Everything about Johann Rall totally explained
Johann Gottlieb Rall (ca. 1726 -
December 26,
1776 ) was a
German colonel in command of
Hessian troops in
Trenton, New Jersey.
Early life and career
Rall was probably born as a so-called "soldier child" ca. 1725. He was a son of Captain Joachim Rall from
Stralsund, who served in the regiment of Major General Donop. The first mention of Johann Rall was as a new cadet of the same regiment on
1 March 1740, commanded at this time by Colonel Prince Casimir von
Isenburg of Isenburg-Birstein.
He was promoted to warrant officer on
25 July 1741; to second lieutenant on
28 August 1745; and to
captain on
10 May 1753. Rall was promoted to
major on
7 May 1760, under Major General Bischhausen and transferred, in January 1763, into the Stein garrison regiment, where he was appointed
lieutenant colonel. On
22 April 1771, he was transferred to the Mansbach Infantry Regiment as a
colonel. He became commander of the regiment in January 1772.
During this time, Rall fought in the
War of the Austrian Succession and participated in campaigns in
Bavaria, on the
Rhine, in the
Netherlands, and served in
Scotland. He fought in the
Seven Years' War (also called the
French and Indian War) and was involved in many battles. From September 1771 until August 1772, he was in
Russia and fought for
Catherine the Great under Count Orlov in the
Fourth Russo-Turkish War.
The American Revolution
By 1776, Rall belonged to the infantry regiment of the 1st Division under General Phillip Leopold von Heister and commanded approximately 1,200 men fighting for
Great Britain in the
American Revolutionary War. He was at the
Battle of Brooklyn at Flatbush, the
Battle of White Plains, the
Battle of Long Island, and figured prominently in the
Battle of Trenton.
General
George Washington crossed the
Delaware River with his troops on the way to
Trenton, New Jersey. The Hessian regiments, camped in and around Trenton, were attacked and decisively defeated by the American Continental Army. The Hessians had supposedly let their guard down to celebrate the Christmas holiday, and Rall himself was misled by
John Honeyman, a spy of Washington who convincingly posed as a
loyalist. According to one account, Rall was busy playing cards the night before the attack when he was handed a note from a local Loyalist who'd seen Washingtons forces gathering. He simply pocketed the warning without bothering to read it and went back to his card game. In this surprise attack on
26 December 1776, Rall was mortally wounded while attacking Major General
Nathanael Greene's line in the battle by a bullet wound.
General Washington and Greene visited the dying Colonel after the battle, and rendered him thereby a last military honor. He died in the late evening at his headquarters, on Warren Street in the "House of Stacy Potts", at that time called King Street.
Rall was buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton on East State Street. The worn inscription on his tombstone reads, "Here lies Colonel Rall, for him, all is over".
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