Nicholas Haussegger

Nicholas Haussegger
Born	1729 Bern, Switzerland
Died	July 1786 unknown
Allegiance	Dutch Republic Great Britain United States Great Britain
Service/branch	Infantry
Years of service	?–1756 1756–1764 1776–1777 1777–?
Rank	Colonel (Continental Army)
Battles/wars	Forbes Expedition (1758) Bouquet Expedition (1764) Battle of Trenton (1776) Battle of Assunpink Creek (1777)

Nicholas Haussegger (d. July 1786) was born in Switzerland and fought in the British army during the French and Indian War. After the war he became a leader in the Pennsylvania German community. At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War he joined the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion as a field officer. He was placed in command of the German Battalion, a unit of ethnic Germans from Pennsylvania and Maryland. He led his battalion effectively at Trenton in late December 1776. A week later, he was captured at Assunpink Creek under questionable circumstances. At some point he defected to the British, though very little is known of his wartime activities. He was stricken from the Continental Army in March 1777 and died in July 1786.

Career

Haussegger was born in 1729 in Bern, Switzerland. By 1756 he was a sergeant in the Struler Swiss Regiment, which was in the pay of the Dutch Republic. That year Jacques Marcus Prevost enlisted him and 48 others in the newly-formed British 60th Foot, the Royal Americans. During the French and Indian War, he was in action during the Forbes Expedition in 1758 and received promotion to lieutenant at some point. When Pontiac's War broke out, he marched with Henry Bouquet's column to recover Indian captives in 1764. He married Cathrin Elizabeth Guth and the couple had two daughters, Catherina (b. 1760) and Sarah who was born on 2 November 1761 in Myerstown, Pennsylvania and died on 19 October 1826 in Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

Haussegger joined the Continental Army and became a major in the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion. When the Americans recruited the German Battalion from ethnic Germans in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Continental Congress appointed him colonel in command. Haussegger led his 374-man battalion at the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776 where his men served in Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy's brigade. The other unit in the brigade was the 1st Continental Regiment under Edward Hand. During the engagement, George Washington deployed the brigade to the east to keep the Hessians from escaping to Princeton, New Jersey. When Hessian commander Johann Rall attempted to attack northward, Fermoy's brigade quickly shifted farther east and blocked the thrust. Near the end of the fight, Haussegger's men called out to the Hessians in German to lay down their weapons and surrender. Soon afterward the Hessians did so.

After being paroled by the British, Haussegger retired to his home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Washington, who found his activities highly suspicious, had him watched. On 19 March 1777 he was struck from the army rolls for "having joined the enemy". There was a report in January 1779 that the British placed him in custody. However, other evidence indicated that he may have assisted William Rankin, an American loyalist and spy. He died in July 1786. Historian Mark M. Boatner III asserted that he was a "turncoat".

References

• Boatner, Mark M. III (1994). Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fischer, David Hackett (2004). Washington's Crossing. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195181593. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pinnick, Laurel. "The M. Pinnick family of San Diego, CA: Nicholas Haussegger". genealogy.com. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
• Weaver, Thad. "German Battalion traitor". yahoo groups. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
• Wright, Robert K. Jr. (1989). The Continental Army. Washington, D.C.: US Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 60-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)