General Orders, 26 March 1779
General Orders
Head-Quarters Middle-Brook friday March 26th 1779.
Parole Barcelona—C. Signs Barca. Bender.
At a Brigade General Court Martial, Fish-Kill Septr 29th 78, Lieutenant Colonel Smith President, Lieutenant Philip Shrouder & Ensign Henry Magg of the German Battalion were tried for, “Behaving in a cowardly manner at the battle of Germantown by leaving their regiment in time of Action and not joining it ’till the Action was over.” The court having considered the evidences are of opinion that Lieutenant Shrouder is not guilty of the charge he having acted in the line of his duty as Quarter-Master in carrying off the wounded: The Court having considered the evidences are of opinion that Ensign Magg is guilty of the charge and do sentence him to be cashiered.1
His Excellency the Commander in Chief approves the aforegoing opinions of the court and orders that Lieutt Shrouder be released from his arrest and that the sentence against Ensign Magg take place immediately.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Lt. Col. Samuel Smith (1752–1839) of the 4th Maryland Regiment presided over this court-martial. In September 1778, the 4th Maryland Regiment and the German Battalion were both part of the 2d Maryland Brigade stationed near Fishkill, New York. Philip Shrawder (Schrawder, Shrader, Schrader; 1745–1820), a native of Bavaria, had immigrated to Philadelphia by August 1776, when he became a second lieutenant in the German Battalion. He was promoted to first lieutenant in May 1777 and to captain-lieutenant in February 1778. After the German Battalion was disbanded on 1 Jan. 1781, Shrawder served as captain of a company of Northampton County, Pa., rangers on the Pennsylvania frontier from February 1781 to the spring of 1784. Henry Moagg (Magg) of Pennsylvania had joined the German Battalion as a sergeant in July 1776 and had been commissioned an ensign in August 1777.