Meaning not the poet. Like his Katte affair book, this one is primarly a collection of source documents (grouped by aspects) with a lengthy introduction. It does give the impression Kloosterhuis tracked down every Tall Guys related document ever, including a registry of every regiment member ever, but also documents related to their recruitment, clothing, nourishment, living situation, marriages (not primarily with tall women, at least that's not mentioned as a factor), time of service (six years was the agreed upon minimum serving time), etc. Complete with added notes by FW. Incidentally, all this underlines what kind of insane workoholic (and thus role model to Fritz) FW was, because nothing is too minor for him not to comment on, he really read all those documents before approving or rejecting. (This is why however much he drank I'm hesitant to call him an alcoholic like some modern US writers, not just Nancy Goldstone do - I just can't see a full time drinker having the ability to focus as long as it did inevitably take do all this work.)
The introduction is pretty defensive emotionally, on a note of "why are you all down on my guy FW? Everyone else was after tall soldiers, too, including August the Strong and Peter the Great! Also, leftovers from the tall guys covered Fritz' retreat at Kolin so he damm well owed them his life! ALSO, the spectacular beauty of a Prussian drilled army was admired by every contemporary while simultanously sneering at FW for his tall guy fetish! AND we all know who started wars all over the place and who was a good father to his "blue children", NOT starting wars!" It also provides a lot of military data which I must admit made me skip a lot, because it's just not interesting to me.
Anyway, the gist of it as far I could tell that while there were attempts (successfull or not) of desertion, there were also cases of deserted soldiers returning like a guy who even brought his brother with him. When Fritz dissolved the regiment and put the soldiers of into various other army units, Kloosterhuis puts out that he himself got some and Heinrich got some, even little Ferdinand later got some, but Dad's fave AW did not. And given the option, only 14 of the Tall Guys chose to leave when Fritz got on the throne.
Otoh, in all fairness Kloosterhuis also provides the documents as to what happened to those who committed suicide. As I recalled from Strateemann (who mentions this at least twice), they weren't allowed to be buried decently in a cemetary but dragged out of the town and flung on the dungheap (i.e. the Schindanger, the place where criminals were also buried, outside of town), as they had lost their honor.
The recruitment instructions also insist that they were to be without physical blemishes; the term "beautiful" is used repeatedly, whether as in "schön gewachsen" or "schön an Gestalt", which means they didn't have to have Hollywood faces but a perfect physique. BTW, Kloosterhuis says it's slander that FW portrayed every one of them, but he did portray around 30, and also did group pictures.
One chilling aspect not emphasized in other sources is that FW, like many of his contemporaries, shared the fetish for "decorative" black people. These, he didn't recruit or "recruit" (i.e. they were never wooed to come nor kidnapped), he literally bought them, mainly as children, since they were both cheaper this way and with an option of growing into tall guys themselves, and used them mainly as regiment pipers. Where did he buy them? In that great trading place for slaves, Great Britain, of course, via the Prussian resident and a few other Prussians there.
Two typcial documents from the files, one dated Berlin, 19th January 1715:
"Commissioner Fleetman has sent the following bill for the acquisition of three moors: for the Moor Cupido 8 Guinees 10 English Shillings; for the Moor Pampi 20 Guinees, for his silver collar an additional 3 Guinees; for the moor Mercurius 16 Guinees 2 English Shillings. If one trades a Guinee per 11 Dutch Gulden 11 Stüber, this means a complete sum of 549 Fl. 9 Stb. Furtherly, Fleetman paid: for the trader who found the moors, 40 Fl; for the dress of the female moor Marguerite, 36 Fl 18 Stb; for the clothing of the three male moors 48 Fl; for the cost and expenses of their journey from England to Berlin 396 Fl. The King therefore orders that Commissioner Fleetman was to be paid 1.078 Fl. 7 STp for the delivery of the moors from the extraordinarium section of the general finances budget from 1714/1715."
(Silver collar: makes me wonder whether this is the young teenager seen in the background of the Fritz and Wihelmine as toddlers painting.)
Another document, decades later:, from May 8th 1728, letter from FW to London Prussian Resident von Reichenbach:
"Reichensbach is supposed to buy several young moors according to the following measurements, thugh they can be taller, but not smaller than that. They must still be so young that they will yet grow. The resident must look out to acquire the boys for a good bargain. For one, who at least has to be 5 feet 6 inches tall, he may spend approximately 50 Reichstaler. The King hopes for a delivery in November/December. If Reichenbach can't acquire some right now, he may task a person to find the wished for moors. The King also expects another transport of horses and will send stableboys to care for them to Hamburg."
