was born on 2 November 1761 in Myerstown , Pennsylvania and died on 19 October 1826 in Jonestown , Lebanon County , Pennsylvania . American Revolutionary War . At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War one of his neighbors , John Philip De Haas became commander of the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion . Haussegger joined the Continental Army and became a major in the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion on 4 January 1776 . Meanwhile , on 25 May the Continental Congress began recruiting the German Battalion from ethnic Germans in Pennsylvania and Maryland . Later , Haussegger was appointed colonel in command while Marylanders George Stricker and Ludowick Weltner became lieutenant colonel and major , respectively . His commission dated from 17 July 1776 . However , he only found out about his appointment in August while campaigning in the north and did not assume command of his battalion until October . The German Battalion assembled at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania between 6 July and 25 September 1776 . The unit was made up of five companies from eastern Pennsylvania and two companies each from Frederick and Baltimore Counties in Maryland . On 23 September the battalion was assigned to George Washington ' s main army . Haussegger led his 374 - man battalion at the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776 where his men served in Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy ' s brigade . The other unit in the brigade was the 1st Continental Regiment under Edward Hand . During the engagement , George Washington deployed the brigade to the east to keep the Hessians from escaping to Princeton , New Jersey . When Hessian commander Johann Rall attempted to break out to the north , Fermoy ' s brigade quickly shifted farther east to block the thrust . Near the end of the fight , Haussegger ' s men called out to the Hessians in German to lay down their weapons and surrender . Soon afterward the Hessians did so . On 31 December 1776 , Washington learned that a British force under Lord Charles Cornwallis was assembling in Princeton , New Jersey . The American army commander sent 1 , 000 men and six guns to delay their approach . Charles Scott ' s Virginians , Hand ' s Pennsylvanians , Haussegger ' s Germans , and Thomas Forrest ' s artillerists took a position behind Shipetaukin Creek , then called Eight Mile Run . When the British 1st Light Infantry Battalion and two companies of Hessian Jägers appeared at dawn on 1 January 1777 , the defenders opened fire . The light infantry were repulsed until Hessian and British grenadier battalions were committed to the struggle , whereupon the Americans pulled back . A Hessian eyewitness , Johann von Ewald reported that both armies together lost 140 casualties and that the British side lost the greater number . Ewald admitted that his own company lost seven men . On New Year ' s Day , the German Battalion ' s muster roll reported 410 men present for duty . On 2 January , the Battle of the Assunpink Creek began in earnest . Soon after Cornwallis ' column resumed its advance , an American rifleman shot a British cavalryman dead and near Lawrenceville ( then called Maidenhead ) , a mounted Hessian jäger suffered the same fate . The Americans deployed in woods behind Little Shabbakunk Creek , then known as Five Mile Run . At this point Fermoy , an alcoholic , galloped away to Trenton , leaving his troops to fend for themselves . Hand assumed command of the force and neatly ambushed the British vanguard , forcing Cornwallis to deploy his column and pound the woods with his guns . An attempt to turn Hand ' s right flank was blocked when a large force of Americans appeared along Assunpink Creek to the east . When the British advanced they found that Hand ' s men slipped back to another position at Stockton Hollow . Hand ' s riflemen took position on the left , Scott ' s men on the right , and Forrest ' s guns in the center . The position of the German Battalion was not given . Just before 5 : 00 PM , heavy pressure forced Hand to order a retreat . As the Americans fell back through Trenton to the lower fords and the bridge across Assunpink Creek , the retreat became disorderly . The bulk of the troops successfully withdrew behind the creek where they subsequently repelled several British and Hessian attacks with heavy losses . During the retreat , Haussegger was captured along with a number of his soldiers near the lower fords . According to a second account , on 1 January he insisted on marching his battalion into Princeton . Major Weltner argued strongly against this , and when the colonel and 10 men continued into the town , they were made prisoners . While he was in New York City , other prisoners including Ethan Allen and Alexander Graydon reported that Haussegger told them that the American cause was finished . He suggested to the others that they ought to ask forgiveness and make peace with the British . Haussegger bragged that he dined with Hessian General Leopold Philip von Heister . After being paroled by the British , Haussegger was able to convince Robert Morris that he was a patriot . Nevertheless , Washington gave instructions to his parole commissioner John Beatty that Haussegger was not to be exchanged because of the suspicious manner in which he was captured . Haussegger retired to his home in Lancaster County , Pennsylvania where Washington had him watched . On 19 March 1777 he was struck from the army rolls for " having joined the enemy " . In 1778 his township marked him as a " Tory " and denied him a tavern license . British Major John André was in contact with him in 1779 and he may also have communicated with Joseph Brant . Other evidence indicated that he may have assisted William Rankin , an American loyalist and spy . Historian Mark M . Boatner III asserted that he was a " turncoat " . Haussegger was declared a traitor and his property was sold in January 1782 . The following year he begged for help from Frederick Haldimand the British governor of Quebec . He died in July 1786 and his wife petitioned the British government to be paid for her deceased husband ' s services to the crown .