John Charles Philip von Krafft Collection

A Register of the Collection in the Library of Congress

Prepared by T. Michael Womack
Revised by Margaret McAleer

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2008

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2008

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms008082

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Subjects

Locations

Occupations

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Scope and Content Note

Related Materials

Arrangement of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of John Charles Philip von Krafft, Hessian army officer and surveyor, were given to the Library of Congress by Carroll B. Cox, Elizabeth Jane Cox Reed, and the Cox family in 1994.

The papers of John Charles Philip von Krafft were arranged and described in 1996. The finding aid was revised in 2008.

Maps have been transferred to the Geography and Map Division where they are identified as part of the John Charles Philip von Krafft Collection.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of John Charles Philip von Krafft is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, John Charles Philip von Krafft Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of John Charles Philip von Krafft (1752-1804) span the years 1750-1926, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1776 and 1790. The collection focuses on Krafft's career as a military officer, surveyor, and draughtsman in Prussia and the British American colonies during the Revolutionary War. The papers include correspondence, a journal, military records, travel notes, and writings. The bulk of the material is written in German with English and French appearing as well. A small number of writings are in Latin, Russian, and Dutch.

The papers contain correspondence between Krafft and various family members, friends, and military figures dealing with subjects ranging from affairs of the heart to promotion of his career. The most significant part of the collection, however, is Krafft's journal which covers the years 1770-1791, with the largest portion chronicling Krafft's years as a mercenary soldier from 1776 to 1784. Entries for seven of these years are preceded by a table of service, which presents month-by-month Krafft's rank, regiment, company, and names of commanding officers. There is also an abstract of the journal which provides additional information regarding Krafft's military service for the British during the American Revolutionary War. A photocopy of an English translation of the journal, published by the New-York Historical Society, is included in the papers.

Krafft's career as a soldier of fortune is further revealed by his military records, including pay accounts, orders, broadsides concerning billeting and public drunkenness, and commissions, two of which were signed by Frederick the Great. Krafft's wanderings in Russia, the Netherlands, and Quebec in pursuit of a satisfactory military commission between 1776 and 1777 are recorded in his travel notes of this period. He evidently received an excellent education and was fluent in German, French, and English, writing both prose and verse in all three languages as well as poems in Latin. His intellectual interests ranged from literature to astronomy and proverbs to riddles. As a trained surveyor, his knowledge of geometry, mathematics, and astronomy contributed to his creation of a perpetual calendar. His interest in philosophy is revealed in his 1779 treatise in Socratic dialogue on the nature of reality.

An Oversize section is composed of military records as well as material from Krafft's journal and a perpetual calendar.

Related Materials

The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress contains several maps drawn and annotated by Krafft.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Container List