Follow up, FW to Reichenbach, dated June 21st 1728: "The moors announced by Reichenbach in his report from June 11th have allready arrived in Hamburg. As soon as the King has inspected them in person, he will give Reichenbach his opinion on them. Meanwhile, Reichenbach is supposed to organize some more English horses."
FW to Reichenbach, August 16th 1728: "The announced moor has arrived at Potsdam and is in reasonably good shape. Of the horses, only five have arrived, the others have died. Stablemaster Ludwig has never delivered as awful nags as the one he transported now."
These kind of documents with the plain equation of humans with animals underline like nothing else the de-humanisation of the slave trade.
BTW, follow-up document on the three boys from 1715, from the Potsdam baptism registry:
"At the King's orders, two moor boys, having been taught in Christianity, who are serving as pipers with the Red Grenadier Regiment, have been baptized. One of them received the name Adrian Pamphiloff, the other the name Wilhelm Mercurius. As godfathers stood: General Lieutenant Adrian Bernhard von Borcke, General Major David Gottlob von Gorersdorff, and Colonel Joachim Ernst Siegmund von Krummensee."
In 1722, there were seven "moor pipers" baptized and thus entired in the Potsdam baptism registry, with the godfathers including FW himself and the old Dessauer.
On a less chilling but still religious note note: since he had been given or recruited or "recruited" several Russian Long Fellows, FW granted the hiring of a Greek Orthodox preacher so they would have services in their own religion. (This was one Wassily Scherbatsky, thereafter on the Prussian payroll.)
And this is FW's idea of how his tall guys should celebrate their weddings (like I said, no detail to minute for FW):
"To a wedding party, only the following people may be invited: bride and groom, fathers and mothers in law, brothers and sisters of the future spouses, and four additional foreign guests, but no further in laws or more distant relatives. The wedding celebration may only last a day. The otherwise common celebration lasting a second or third day is forbidden. To child baptisms, no more than four godfathers or godmothers may be invited. Afterwards, there may be a shared meal, but not a whole party feast. Music or dancing are strictly forbidden. At funerals, neither soldiers or civilians may invite to a drink or meal afterwards. These servives are supposed to be conducted honorably and quietly!" (Dated Potsdam, July 31st 1728.
All in all, defnitely the book to consult if one were to write about a Tall Guy. (Or a black regiment piper.) But mostly raw data, not a narration on its own.
Kloosterhuis: Long Fellows
The introduction is pretty defensive emotionally, on a note of "why are you all down on my guy FW? Everyone else was after tall soldiers, too, including August the Strong and Peter the Great! Also, leftovers from the tall guys covered Fritz' retreat at Kolin so he damm well owed them his life! ALSO, the spectacular beauty of a Prussian drilled army was admired by every contemporary while simultanously sneering at FW for his tall guy fetish! AND we all know who started wars all over the place and who was a good father to his "blue children", NOT starting wars!" It also provides a lot of military data which I must admit made me skip a lot, because it's just not interesting to me.
Anyway, the gist of it as far I could tell that while there were attempts (successfull or not) of desertion, there were also cases of deserted soldiers returning like a guy who even brought his brother with him. When Fritz dissolved the regiment and put the soldiers of into various other army units, Kloosterhuis puts out that he himself got some and Heinrich got some, even little Ferdinand later got some, but Dad's fave AW did not. And given the option, only 14 of the Tall Guys chose to leave when Fritz got on the throne.
Otoh, in all fairness Kloosterhuis also provides the documents as to what happened to those who committed suicide. As I recalled from Strateemann (who mentions this at least twice), they weren't allowed to be buried decently in a cemetary but dragged out of the town and flung on the dungheap (i.e. the Schindanger, the place where criminals were also buried, outside of town), as they had lost their honor.
The recruitment instructions also insist that they were to be without physical blemishes; the term "beautiful" is used repeatedly, whether as in "schön gewachsen" or "schön an Gestalt", which means they didn't have to have Hollywood faces but a perfect physique. BTW, Kloosterhuis says it's slander that FW portrayed every one of them, but he did portray around 30, and also did group pictures.
