Isaac Harman married Christina Henkel, sister of Rev. Paul Henkel. One of Isaac and Christina's children was Phebe, who married Jacob Harper, the son of Adam Harper (d.1820).
Isaac Harman at the Siege of Yorktown (October 1781)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066181678;view=1up;seq=296
Harman, J. Newton. (1925). Harman genealogy (southern branch) with biographical sketches, 1700-1924. Richmond, Va.: W. C. Hill printing company.
page 290
...
Tradition tells of Isaac having been at the surrender of Corn-
wallis and having seen the British cut the hamstrings of the horses
and let them drop back into the river rather than to permit them
to fall into the hands of the Americans.
...
The above passage is repeated essentially verbatim on page 54 of Harman-Harmon genealogy and biography : with historical notes, 19 B.C. to 1928 A.D. by John William Harman (c.1928). Because the story is anecdotal, it cannot be used to prove that Isaac Harman was a soldier at the siege of Yorktown. But there are several other eyewitness accounts of this incident:
Capt. Johann Ewald
Ewald, Johann. Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979.
p.326
On the 7th [of September] at daybreak we foraged again along the Severn
River [which was NE of Gloucester], where we gathered the information that
General Weedon and his corps had advanced twelve miles nearer us from
Hudibres [?] Mill. I must admit that I cannot understand why the enemy
lets us constantly forage so peacefully, since we would have had to
slaughter our horses long ago for want of forage, or buy every bundle of
forage with blood.The reason for this poorly designed policy of the enemy
can only be that he does not need to risk much; he can disrupt our
foraging by using ambuscades, which would cost us several men each time.
This surely would result in heavy desertion among us, for our soldiers
must realize by now that everyone will be captured with bag and baggage in
the end.
p.327
On the 16th [of September] we began to sink ten transport ships between
York and Gloucester to obstruct the entrance [of the York River].
p.329-30
The 3d [of October]. Last night Lieutenant Colonel Tarlton arrived at
Gloucester with the cavalry of the Legion, numbering 250 horse, since
there was no forage or room for the horses at York and they were useless
there.
p.336
[14 or 15 October]
Moreover, all the artillery and baggage horses, for which there was no
forage, were killed and dragged into the York River. Several days after
their death these poor animals came back in heaps with the tide, nearly up
to the sunken ships. It seemed as if they wanted to cry out against their
murder after their death. The sight of these horses was saddening to a
person of feeling. But what should we have done if we did not want the
enemy to have them? Voltaire says, "La raison de guerre, c'est la raison
de guere. [Translation: "The reason for war is but little reason."]
NOTE: During the siege of Yorktown, Captain Ewald, a German mercenary employed
by the British, was stationed at Gloucester, across the river from Yorktown.
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St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker: Journal, September 28-October 20, 1781. Edward M. Riley, "St. George Tucker's Journal of the Siege of Yorktown," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, vol. 5 (1948), 380-94.
Reprinted in "The American Revolution: Writings from the War of
Independence" by John Rhodehamel (Editor) (2001).
Tuesday Octr. 2d.
... I discovered by the Assistance of a Glass from seventy to an hundred
horses dead on the shore of York or floating about in the River--This
seems to indicate a Want of Forage & no Intention of pushing a March.
Thursday 4th.
...
We are told that Tarliton [sic-Tarlton] made an Excursion yesterday with
two hundred Hourse into Gloster; it is also said a Firing was heard on
that side & that Tarliton was repulsed but we have not yet heard of any
particulars of the affair--the number of dead horses seen yesterday by
some Gentlemen amounted to near four hundred ...
NOTE: St. George Tucker was born in Bermuda in 1752. He took an active
part in the Revolutionary War. He was elected colonel of the Chesterfield
County militia and led them to Nathaniel Greene's army in North Carolina,
and is said to have distinguished himself at the Battle of Guilford Court
House. During the Yorktown campaign he served as a lieutenant colonel of
horse and was wounded. Being fluent in French, he also served as Virginia
Governor and General Thomas Nelson's liaison with the French army at
Yorktown.
