Baron Knyphausen, a German soldier, born in Alsace about 1725, died in Berlin in June, 1789. His father commanded a regiment under the duke of Marlborough, and his own military career commenced in the service of Frederick William I. of Prussia. Subsequently he served in the several wars waged by Frederick the Great against Austria. In 1776 he received from the British government the command of 12,000 Waldeckers and Hessians hired to aid in repressing the insurrection in the American colonies, and arrived in New York in time to participate in the battle of Long Island in August. He was present at White Plains, and aided in the capture of Fort Washington in November, and in the defeat of the American forces at Brandywine in 1777. In June, 1780, being then in temporary command of the British troops in New York, during the absence of Sir Henry Clinton, he made a descent into the Jerseys with 5,000 men, in the hope of rallying the disaffected Americans to the royal standard; but he accomplished little beyond sacking the village of Connecticut Farms. On the 23d he reentered the Jerseys with reenforcements, and after an indecisive conflict with Gen. Greene, and burning the village of Springfield, he returned to Staten Island.