Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/97

 Rh during the charge, to the riflemen whom they found in the outworks and the woods. The Americans, many of whom must have seen this, were naturally uneasy at the time of the surrender. The popular imagination had made fiends of the Hessians. Captain von Malsburg relates that when he came into the fortress he found himself surrounded by officers with fear and anxiety in their faces. They invited him into their barracks, pressed punch, wine, and cold cakes upon him, complimented him on his affability, which seemed to astonish them, and told him they had not been led to expect such from a Hessian officer. They begged for his protection, and he, in return, lectured them on the sin of rebellion against their good king.

The garrison marched out between the regiments Rall and Lossberg, laid down their arms, and gave up their banners, which were yellow, white, and light blue. Knyphausen is said to have looked on these “with disdain.” The attitude is characteristic of the Hessian feeling of the moment, and the American reader must find consolation in the fact that within six weeks the colors of the regiments Rall and Lossberg were in the hands of Washington's army.

The Hessians gained great credit by this action. Schmidt, Stirn, and Rall, and the troops under their command, were mentioned in general orders, and the captured fort was named Fort Knyphausen. No disgrace can attach to the Americans in the fort, who made a creditable resistance against great odds. The blame lies with those generals who insisted on holding the fort after the abandonment of the island by the main army under Washington, and after the