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James Thacher
From James Thacher's Military Journal During the Revolutionary War (1823)
October 1781
3d and 4th.- ...The enemy from the want of forage are killing off their
horses in great numbers; six or seven hundred of these valuable animals
have been killed and their carcasses are almost continually floating down
the river. The British are in possession of a place called Gloucester, on
the north side of the river, nearly opposite Yorktown; their force
consists of one British regiment, and Colonel Tarleton's legion of horse
and infantry.
Note: James Thacher was a surgeon in the Continental Army.
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General Richard Butler
https://books.google.com/books?id=SdBEUXQNqQ0C&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q&f=false
Butler, Richard. "General Richard Butler's Journal of the Siege of Yorktown." Historical Magazine, v. 8 (March 1864), pp. 102-112.
p.107
Oct. 3d.—...The ruffian Tarleton, with a body of troops, went to Gloster yesterday; after killing all his poor horses and mounting men on the officers' horses, (who Lord Cornwallis ordered to part with them) pushed out-to forage, but fell in with the Duke de Lauzun and his legion, who treated them very roughly, and obliged them to retire to their lurking places with the loss of above fifty killed, wounded and taken. Tarleton himself was rode down by his own men, whose hurry caused them to be very impolite to their commander.
...
p.108
[October] 10th.—... About 12 o'clock, Secretary Nelson came out with a flag, and informed the Commander-in-chief that Lord Cornwallis and the chief officers were burrowed in the ground, and that our shot and shells did great execution; ... He adds that Tarleton and Simcoe have killed above 1000 horses, and that they were both unwell and inactive; ...
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The Autobiography and Chronological Life of Reverend Paul Henkel (1754 -1825):
p.145
[July 1807]
Friday, the 10th. The waters rose very high last night. I ride over the mountain to Isaac
Herman's (Harman)** where I find my old mother still alive and in good health, Herman, his wife
(my sister) and the children.
Saturday, the 11th. I remain here today. I had many conversations with my mother, and
especially with my sister, who gives me a great deal of pleasure in relating to me the wonderful
providence of God she has experienced in the whole course of her life.
**Harman was the anglicized version of the German surname Herman.
...
p.221
[August 1813]
Friday, the 20th, My brother, Moses, and I rode across the North Mountain (a very hot day) to
Isaac Herman's, my brother-in-law. There we visited our old mother, who now seems to be near
her end. In the afternoon I and my sister Christina visited the sick wife of Jacob Helmich,
baptized her twins, and administered the Holy Communion to her. Oh, pitiful conditions! But
the hope is that she will die saved.
Saturday, the 21st. I preached in the church, and on account of my mother in the evening made
an address in the home of Isaac Herman on Colossians 3:4. Baptized five children.
...
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A FEW SELECT CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HARMAN, HENKEL, TETER, PETERSON, AND HARPER (two evidently different lines)
Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel (1668-1728) + Maria Elizabeth Dentzer (1672-aft. 1728)
|
John Justus Henkle (1706-1778) + Maria Magdalena Eschmann (1711-1782) George Dieter (Teter) Jacob Peterson (Biedert) + Sarah Mohlerin Philipp Herper + Anna Elizabetha Kauffmann
| | | | | |
Adam Harper (d.1820) Jacob Henkle (1733-1779) + Barbara Teter (1734-1814) Rosina Teter + Martin Peterson Jacob Peterson + Eve Elizabeth Harper
| | | | | |
| Christina Henkle (1763-1846) + Isaac Harman Rev. Paul Henkel Jacob Peterson + Elizabeth* John Peterson + Mary* Philip Peterson + Elizabeth Hagler
| | |
Jacob Harper + Phebe Harman Samuel Peterson + Sarah Nash
| |
Simeon Harper + Mary Ann Warrenburg Jesse Peterson + Lydia Babb
| |
John Wesley Harper + Harriet Louisa Emily Peterson
| |
Albert Alison Harper (1875-1966) Jesse Clarence Harper (1878-1940) + Clara Mahala Siron
*NOTE:
Peterson family traditions say that Jacob Peterson married Elizabeth Harper and that John Peterson married Mary Harper. The two Harper wives were said to have been sisters.
It is supposed that they were daughters of Adam Harper (died 1820) and so were sisters of Jacob Harper who married Phebe Harman.
Note that Phebe Harman's maternal grandmother, Barbara Teter, was the sister of Rosina Teter, who was the mother of Jacob and John Peterson.