One chilling aspect not emphasized in other sources is that FW, like many of his contemporaries, shared the fetish for "decorative" black people. These, he didn't recruit or "recruit" (i.e. they were never wooed to come nor kidnapped), he literally bought them, mainly as children, since they were both cheaper this way and with an option of growing into tall guys themselves, and used them mainly as regiment pipers. Where did he buy them? In that great trading place for slaves, Great Britain, of course, via the Prussian resident and a few other Prussians there.
Two typcial documents from the files, one dated Berlin, 19th January 1715:
"Commissioner Fleetman has sent the following bill for the acquisition of three moors: for the Moor Cupido 8 Guinees 10 English Shillings; for the Moor Pampi 20 Guinees, for his silver collar an additional 3 Guinees; for the moor Mercurius 16 Guinees 2 English Shillings. If one trades a Guinee per 11 Dutch Gulden 11 Stüber, this means a complete sum of 549 Fl. 9 Stb. Furtherly, Fleetman paid: for the trader who found the moors, 40 Fl; for the dress of the female moor Marguerite, 36 Fl 18 Stb; for the clothing of the three male moors 48 Fl; for the cost and expenses of their journey from England to Berlin 396 Fl. The King therefore orders that Commissioner Fleetman was to be paid 1.078 Fl. 7 STp for the delivery of the moors from the extraordinarium section of the general finances budget from 1714/1715."
(Silver collar: makes me wonder whether this is the young teenager seen in the background of the Fritz and Wihelmine as toddlers painting.)
Another document, decades later:, from May 8th 1728, letter from FW to London Prussian Resident von Reichenbach:
"Reichensbach is supposed to buy several young moors according to the following measurements, thugh they can be taller, but not smaller than that. They must still be so young that they will yet grow. The resident must look out to acquire the boys for a good bargain. For one, who at least has to be 5 feet 6 inches tall, he may spend approximately 50 Reichstaler. The King hopes for a delivery in November/December. If Reichenbach can't acquire some right now, he may task a person to find the wished for moors. The King also expects another transport of horses and will send stableboys to care for them to Hamburg."
Follow up, FW to Reichenbach, dated June 21st 1728: "The moors announced by Reichenbach in his report from June 11th have allready arrived in Hamburg. As soon as the King has inspected them in person, he will give Reichenbach his opinion on them. Meanwhile, Reichenbach is supposed to organize some more English horses."
FW to Reichenbach, August 16th 1728: "The announced moor has arrived at Potsdam and is in reasonably good shape. Of the horses, only five have arrived, the others have died. Stablemaster Ludwig has never delivered as awful nags as the one he transported now."
These kind of documents with the plain equation of humans with animals underline like nothing else the de-humanisation of the slave trade.
BTW, follow-up document on the three boys from 1715, from the Potsdam baptism registry:
"At the King's orders, two moor boys, having been taught in Christianity, who are serving as pipers with the Red Grenadier Regiment, have been baptized. One of them received the name Adrian Pamphiloff, the other the name Wilhelm Mercurius. As godfathers stood: General Lieutenant Adrian Bernhard von Borcke, General Major David Gottlob von Gorersdorff, and Colonel Joachim Ernst Siegmund von Krummensee."
In 1722, there were seven "moor pipers" baptized and thus entired in the Potsdam baptism registry, with the godfathers including FW himself and the old Dessauer.
On a less chilling but still religious note note: since he had been given or recruited or "recruited" several Russian Long Fellows, FW granted the hiring of a Greek Orthodox preacher so they would have services in their own religion. (This was one Wassily Scherbatsky, thereafter on the Prussian payroll.)
And this is FW's idea of how his tall guys should celebrate their weddings (like I said, no detail to minute for FW):
"To a wedding party, only the following people may be invited: bride and groom, fathers and mothers in law, brothers and sisters of the future spouses, and four additional foreign guests, but no further in laws or more distant relatives. The wedding celebration may only last a day. The otherwise common celebration lasting a second or third day is forbidden. To child baptisms, no more than four godfathers or godmothers may be invited. Afterwards, there may be a shared meal, but not a whole party feast. Music or dancing are strictly forbidden. At funerals, neither soldiers or civilians may invite to a drink or meal afterwards. These servives are supposed to be conducted honorably and quietly!" (Dated Potsdam, July 31st 1728.
All in all, defnitely the book to consult if one were to write about a Tall Guy. (Or a black regiment piper.) But mostly raw data, not a narration on its own.