Johann Gottlieb Rall (also spelled Rahl) (c. 1726 – December 27, 1776)[1] was a German colonel best known for his command of Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.
The first mention of Johann Rall was as a new cadet of the same regiment on March 1, 1740, commanded at this time by Colonel Prince Casimir von Isenburg of Isenburg-Birstein.
By 1776, Rall had joined the staff of the 1st Division under General Leopold Philip de Heister and commanded a Hessian Brigade of approximately 1,200 men fighting for Great Britain in the American War of Independence.
He was shot twice in the side and needed to be carried back to his headquarters set up in the house of Stacy Potts (a distinguished member of the Trenton community) where he died that night.
[3][4] According to local tradition, Rall is buried in an unidentified grave in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church on East State Street in Trenton, where an inscription is dedicated to his memory.