Frederick , Baron de Weissenfels Frederick , von Weissenfels [ also Friedrich Heinrich von Weissenfels ] [ also Frederick , Baron de Weissenfels ] ( 1738 Elbing , Prussia - 14 May 1806 New Orleans ) was a leading soldier in the service of the Continental Army and the State of New York during the American Revolutionary War . Biography . He was born in about 1728 in the Kingdom of Prussia near the town of Eblingen . Frederick received his military training under Frederick II of Prussia at the Military Academy at Koingbergy . He served in a Regiment of Dragoons in the Prussian Army during the War of the Austrian Succession ( 1740 – 1748 ) . He served six years in a cavalry unit in the army of the United Provinces of the Netherland garrisoned at Zutphen . He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal American Regiment of Foot also known as the 62nd ( Royal American ) Regiment and the Kings Royal Rifle Corps , on Feb . 23 , 1756 . The creation of the regiment by Parliament was unique in that it allowed for " a certain number of foreign Protestants , who have served abroad as officers or engineers , to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only . . . " About fifty officers ' commissions were given to Germans and Swiss . Weissenfels was one of these . In 1757 , the unit was renumbered as the 60th ( Royal American ) Foot . Weissenfels served in this regiment for four years . He fought in the French and Indian War during the battles of the Plains of Abraham , Ticonderoga and Havana . His first marriage , on Dec . 16 , 1756 , was to Mary Shurmur , born about 1735 in New York , the daughter of Samuel Shurmur , a New York City merchant , and Catherine Cazalet , the daughter of French Huguenot refugees , in the Dutch Reform Church of New York City . She died in about 1775 in New York City . The marriage produced eight children : Ann ( 1757 – 1847 ) , Charles Frederick ( 1760 – 1795 ) , Catherine Maria ( 1761 – 1830 ) , George Peter ( 1764 – 1798 ) , John Henry ( 1767 – 1787 ) , William Henry ( 1770 - ) , Mary Charlotte ( 1772 - ) , and Elizabeth Anna ( 1775 - ) . Weissenfels took an Oath of Allegiance to Great Britain on Dec . 20 , 1763 . That same year , he settled in Dutchess County , New York with a British military pension of half pay . His second marriage was to Elizabeth Williams on Feb . 26 , 1777 . This marriage produced two children : Harriet ( 1779 – 1855 ) and Frederick ( 1780 – 1798 ) . According to a short biography produced by his daughter , Harriet Weissenfels Baker , in an attempt to obtain compensation for her father ' s monetary losses resulting from his service in the American Revolution she reported that , " Following his principles rather than the advice of friends , he early joined the side of the revolutionaries in the American Revolutionary War . " He was commission a Captain in the First New York on June 28 , 1775 , commissioned Lieutenant - Colonel of the 3rd New York on March 8 , 1776 , became a Lt . Col . of the 2nd New York Levies on Nov . 21 , 1776 , and Lt . Col . Commandant of the 4th New York Levies on Jan . 13 , 1779 . His first expedition was the 1775 Battle of Quebec . He fought at White Plains , Trenton , Saratoga and Monmouth . He accompanied Gen . John Sullivan ' s expedition against the Iroquois in 1779 , and fought at Newtowne . On Jan . 1 , 1781 , Weissenfels was released from his service to the State of New York in a reduction in force . However , in April , 1782 , New York raised two regiments of Levies to defend the state ' s northern frontier ( Mohawk Valley ) from Canadian irregulars and their Native American allies . The American forces were under the overall command of Colonel Marius Willet , with whom Weissenfels had served earlier in the war . In July 1781 , Willet and Weissenfels led the militia in the Battle of Sharon Springs where they ambushed a force of Indians and Loyalists under the command of John Doxtader . In October , they led the militia against a mixed force under the command of Major John Ross at the Battle of Johnstown . Afterwards , the Americans marched to German Flatts as their scouts tracked the retreating force . A forced march through a heavy snowstorm brought the militia within two miles of the Loyalist camp by nightfall of October 29 , but Willet decided against a night attack in the storm . Attacking the next morning , they found that the Loyalists had already broken camp and they eventually escaped . In late 1781 , several companies of New Hampshire troops were added to Willet ' s command . In February , 1783 , George Washington directed Willet to capture Fort Ontario , but the Americans gave up the attempt when the possibility of surprise was lost . Washington visited the Mohawk valley in 1783 and he instructed Willett to improve the roads and waterway to Lake Oneida . In October , Willett ' s and Weissenfels ' troops went home after being disbanded without ceremony . Weissenfels retired from service on Jan . 