All of these sites have to be looked at carefully and with a bit of hair splitting. For example, Jewishgen.org has a poster saying "Jews did not serve in the military in pre-Napoleonic Germany unless they had first converted." First, there was no "Germany" but even giving the poster some wiggle room and using "Germany" as a geographic term, the poster may be technically correct (there were 300+ entities before 1815, did the poster check each one?) but may be missing a nuance.
Joseph Darmsdatt was captured at Saratoga and imprisoned near Charlottesville. He decided to remain in Virginia and became a leading citizen of the Jewish community in Richmond and a founding member of Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome in 1789 (deconsecrated 1898). So it's true he was a civilian, but it's also true Patriots imprisoned him with the Hessian soldiers. (He took an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia on 6 December 1784 at the Henrico County Courthouse.)
As for being a Loyalist. Well, I still have a portrait of King George III displayed (and one of Lincoln) even after downsizing. History is complex. Enough said.
Joseph Darmsdatt was captured at Saratoga and imprisoned near Charlottesville. He decided to remain in Virginia and became a leading citizen of the Jewish community in Richmond and a founding member of Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome in 1789 (deconsecrated 1898). So it's true he was a civilian, but it's also true Patriots imprisoned him with the Hessian soldiers. (He took an oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia on 6 December 1784 at the Henrico County Courthouse.)
As for being a Loyalist. Well, I still have a portrait of King George III displayed (and one of Lincoln) even after downsizing. History is complex. Enough said.
Statistics: Posted by Mr. Rumples — Thu Dec 25, 2025 6:44 am — Replies 72 — Views 4607