I represent Johann Adam Schmidt. I was a private in the 3rd company of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment, and I served as songleader for Chaplain Waldeck during worship services. I was born December 30, 1750 in Bringhausen. My father, Johann Adam Schmidt, was a schoolmaster; my mother’s name was Marie Elisabeth Kohlhoeber Schmidt. My religion was Evangelical (which, in this case, means “Protestant”), and I was a tailor by trade. I stood 5′ 4″ tall – which is about average for the men in my regiment. We were hired by the British from Waldeck Prince Frederick Karl Augustus to assist them in fighting the American rebels in the Revolutionary War. I had 8 years’ previous service in the 2nd regiment when we sailed for North America in 1776. I was wounded in the attack on Fort Washington (Manhattan) on November 16, 1776. After two years of heavy action we were sent to Pensacola, along with the provincial loyalist forces of Maryland and Pennsylvania. After the surrender, we were sent by the Spanish to New York, on our honor not to fight against the Spanish again until we were exchanged. We lived in encampments at New Town on Long Island. The Waldeckers resumed duty in July of 1782, and a year later, in July of 1783, I and the Waldeck Regiment, 418 men and women and 13 children, left New York to return to Europe. When the regiment returned from America, I served as its schoolmaster.
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