Only one location has documentary support as Walter Reinhard's birthplace in a Protestant church register: Eisenberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Soon after his enlistment in the French Service, he went to Bengal, entered a Swiss Corps in Calcutta which he deserted in 15 days, fled to the Upper Provinces and served some time as a private trooper in the cavalry of Safdar Jung.
[12] In The Fall of the Mogul Empire of Hindustan, H. G. Keene describes this massacre:[13] Later on, Walter Reinhardt formed his own mercenary army.
A modern novelist, Vikram Chandra, has used the character of Sumroo in his book "Red Earth and Pouring Rain".
The dramatis personae include the historical adventurers, the Frenchman Benoit de Boigne (1751–1830), the German Walter Reinhardt (1720–1778) and the Irishman George Thomas (1756–1802).