George Washington to Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, 29 March 1781
To Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen
Head Quarters New Windsor 29th March 1781.
Sir
I have been honored with your Excellencys letter of the 25th instant—The complaint, as to provisions, contained in the depositions of the several Hessian prisoners lately exchanged, is the first that I ever heard respecting the quality of that delivered by the American Commissaries to their prisoners of War1—Your Excellency will therefore pardon me, if I do not give entire credit to it—The very healthy condition, in which all prisoners have been returned by us since the commencement of the War, carries with it a conviction that they have been, uniformly, comfortably accommodated and fed on wholesome provisions—That the sick as well as the well have lately suffered in Philada for want of Cloathing and other necessaries2 is a point which I readily concede, but I must deny that the blame is to be imputed to us—That great attention has been paid to the sick, especially upon the late appearance of the putrid fever among them, needs no other proof than that that malignant disorder was stopped almost as soon as discovered by the removal of the patients from the places of their confinement to the most roomy and convenient Hospitals near the City.3
Mr Loring has furnished your Excellency with a number of extracts from his letters to our Commy of prisoners setting forth, the frequent applications which he has made for passports for Officers to proceed with Cloathing and necessaries for your prisoners in different places, but he seems to have forgotten to inform you that the passports for Capt. Bartling and Ensign Von Kovan were granted and that those Gentlemen actually proceeded and transacted the business committed to them—This will appear by the inclosed Copy of a letter from Mr Skinner to me.4 Mr Loring’s requisition for passports for Lieut. Sobbe and Qr Mr Hertzhog is only dated the 14th inst. it was presented to me a few days ago, and the passports were immediately made out and delivered to Mr Skinner who will forward them to Mr Loring5 There may have been particular times when it was inexpedient to admit Officers within6 our lines, But I am confident that few instances are to be adduced where passports for Officers and others to visit and carry necessaries either to the Troops of Convention or to the prisoners of War have not been granted as soon as requested—indeed, so conscious have I been that the situation in which we always kept prisoners of War would bear inspection, that I have never been averse to having them visited by an Officer of their own, who might be a witness to the propriety of their treatment—A request of this nature was a very little time ago refused to us by the Officer commanding the British Navy in the Harbour of New York.7
Your Excellency may be assured that no person can wish to alleviate the rigors of Captivity more than I do, and that attention shall be ever paid to complaints which are well grounded.8 I have the honor to be with Respect Yr Excellency’s Most obt and humble Servt.
Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. See Knyphausen to GW, 25 March, and n.2 to that document.
2. At this point on the draft, Tilghman wrote and struck out “which it is not our business to supply.”
3. See Board of War to GW, 13 Feb., and the source note to that document.
4. A mark at this point on the draft points to a reference Tilghman wrote in the left margin: “see letter dated New Windsor 28th March.” That letter was Abraham Skinner, commissary general of prisoners, to GW written from Skinner’s office at New Windsor on 28 March. The recipient’s copy reads: “I have this day seen Lieutenant General Knyphausen’s Letter of the 25th instant to your Excellency inclosing Extracts of Sundry Letters from Mr Loring to me on the Subject of Passports being furnished to certain British and Hessian Officers for the purpose of Visiting their Prisoners and furnishing them with Cloathing &ca.
“In Answer to which, I have to inform your Excellency, that on application being made for those passports, they were granted to Captain Bartling and Ensign Van Koven agreable to Mr Loring’s ⟨r⟩equest and in consequence thereof they proceeded agreable to their wish to the places where the Prisoners were confined; they executed the Business they went on and as I am informed have since returned to New York.
“The application for Lieutt Sobbe and Quarter Master Hertzog to go to Philadelphia was made as appears by Mr Loring’s Letter on the 14th instant, at which time your Excellency was absent from New Windsor” (ALS, DLC:GW). For an extract of Loring’s letter to Skinner dated 14 March, see Knyphausen to GW, 25 March, and n.2 to that document. The passports for Ensign Koven and Captain Bartling have not been found. For GW’s absence from New Windsor, see his letter to Alexander Hamilton, 7 March, source note.
Johann Ludwig Christoph von Koven (known in America as John Lewis DeKoven; 1748-c.1820) entered the army of Hanover, Germany, around 1766. He was commissioned an ensign in February 1778 and arrived in the United States that year. Assigned to the senior Lossberg Regiment in early 1779, Koven was taken prisoner in October of that year when his ship was captured. While on parole in Middletown, Conn., Koven married Elizabeth Sebor in April 1781. Koven served in the Lossberg Regiment until 1783. Koven abandoned his family when he left for Europe in 1785, later became a lieutenant in the British army, and died in Canada.
“Capt. Bartling” likely refers to Ernst August von Bartling (d. 1793), a captain in the Grenadier Regiment taken prisoner at the battle of Bennington, Vt., in August 1777. Another possibility is Capt. Carl Friedrich von Bartling (d. 1783), who had served under Major General Riedesel.
Christian Sobbe (born c.1743 in Freystadt, Germany) had served in the Regiment von Knyphausen from a young age. He attained the rank of lieutenant by December 1776, when he was taken prisoner during the Battle of Trenton. Sobbe was acting adjutant of the Regiment von Knyphausen in 1776 and served as adjutant in 1779 and again from 1781 to 1783.
Andrew Hertzog became quartermaster of the 17th Regiment of Foot in 1776 and served in that capacity until 1787. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1783.
5. The passports for Sobbe and Hertzog have not been found.
Hessian major Carl Leopold Baurmeister wrote in his dispatch from New York City on 26 April 1781: “Lieutenant Sobbe of the Knyphausen Regiment has departed for Philadelphia with uniforms and money to relieve the wants of the prisoners there” (, 430). Baurmeister wrote another report from New York City on 14 May: “Lieutenant Sobbe returned from Philadelphia on the 7th, after delivering uniforms and accouterments, blankets, and treaty money to one hundred and twenty-one noncommissioned officers and soldiers of von Knyphausen’s Regiment and to twenty-seven Hessians of other regiments. He found them all in great distress, an evil consequence of our having treated our prisoners so badly in 1776. Since then we have been unable to appease and assuage the rebels, no matter how good our treatment. Repeated remonstrances have been received coldly and have seldom been answered. Lieutenant Sobbe was carefully watched by an officer” (, 434–35). For more on Sobbe’s treatment in Philadelphia, see Knyphausen to GW, 17 May, and GW to Knyphausen, 1 June (both DLC:GW).
6. Tilghman wrote “in” after this word on the draft.
7. Capt. George Dawson did not allow an American officer to investigate the conditions of prisoners aboard a British prison ship in New York Harbor (see GW to Dawson, 25 Jan., and Dawson to GW, 2 Feb.).
8. No reply from Knyphausen has been found.