Friedrich von Germann was a captain of a regiment from Hesse-Hanau, one of the many German auxiliary troops hired by George III to fight in the American Revolution. He arrived in Canada in 1775, served in the southern campaigns, and was present at the surrender at Saratoga.
During the war, he painted a series of watercolors of American, British, and German soldiers. The New York Public Library’s 13 drawings may be 19th-century copies of von Germann’s watercolors, possibly by the artists E. Sack and Kail (whose names appear on the drawings). They were removed from New York historian William Leete Stone's translation of "Memoirs and letters and journals of Major General Riedesel, during his residence in America." Albany: Munsell, 1868, 2 vols. [*KZ 17996-18134.]
