reuth, with one hundred and one chasseurs and forty-four
artillerymen,[1] had marched from Anspach on
March 7th, 1777, and were embarked at Ochsenfurth, a
pretty little walled town lying on the Main about a
hundred miles above Hanau, and belonging at that
time to the Bishop of Würzburg. The men were
embarked towards evening, and their boats remained at
anchor through the night. The poor country lads
were unused to their crowded quarters, shivering with
cold, and sickened by the smell of the boats, in which,
in their simplicity, they thought they were to sail to
America. Their grumbling grew at last into a
mutiny, a poor, helpless mutiny, without a plan, without
a leader. At daybreak some of the soldiers of the
Anspach regiment, whose boat lay near the bank, laid
a plank to the shore and walked over it. They then
dragged other boats to land, and in an hour the
miserable crowd of cold and hungry men was on shore,
storming with anger and refusing to yield to the threats
and promises of its officers. These acted prudently.
They sent for food and wood to warm and feed the
starving mutineers. Unfortunately the inhabitants of
Ochsenfurth brought drink as well. The insubordination
increased. The soldiers began to wander away;
but the chasseurs still obeyed orders. They were
posted on the surrounding hills and told to fire at
deserters, “to frighten them.” The rioters returned the
fire. Several men were wounded. The burghers of
Ochsenfurth shut their gates and drew up their
drawbridges to keep themselves out of harm's way.
Towards evening the soldiers began to get sober again,
- ↑ In all twelve hundred and eighty-five men.
