Today, we are visiting the Heinrich Kohl farm on Indian Trail Road, one mile north of Kreidersville. The year is 1775. There is much concern in the Kohl farm house! Slowly, the dark clouds of war covered the colonies when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. How will it affect the Kohl family, Heinrich, Christina and their seven children?
Local militias were being organized. One of the first units was organized in the Craig Scotch-Irish settlement near Weaversville, which became Allen Township, now East Allen Township. A meeting was held in the Presbyterian church, by the Rev. John Rosbrugh, who would serve as chaplain for the militia. The early militia men were Scotch-Irish from the Craig settlement – named Hayes, Horner, Boyd, Clyde, Lattimore and Brown. Soon many German farmers would join the militia. The most notable was John Siegfried, who would become a close friend of Gen. George Washington. Siegfried and the Northampton County militia would participate in a number of Revolutionary battles: Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown.
Heinrich Kohl answered the call to serve. Many of the farmers became part-time soldiers, spending months in the Army and on the farm harvesting their crops to feed their families. Some of the harvest would be sent to Valley Forge to sustain a suffering colonial Army.
Heinrich would join the second company, fourth battalion. The field officers were Col. John Siegfried, Major James Boyd, Lt. Col. Nicholas Kern and Adjutant Abraham Levan. A number of Mr. Kohl’s neighbors would serve, the most notable being Conrad Kreider, who resided a mile from the Kohl farm.
Conrad Kreider (Kreidersville) was born in 1736. He owned several mills along the Hokendauqua Creek. Kreider would serve as wagon master in Northampton County for Gen. Washington. He, as well as Col. Siegfried, was a friend of the general. There were 550 wagons in the county under his supervision. He died at the age of 92 and is buried at Stone Church near the village that bears his name.
In 1941, my former teacher Mr. Ray Wahl wrote a book called “Northampton – The Town That Wants You.” In the book, he researched the Northampton militia. In looking at the roster he compiled of the militia, we find the militia was comprised of eight companies. Private Heinrich Kohl was in a good company. The majority of members were German farmers.
Private Kohl would permanently return home and once again became a full-time farmer. As one of the nation’s first soldiers, he was proud to see the formation of a new nation – the United States of America.
In two weeks, Kohl-a-daal?
