SVRH-004 Von Rhetz Regiment, 2 Grenadiers

A combined battalion of grenadiers under Von Breymann, with four musketeer regiments (Prince Friedrich, von Rhetz, von Specht and von Riedesel) were sent to Canada, along with a single dragoon regiment (Prince Ludwig Ernst), and a light infantry battalion (von Barner).On April 3, 1776 the fleet of thirty sails carrying the German troops set sail from Portsmouth and met the forty sail fleet of English troops at Plymouth also heading to Canada. Land was sighted on May 12th and Quebec was reached on June 1st.

General von Riedesel, with orders from General Burgoyne disembarked the Prince Ludwig Ernst Dragoon Regiment on June 6th to strengthen the Quebec garrison. The two first division musketeer regiments and grenadiers were to continue on to Trois Rivieres. Governor Carleton gave General von Riedesel command of a corps consisting of the regiment von Riedesel and Hesse Hanau regiments, the Brunswick Grenadier battalion, the British McClean regiment, a division of Canadian troops and a mixed group of Abenakis, Iroquois, Ottowas, and Huron.

This corps departed for Trois Rivieres on June 7th and was ordered to move up the south side of the St. Lawrence, while Burgoyne and the other English troops moved up the north side of the St. Lawrence, to relieve Montreal that was besieged by the Americans.