"Trenton unit and flag question." Topic

The unit carrying the green flags. Is that Fusilier Regiment von Knyhpausen?

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The unit appearing to carry the flags has orange facings and turn backs, which would be alt von Lossberg.
However, the flag doesn't appear to match the watercolors from 1783.
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The other regiment, based on no lapels, would appear to be Rall. However, I don't know where the artist gets the fancy lace.

There are two units in the painting (at least). The flags are carried by grenadier regiment Rall (no lapels).

In Don Troiani's recent painting of Fort Washington, the Rall regiment is carrying the same flags that are featured in his Trenton painting.

Back in the 70s, Don Troiani did some illustrations for American Heritage magazine concerning various revolutionary battles. (I stumbled onto these by accident at local used book stores.) In the April 1973 issue, Mr. Troiani depicted the Rall regiment at the Battle of White Plains. Back then, he depicted one flag of the Rall regiment as having a red field with white flames.

FWIW, I once read that Hessian infantry flags' fields and flames were colored according to a regiment's facing color. But more than a few regiments didn't follow this practice.

I'd have to guess that Mr. Troiani found better references for the Rall regiment's colors for his Trenton and Fort Washington paintings, such as the material in the link Winston Smith shared with us.

Here is the same reference for Rall.
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No fancy lace where the lapels would be.
Unfortunately it gives us no flag design.
My flags from Flags for the Lads do show green as in the painting, but I dare say that I could find a few more different ones if I looked hard enough.

If it's Troiani who did that painting, I would give him the benefit of the doubt.

Since the op asked about Von Knyphausen, same source:
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Steven Hill's Hessian Flags of the AWI article is my go to source for info on Hessian flags and he does have info on the flags captured at Trenton. It can be found here: PDF link

How about Peale's painting of a Washington shortly after Trenton? It includes a flag captured at Trenton. Closest painting to the event and taken from life. Trumbull also has a painting but he did make changes to his paintings from his initial sketches including flags, so take it with some salt.

Of course there are two regiments present. It is the last counter attack of von Lossberg and Rall regiments when Rall was deadly wounded. The green flags are company flags of Grenadier Regimen Rall. The colonel's flag ought to be white with green flames (the reverse of the company flags). I did some research into this problem when I did my Rall regiment:
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The flags of the von Lossberg regiment also need some corrections. Have a look at my version:
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The lion should face forwards towards the pole, the "tulips" really are grenades, and above the crown there ought to be no tulip-grenade. (The famous watercolours were done in 1786 after Count William had come to rule, and are no reliable sources at first view.

They look like the same flags. I don't see a difference between the two. My two von Lossberg flags look identical to me. So the just the staffs are different.

Fridericus-You made two conclusions that are not consistent with my research, so I'd like to follow up to see if you have better information.

1. You've concluded that Rall's Leibfahnen had green blazes. Hill indicates it is possible but leans toward no blazes, and that is also what Troiani did in his Fort Washington painting. Do you have anything supporting the blazes.

2. You've concluded the lion of Hesse faces forward rather than backwards. I understand this is the traditional facing of the Hesse lion in the coat of arms. However both Peele in his Washington painting and the 1783 watercolors show rearward facing lions. If it was because the watercolors were based on William's flags, then why do they have FL in the corner? I can see one or the other being wrong, but have trouble with them both being wrong. What am I missing?

Bill – Your second point could be the artist assuming that the lion faces the same way on both sides of the flag, as opposed to both lions facing the staff. It's also worth bearing in mind that the ruler of Hesse Hanau was the nephew of the ruler of Hesse Cassel, and the Hesse Hanau lion faced the opposite way to the HC lion.

Bill – Your second point could be the artist assuming that the lion faces the same way on both sides of the flag, as opposed to both lions facing the staff. It's also worth bearing in mind that the ruler of Hesse Hanau was the nephew of the ruler of Hesse Cassel, and the Hesse Hanau lion faced the opposite way to the HC lion.

SuperMax-I was not talking about whether the lion was facing the staff or the fly of the flag. I was talking about whether the lion is looking forward at its sword or over its shoulder away from it sword. This isn't something an artist is likely to mistake based on your assumption.

I believe the traditional arms of Hanau were chevrons, not the Hesse lion looking over its shoulder. It is possible this was a unique emblem adopted by William to differentiate his state from his father's territories of Hesse Cassel. Is there any proof of that? It could also be the addition of the sword in the lion's hand made it look better if the lion looked over its shoulder. The AWI flag pattern in Hesse Cassel seems to have been adopted around 1767 and the previous one did not depict the lion.

I am not saying Fridericus's conclusions are wrong. I am saying that before I disregard depictions by two contemporary artists who had access to actual flags, I want more proof.