I represent Friedrich Graebe. I was a private in the 3rd Company of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment. I was born in 1753 in Mengeringhausen, Waldeck Province. I was Evangelical (which, in this context, means “Protestant”), and I stood 5′ 5 and 3/4″ tall – a bit above average for the men of my regiment. I was married and had two years’ previous service in the 2nd Waldeck Regiment. The 3rd Waldeck was hired by the British from Waldeck Prince Frederick Karl Augustus to assist them in fighting the American rebels in the Revolutionary War. We reached North America in 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 1782. A year later, in July of 1783, the Waldeck Regiment, 418 men and women and 13 children, left New York to return to Europe, but I deserted at Flatbush, NY – I suppose I had grown to like America and didn’t want to leave. A John Frederick Grabe is listed in the 1790 census living in Northern Liberty Town, Philadelphia County, PA with four other people in the household.
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