@Walter Hinteler,
Quote:Actually his grandma became an American, too, ... after the Bavarians refused his grandfather re-entry/getting his Bavarian citizenship back when they wanted to return to their homeland.
The two of them were better off staying in the United States. There was a very large German presence in the colonies at the time, which is why you see all those German names in New York, Ohio, and particularly Pennsylvania.
Friedrich II once told the French philosopher Voltaire that if any of his soldiers ever thought about what the hell they were doing for 10 seconds they would all be gone. Most people would require two things to feel good about going into combat, that is, a decent cause and a reasonable chance to win. None of that was ever there in European wars between the beginning of the gunpowder age and the time of Napoleon; such wars were basically gang fights between Royal houses. All of the German names that you see in Pennsylvania involve descendants of the people who thought about it for 11 seconds.
There was actually a close vote on the question of an official language for the colonies, English winning out over German by one or two votes if what you read is to be believed.