Capt Georg Heinrich Pausch

This brief chronicle details the fate and fortune of Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch and his men from the day they left Hessen-Hanau, to the close of General Burgoyne’s last battle.The battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution.

Hessen-Hanau Artillery Corps, commanded by Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch, left Hessen-Hanau on 15 May 1776 by river boats through to Mainz and down the river Rhein to Holland, where they were loaded onto British ships for their journey to Canada.

They arrived in Quebec 26 August 1776 and received orders to sail to Montreal. New Orders had them embark at Three-Rivers, to join an expedition going to pursue the Americans on Lake Champlain. This Artillery Corps was engaged with honours at the Battle of Lake Champlain October 11, 1776. Benedict Arnold and the action at Valcour Island

After wintering in Montreal, the Corps was ordered to march with General Burgoyne, On 13 June 1777, Lt. General Burgoyne – with an Army of British and German forces, Canadian Loyalists, and Indians totaling 9,078 – left Quebec for Fort Ticonderoga. The combined British and Hesse-Hanau ordinance totaled 42 pieces divided equally among them.

Burgoyne’s expedition reached Fort Ticonderoga, defeated the enemy and fortified Mount Defiance on 4 July 1777. On 7 July, when St Clair’s exhausted American forces rested for a night (and forgot to post sentries), the British and German forces caught up with them. The results of this day’s battle forced the American troops into a chaotic, scattered retreat. Hessian and british troops were victorious.



General Burgoyne arrived at Fort Edward July 29 1777, but after hearing that the Hessians and british were advancing, the Americans abandoned Fort Edward in the middle of the night.

At the battle of Bennington August 16 1777, the British General Burgoyne suffered his first major setback of the war. He lost some 900 men, four cannon and all of his dragoons. It was a poor decision to pursue the Americans south instead of falling back to his supply lines.

The Battle of Brandywine Creek September 11 1777 was a decisive victory. The British and Hessians drove the Americans from their position on Brandywine Creek and were left occupying the field. The Americans lost around 1,000 killed-wounded and captured 11 guns, 2 of which had been taken at Trenton. The Marquis de Lafayette, fighting with Sullivan, was among the wounded.



General Burgoyne led the main expedition south towards Albany, New York. They had taken all the positions and forces in their path. American resistance got firmer though as they got closer to Saratoga. The Americans had fortified the elevation known as Bemis Heights, 10 miles south of Saratoga.

Sept 19 1777 came the battle of Freeman’s Farm. The hessians and British won this battle – but not by much. Some say it was a draw, but who was standing, and who ran away? Burgoyne’s senior subordinates urged that an attack on the American position at Bemis Heights be pressed the next day. The Americans were in disorder after the failure of General Benedict Arnold’s attack at Freeman’s Farm. Things looked very bad for America. British and Hessian troops were seemingly everywhere. They were winning every battle in sight.



General Burgoyne commanded the center column with the Battalion Companies of five regiments, and Artillery (including the Royal Irish with 3 six-pounders and 3 three-pounders) under the command of Capt. Jones. The left wing is commanded by Mjr. General von Riedesel and includes the majority of the Germans, and Artillery (6 six-pounders and 2 three-pounders)

The two guns that retake the hill that afternoon were under the command of Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch of the Hesse Hanau Artillery. The fire of his artillery and foot was sufficient to relieve the pressure on the British regiments and force the Americans to withdraw. By this time night was falling. The Americans fell back in some confusion to their fortified camp on Bemis Heights.

Capt Georg Heinrich Pausch kept a wonderful diary of his experience in the Burgoyne Campaign. Journal of Capt Georg Heinrich Pausch (Journal begins on page 19 of pdf file)

“… I was to go the right wing of the 21st English regiment.

My wagon-master, who was now well mounted, was sent ahead to find a way through a cornfield, that we might avoid ditches and swamps and not get stuck in them.

Under a shower of the enemy’s bullets, I safely reached the hill just as the 21st and the 9th Regiments were about to abandon it. Nevertheless, I continued to drag my two cannon up the hill, while Gen. Phillips exhorted the English Regiments, and the officers their men, to face the enemy. English Captains and other officers and privates and also the Brunswick Chasseurs, which happened to be detailed here, grasped the ropes.

The entire line of these regiments faced about, and by this faithful assistance, my cannon were soon on the top of the hill. I had shells brought up and placed by the side of the cannon; and as soon as I got the range, I fired twelve or fourteen shots in quick succession into the foe who were in good pistol shot distance.

The firing from muskets was at once renewed, and assumed lively proportions particularly the platoon fire from the left wing of Riedesel. Presently the enemy’s fire, though very lively at one time, suddenly ceased. I advanced about sixty paces and sending a few shells after the flying enemy, and firing twelve to fifteen shots more into the woods into which they had retreated. Everything became quiet: and in about fifteen minutes afterwards darkness set in. I now replaced my ammunition from that of the English wagons at the foot of the hill. The loss of the Royal Irish Artillery in today’s action was very severe. One Capt. Johns [Jones] was mortally wounded and died the next morning.”

