I represent Johannes Welner. I was a private in the 4th company, 3rd Waldeck Regiment. I was born in 1754 in Branau, Waldeck Province. I was a blacksmith by trade. My religion was Evangelical (which, in this context, means “Protestant”). The 3rd Waldeck Regiment was hired by the British from Waldeck Prince Frederick Karl Augustus to assist them in fighting the American rebels in the Revolutionary War. I sailed for North America with the regiment in 1776. After two years of heavy action the Regiment was sent to Pensacola, along with the provincial loyalist forces of Maryland and Pennsylvania. I served as a batman (personal servant) beginning in April 1779, and by June 1780 I was a wagon handler. I deserted at Pensacola on May 8, 1781, the day the Queen’s Redoubt blew a hole in the defenses and brought out the white flag.
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