Ewald, Johann ___ 1744-1813 ___ German ___ soldier

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Born in Kassel, Germany, to a bookseller and a merchant's daughter, Ewald entered military service at 16. He joined the infantry regiment, Gilsa, and fought in the Seven Years War, and then did 14 years garrison duty. He also studied military science. In 1774, he was promoted to captain and put in charge of the elite Jäger unit. In 1776, the unit sailed for the US and engaged with the British troops in the American War of Independence. During the Southern Campaign, in 1780, Ewald's unit helped at the siege of Charleston. On returning to Germany, Ewald was denied promotion, so he joined the Danish army which appointed him a lieutenant-colonel. Subsequently, he was ennobled to Johann Von Ewald and made commanding general of the Duchy of Holstein. Ewald also wrote several books on military issues, such as 'Treatise on Partisan Warfare' and 'Treatise on the Service of Light Troops', as well as a detailed, and, now much respected, diary of his time in the US.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio (German)

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1660-1669 ___ domestic political social people historyeye self love/sex health culture society family

WEB TEXT LINKS
about and some extracts
short extract

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Bloomsburg University, Harvey A. Andruss Library

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal
 

May 2005, June 2008
Please email if you have any corrections, additions or comments, or if you've found the site useful. Thank you.

IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.