Brigade Maj. Bloomfield received a shot through the cheek under the tongue. Nearly all the rest of Gen. Phillips adjutants were wounded; also some of Gen. Burgoyne’s adjutants. Over thirty men of the Royal Irish Artillery are either dead or wounded A number of them, also, died on the field of battle. Some are still alive; others dead.” “I am the only one in the detachment, of all my fellow officers, who was so fortunate as not even to have a horse either killed or wounded, to say nothing of not having a man wounded, and only a trifling loss of a few knapsacks containing some small articles of clothing” (Capt Pausch, pg 137-40)

Every year the Royal Irish Artillery acts out a Revolutionary War re-enactment depicting the bravery and heroic actions of Capt Georg Heinrich Poush that day during the battle of Freeman’s Farm American Revolution. The Royal Irish Artillery reenactment (its worth taking a look at) is taken from the journal of Capt Pausch above.

The Royal Irish Artillery served in an exemplary fashion. They were commended by their superiors, and fought their guns to the nearly the very last man. In such a fire storm as at the Battle of Freeman’s Farm, an undisciplined unit would not have stood and fired their guns until the last.

The Battle of Germantown Oct 4-7 1777 was another decisive victory for General Burgoyne. The British and Hessian forces won the battle but they failed to exploit their battlefield success by pursuing and destroying the defeated American force, thus permitting General George Washington to withdraw and reform his army behind fortified positions.



The Battle of Saratoga/Bemis Height’s. Major General John Burgoyne commanded the British and German force. Major General Horatio Gates and Brigadier Benedict Arnold commanded the American army. Burgoyne was in a perilous position. The presence of his army was arousing the local militia in substantial numbers. He was perilously short of food. His imperative orders to march south restrained him from remaining where he was, retreating northwards or diverting to the East. It took until September 13th 1777 to assemble sufficient supplies, dragged through the forests down through rudimentary roads, just to continue the advance.

On 19th September 1777 Burgoyne approached the fortified American camp on the west bank of the Hudson River at Bemis Heights. The British and Hessian forces advanced on the American army. The aim of the British was to take the unfortified hill to the West of the American positions on Bemis Heights.


At a critical moment in the fighting Brigadier Simon Fraser was mortally wounded by one of Morgan’s riflemen. Brig Benedict Arnold spurred the Americans to continue the attack and was himself severely wounded. The British and Hessian troops began to give way and after the redoubt held by Colonel Breyman and his regiment was taken, Burgoyne withdrew his forces to the fortified camp above the Hudson River.

The next day Burgoyne withdrew his army up the river to the camp they had built at Saratoga. The American army pursued Burgoyne and enveloped the British positions. Burgoyne let the last opportunities to retreat north go by. General John Burgoyne was forced to formally surrender to Gates and accepted General John Burgoyne’s surrender of the British army.

The formalized surrender was known as the Saratoga Articles of Convention. Gates agreed if the British laid down their arms and returned to England, they would be able to keep their colors and go home as free men. General John Burgoyne was allowed to march out of camp “with the Honors of War”, and so began their march west. The effect of the American victory at Saratoga was enormous.



So ended the involvement of my great, great, great, great grandfather during the American Revolutionary War. Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch returned to Germany in 1783.

Little is known of Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch after General Burgoyne’s surrender. His signature appears on the Cambridge payrole now in the Boston Public Library. In 1786 the County of Hesse-Hanau was united to the Landgraviate of Hessen-kassel through the death of Landgrave Frederick II,and the succession of his son William III.

From the date of 1786 we find the name of Captain Georg Heinrich Pausch entered in the official calendar of Hessen-kassel as Major Georg Heinrich Pausch of the regiment of light artillery. That regiment was quartered in the town of Hessen-kassel and in the fortresses of Ziegenhain, Hanau and Rheinfels. In which of these places Major Georg Heinrich Pausch had his quarters cannot be determined.

His name disappears from the official calendar in 1796, so it is probable that he retired from military service sometime before 1786 and lived the rest of his life with his family in Hessen-kassel. There is however, church documents showing a son was born (Johann Heinrich Pausch) on 29 Apr 1789 in Hessen-kassel Germany. Johann Heinrich Pausch had four sons, Valentine Joseph, John Conrad, John, and Johann Henry.

What is known for sure is that Johann Heinrich Pausch changed the spelling from Pausch to Pousch, took his four sons and secured transport out of Bremen Germany in 1834 to America. The name underwent a change again from Pousch to Poush where the family line continues here in America. It is possible that a search in the archives of Marburg, Germany would bring to light more particulars about Major Georg Pausch.

My ancestriel line is as follows…

Locating historical documents in Marburg, Germany may prove a little difficult becuase The United States of America and Allied forces almost destroyed the entire city of Hessen-Kassel through a series of bombing raids during World War II. The United States of America killed Adolf Hitler and captured Hessen-Kassel on April 3 1945.

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