Ancestors serving in the 1700's

I originally posted this on Veterans Day. Our family has a long history of those who served in the military. These are two examples of men who served as far back as the 1700's. This information came from the "family book".

1. Father of Georg Christoff Oechslen. Tradition has it that his family had lived in Alsace for a generation or two already after leaving Schaffhausen, and that his father had been impressed into the army of Frederick WIlliam I. This service was probably started between 1715 and 1725 or thereabouts. Frederick William had started his reign with a systematic military discipline which has characterized many of his successors also. With an eye to the spectacular organized one regiment of the tallest men in the kingdom, none being eligible except those over six feet tall. This regiment was known as the Potsdam Giant Regiment and was recruited from all parts of the Kingdom, of which at that time Alsace was a province. This famous Potsdam Regiment is a matter of Prussian history, and the traditions of the Exline family say that the father of George Christoff Oechslen was a member of this regiment.

2. Revolutionary War; John Axline served in the Revolutionary war as a Private under Lt. Col. Posey in the Company of the 3rd. Regiment with h i s name spelled "John Exline". His name appears on the muster roll dated 16 Apr. 1782.His grandson Attorney Henry A. Axline of Columbus, Ohio, in searching for John's war record noticed that on the payroll, the name of John Exline was always set to one side and marked 'I for special services1'.Later he found an old chest which the family had brought from Virginia and in it was a diary kept by Christena, wife of John Axline. She had made this notation "Everything is in confusion around me. Since John made the last gunpowder, the British have confiscated everything we have". This excited the curiosity of Henry Axline who searched the army supply records and found a record of the gunpowder that John had made. John would fight for a time and then go home and make gunpowder, then go out and fight again. On 15 Sept. 1784 a certificate for the sum of 16 pounds, 19 shillings was issued to John Exline in payment for his services.

I will be adding more in the future...of both our past and present veterans....