1 , 1784 . From the end of his military service until the end of his life Weissenfels had financial difficulties . In 1784 , Weissenfels petitioned the United States Congress for an appointment to a government office and to be treated and rewarded by Congress as " foreign officer , " such as Frederick Von Steuben , had been rewarded for their service to the United States . Later that year , the Congress ' Committee of the Week , recommended that " Congress confer upon him the first vacant office in their gift , which they may think him capable of filling . " However , with regard to his second request they wrote , " With respect to his being put on a footing with foreign officers , who were in the service of the United States , the Committee are of the opinion it cannot be done consistently with the principles of general justice . " His daughter , Harriet , and her children continued to seek compensation from Congress for 2 , 000 acres of land that the British Crown had promised to British Army officers at the conclusion of the French and Indian War , which Weissenfels forfeited when he joined the American cause . In 1859 , after a thorough investigation , a bill to award the heirs the land was passed by the U . S . House of Representatives , but it died in the Senate . The commencement of the hostilities of the American Civil War in 1860 ended any hope of achieving the family ' s request . However , Weissenfels ' grandchildren continued to press their claim with the last living grandchild , Lucy A . Baker , requesting Congressional action in 1877 . Congress rejected her final plea on Jan . 21 , 1877 , 102 years after her grandfather had given up his British Army pension and any chance of obtaining the promised land to join the Revolution . She died Washington , D . C . in 1879 . By 1787 , Weissenfels ' financial difficulties were so severe that on Feb . 23 , 1787 , the New York State Legislature passed a bond , " from Frederick Weissenfels to the people of the state , for such sum as shall be found due him , to be paid in such sums as shall be found due from him to them , to be paid in certificates issued by the treasurer , to discharge him from the suit against him by the people . " This act of the New York Legislature may be an indication of the respect and regard which the people of New York State at that time had for Weissenfels ' Revolutionary War service . In June 1787 , he wrote to George Washington requesting the general ' s assistance in obtaining a government appointment . In a letter from Washington to Weissenfels , dated Jan . 10 , 1788 , the general declined . The next month , on Feb . 17 , 1788 , Weissenfels petitioned the New York City Common Council for a raise in his pay as Captain of the City Watch . Although his old friend , Marius Willet was the Sheriff of New York County during this time , the request was read and postponed . On May 13 , 1788 , he again petitioned Congress to be treated as a foreign officer . He had apparently written again to Washington and this time the general had compiled and written a recommendation , but Congress again declined . The next year , on April 7 , 1789 , Weissenfels was discharged as the Captain of the City Watch . He had been accused of sleeping on the job , but it may have been that he lost the job when Willet lost his position as Sheriff . Weissenfels was a tired and pitiable 61 - year - old , who was again poor and out of work . On Jan . 29 , 1790 , Weissenfels received a land bounty for 500 acres , but this did not seem to improve his financial situation . His son , George , was a " conveyancer , " a sort of lawyer who dealt with land transfers , and the pair may have gotten caught up in the land speculation of the time . He served as Inspector of Spiritous Liquors for the City of New York in 1791 and lived at Dry ' s Dock . In 1796 , Weissenfels was appointed Gauger of the customs in New York City . He apparently was given the job upon the death of his son , who held that position until his death in 1795 . He remained a resident of New York City until 1805 , the last time he is listed in the New York City Directory living at 3 Hudson . Weissenfels was a member of the Society of Cincinnati . He was the first vice - president of the New York " Deutsche Gesellschaft " , of which Frederick von Steuben was for many years president . At the time of his death on May 14 , 1806 , he filled a minor office in the police department in New Orleans . Louisiana . The position was likely obtained for him by Abraham Redwood Ellery , a wealthy New Orleans planter , lawyer , and the husband of his granddaughter , Sarah Charlotte Weissenfels . Weissenfels ' children also suffered hard luck after the war . His son and fellow Revolutionary soldier , Charles , who was the Collector of Customs in New York City in 1795 died that same year . Charles ' wife , the former Rhoda Salter , ran a boarding house on Courtlandt Street until 1803 . His son , Peter , the lawyer , who also served in the Revolution , first as a fifer and later as a Lieutenant , died in 1798 . His wife , the former Maria Leaycraft , also ran a boarding house following her husband ' s death . She disappears from the New York City Directory between 1800 and 1805 . Then , in 1806 , she reappears following the exit of her father - in - law to New Orleans as a doctoress living at 37 Murray St .