Handwritten copy of the diary kept by Stephan Popp during his participation in the American Revolution as a member of the regiment sent from the principality of Bayreuth in support of the British. The copy, in a notebook of ruled paper, was commissioned by J.G. Rosengarten and made for him in Bayreuth, Germany, ca. 1885 (mailing label pasted in, p. 157), from the original manuscript at that time held by the Historischer Verein für Oberfranken, Bayreuth. The title and statement of responsibility read: Geschichte des Nort-Amerikanischen Kriegs, besonders was die beijden baijreuthisch und anspachischen Regimender anbelangt, von einem beij den baijreuthischen Regimend von Seijboth gestandenen Soldathen aufgezeichnet, namens Stephan Popp, von 1777 bis 1783, meines Alters war 22 Jahre wie wir nach America marschierten (title page). Born in 1755 in Dachsbach, near Neustadt an der Aisch, in what was then the principality of Bayreuth, in the Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany, Popp was a corporal in the Bayreuth regiment under Franz Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Christian von Seyboth during the American Revolution at the time that he wrote the main part of the diary; after his return to Germany he married and raised a family, working as a music teacher and precentor, and died in Neustadt-an-Aisch in 1820. The entries recording Popp's military service date from 26 January 1777 to 10 December 1783. The diary also includes a few additional entries made by Popp after his return home, the last one dated 25 May 1796. The diary describes the departure of Popp's regiment from its home encampment, the voyage to America, and the arrival in New York; and then relates events of the war from the vantage point of the Bayreuth regiment, with inclusion also of the activities of an associated regiment sent from the neighboring principality of Ansbach, which was at that time under the same ruler. Popp's account includes a description of the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, where the Ansbach-Bayreuth troops were taken prisoner in October 1781; they remained prisoners of the Americans until their release in May 1783. Popp also describes the journey home, ending with his arrival in Bayreuth. Following the close of the narrative about his military adventure is an undated afterword (p. 141-142) in which Popp presents himself as the author, noting his lack of experience as a writer, and reflects on the diary as a work that he hopes will survive for posterity. Following that passage are the following undated entries: 1) a detailed description of an inland ship (Binnenschiff) of 100 canons, which Popp attributes to Johann Reinhold Forster (p. 142-145); 2) a poem in the form of a soldier's song with the title Das Lied von Ausmarsch (p. 146-148); and 3) a poetic text reflecting on the transfer of the Ansbach-Bayreuth principalities to Prussia (Gedenken über die Übergabe der beiden Marggrafthümer Bayreuth und Anspach in Franken an das königliche Haus Preussen; p. 149-151), which occurred in 1791. In the latter text, an address to the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm II, in the larger left-hand column, is juxtaposed with the text of the Our Father, in a smaller right-hand column. In the 2 last entries in the volume, under the headings Anno 1795 and Anno 1796, Popp tells of a severe thunderstorm in each of those years that caused much damage in Neustadt. Copies of the 3 maps that accompanied the diary are housed in a box shelved with the manuscript. The copy of the diary includes copies in pencil of 3 accompanying maps illustrating military operations: 1) General Clinton's campaign on the Hudson River in September and October 1777; 2) the landing of the Howe brothers where the Elk River runs into the Chesapeake, the operations of Generals Knyphausen and Cornwallis in the same vicinity, and positions at the Battle of Brandywine, September 1777; and 3) Philadelphia and vicinity, with positions in the Battle of Germantown, the operations of the Hessian regiment under Colonel Donop, and the attack on Fort Redbank, in October 1777.
