An Absent Captain
Letters from Captain George Keeports
Captain George Keeports, Lieutenant Samuel Gerock’s superior officer, wrote these two letters to Gerock from Four Lanes End (now Langhorne), Pennsylvania, in January 1777. Keeports was a merchant in Baltimore before the Revolutionary War, and he became a captain in the German Regiment in July 1776. With these letters, Keeports informed Gerock that Colonel Nicholas Haussegger ordered Keeports to remain with the regiment’s baggage. That left Gerock in command of his company at the Second Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Princeton, and during the Continental Army’s time in New Jersey in January 1777. Because of Keeports’s absence, Gerock’s resentment for his captain grew. As recorded in his almanac, Gerock was suspicious of his captain’s bravery.
The letter, dated Jan. 14, 1777, sheds light on a controversy surrounding Colonel Haussegger, who had been captured by the British at Princeton and sent home on parole. Accused of aiding the enemy, and giving himself up as a prisoner, Haussegger never again held a command during the war because General Washington did not trust him.
Letter
Written by George Keeports
Four Lanes End, Pennsylvania
January 5, 1777
Paper, Ink
Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of Nanette Reid Osborne and Dr. Robert Kent Reid, children of Virginia Gerock Reid
Letter
Written by George Keeports
Four Lanes End, Pennsylvania
January 14, 1777
Paper, Ink
Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of Nanette Reid Osborne and Dr. Robert Kent Reid, children of Virginia Gerock Reid
A crossroads on the route from Philadelphia to Trenton. The Continental Army established a hospital there. It is now known as Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
Samuel Gerock was possibly sick before he returned to the regiment on Dec. 30, 1776. He later complained of suffering from rheumatism in the spring of 1777, when he left the German Regiment.
A crossroads on the route from Philadelphia to Trenton. The Continental Army established a hospital there. It is now known as Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
Colonel Haussegger claimed that he was captured while out on patrol. However, other soldiers claimed that he joined the British and was passing them information on the Continental Army.
An agreement between an army and a captured enemy soldier or officer. Colonel Haussegger’s parole stated that he had to return home to Lebanon, Pennsylvania, until exchanged with a British officer of equal rank.
Prisoners taken by the British during the battles around New York City in the fall of 1776 faced poor conditions in captivity. Many died.