Rall Grenadier Regiment

Rall's Grenadier Regiment was not formed out of the grenadier companies of other regiments, but rather was a unit in which all the men were designated grenadiers and were uniformed as such. The regiment's primary claim to fame is that it was part of the brigade defeated (and captured) by Washington at Trenton on 26 December 1776. The brigade at Trenton was commanded by Colonel Johann Rall himself, who was too junior an officer to hold the position but had been given it since most other Hessian candidates were either ill or recovering from wounds. Rall was an able officer who was considered to be an inspiring and courageous leader on the battlefield. However, his reputation never recovered from the disaster of Trenton, even though many contemporaries felt that the harsh criticism meted out to Rall was far from justified (Captain Ewald of the Hessian jaegers wrote that many of those who criticised Rall after his death were not fit to have carried his sword). That said, Rall and his subordinates clearly failed to guard and fortify Trenton properly and Rall's failure reflected badly on the Hessian corps generally, which from 1778 onwards was largely confined to garrison duty.

Rall's Regiment had distinguished itself at the battles of White Plains and Fort Washington. Most of the regiment passed into captivity at Trenton and Rall himself died of his wounds the evening after the battle. Washington took 919 prisoners (20 Hessians were killed) at a cost of only 4 Americans killed and 8 wounded. Part of the Hessians' difficulty at Trenton was that their muskets would not fire in the cold, snowy weather, but the regiments were also too rigidly drilled to be able to adapt to street fighting. Instead of breaking themselves up into groups of skimishers, the Hessians formed up in close order and tried to fight as if they were on a typical European battlefield. The regiment was reconstituted in 1778 and fought in the Savannah expedition that December, in the Charleston expedition the following year and then helped defend Savannah against the French. Rall's regiment finished the war with casualties that were considerably higher than most other Hessian units, but it had recovered some of its self-esteem and, more importantly, had been restored to the Landgraf's "gracious favour".

This is an interesting unit to model as the Hessian combined grenadier battalions did not carry flags and Rall's regiment has some quite pretty ones. Perry make specific Rall regiment figures, in grenadier mitres and with uniform coats that don't have lapels. For some reason the command pack only has one standard bearer, but luckily one of the officer figures has an open hand so he can be given the second flag.

24 figures. Painted June 2005. Flags by GMB.