[Ritten Ensign] (1780) The regimental log of the von Knyphausen Fusilier Regiment (8 September 1779 — 30 June 1780). [A copy (if not the original) is in the Hessische Staatsarchiv, Marburg, Germany; the excerpts below come from an English translation by L. Zimmermann, printed in the Spring 1987 Abegweit

Review (Vol. 5, No. 2: 20-28) as: Excerpts from a Hessian troop log: ’Journal Regiment von Knyphausen’ (September 8, 1779 — June 30, 1780).]

The fol/o wing brief excerpt comes from the regimental log of the von Knyphausen Fusilier Regiment la Hessian regiment from Germany), some 21 7 soldiers of which spent the winter of 7779- I 780 at Charlottetown — at that time, as the log describes it: ”seven well-built houses which together with the huts are to represent a town’. The regiment had arrived in the New World in August 7776 and thereafter had been stationed at New York City where they provided support to the British during the ongoing American rebellion. in 7 779 they were posted to Quebec, and it was while sailing there that one of their three ships, a transport vessel, the Archer, was forced by contrary winds to put into Charlottetown harbour on 27 October 7779. The lateness of the sailing season combined with the poor state of the vessel forced the contingent to spend the entire winter on the island, in temporary barracks presumably in Charlottetown — they were finally able to depart on 16 June 1780 after the arrival of supplies and an escort ship. The regimental log was maintained by the ensign, a man by the name of Ritter, but nothing else is known about him. By the time he recorded his comment on the maple tree he must have had almost four years' experience of the New World, most of it based at New York City. The map/e tree only gets a mention on account of its sugar - that this particular sugar comes all the way from Nova Scotia must be due to the movements of the Mi’kmaq and not to the scarcity or unsuitabi/ity of island maples as a source of sugar.

REFERENCES:

Borck, Col. H. von (1779) Letter to Lt. Gen. W. Freiherr von Knyphausen (30 October 1779). Translated and annotated by L. Zimmermann as ’Col. Von Borck reporting from Charlotte Town’. Abegweit Review (Spring 1987), Vol. 5, No. 2: 15-19.

Zimmermann, L. (1987) Footnotes to: ‘Excerpts from a Hessian troop log: ’Journal Regiment von Knyphausen’ (September 8, 1779 — June 30, 1780). Abegweit Review, Vol. 5, No. 2: 28.]

Bumsted, J. M. (1987) Land, Settlement, and Politics in Eighteenth—Century Prince Edward island. McGill-Oueen’s University Press. pp. 74, 77, 79.

Bears. February 18: The bears come close to our huts where the soldiers shoot them. [p 25]

May 21: They have a tree here which the English call Maple Tree whose sap is collected, and boiled to sugar. The lndians are now bringing a lot of it for sale from Tatamagouche. [p. 26]

Maple trees

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