On 28 May 1778, one such man stepped forward. His name appears in period records as Conrad,
Conrod, or Coonrad Franks, Frank, or Francks, though later generations would know him simply as Conrad Frank. By enlisting in Captain Jacob Ashmead’s Company of the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, Conrad bound himself to a seasoned fighting force at a pivotal moment in the war.
Joining a Veteran Regiment
The 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment was already a battle-tested unit by the time Conrad arrived. Formed early in the conflict, it had endured the disastrous loss of Fort Washington in 1776 and the brutal winter encampment at Valley Forge in 1777–1778. Under the leadership of Colonel Walter Stewart, an Irish-born officer admired for his discipline and charisma, the regiment emerged from Valley Forge as part of a newly trained and unified Continental Army.
Conrad joined this reformed force just as it marched out of Valley Forge toward New Jersey and into the Monmouth campaign. Although the surviving records do not explicitly place him on the battlefield, his presence on the June 1778 payroll places him squarely within the regiment during one of its most consequential operations.
Life in the Continental Line
The surviving muster and pay rolls trace Conrad’s service with unusual clarity. His name appears consistently on the monthly payrolls for June, July, August, September, October, and November 1778, each listing him as a private earning 6⅔ dollars (recorded in Pennsylvania currency as £2–10s). Additional rolls for January and February 1779 confirm his continued presence in the regiment into the following year. A particularly important entry dated 8 September 1778 lists Conrad among the men who had enlisted “for the war.” These long-term soldiers formed the backbone of Washington’s army—reliable, trained, and committed beyond the short enlistments that had hampered earlier campaigns.
Daily life for such soldiers was defined by hardship. Pay was irregular, often issued in depreciated Continental currency that lost value almost as soon as it was printed. Food, clothing, and equipment were chronically scarce. Yet month after month, Conrad remained with his company, serving through the difficult campaigns that followed the army’s reorganization.
Service Through the Hardest Years
Like many Continental units, the Pennsylvania Line suffers from gaps in its surviving records for 1779–1781. But Conrad’s later pay settlements prove that he continued to serve well beyond the months for which muster rolls survive.
By May 1780, his name appears on the muster roll of Captain John Cobeas’ Company, still within the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment. Such transfers were common as companies were consolidated, officers promoted, and the regiment adapted to wartime losses.
The final months of 1780 were among the most difficult of the entire war for Pennsylvania soldiers. Supplies were scarce, pay was deeply in arrears, and morale plummeted—conditions that would eventually spark the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny in January 1781. Although Conrad’s direct involvement is not documented, his unpaid wages for August 1780 through January 1781 place him among the soldiers directly affected by these hardships.
Settling the Nation’s Debts 
After the war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the new nation faced the monumental task of settling accounts with the soldiers who had secured its independence. Conrad’s service appears in these postwar records as well.
On 20 October 1784, he received Certificate No. 72421 (Letter A) for $33.30, representing the balance of his pay for the latter half of 1780. Additional entries from 1784 and 1785 document interest payments on his depreciation pay certificates, compensation intended to offset the collapse of Continental currency during the war.
These records—later certified by the Pennsylvania Auditor General in 1818—stand as official recognition of Conrad’s service and the financial sacrifices he endured.
A Life After War
The historical record grows quieter after the Revolution, as was common for ordinary veterans who returned to civilian life. Yet one document offers a glimpse of Conrad’s postwar years: on 5 February 1789, he appears on a list of “Inhabitants of Milford Township Subject to the Performance of Militia Duty,” compiled by Ludwic Young. This entry places him in Milford Township, Bedford County, still fulfilling civic obligations more than five years after the war’s end.
Local histories from western Pennsylvania reference the Frank family in the decades that followed, though details about Conrad himself remain fragmentary. Like many veterans, he seems to have resumed life far from the public eye.
Legacy of Service
Today, Conrad Frank’s Revolutionary War service can be traced through a mosaic of surviving documents—muster rolls, payrolls, depreciation certificates, and settlement records preserved in the National Archives and the Pennsylvania State Archives. Together, they reveal a young man who enlisted during a turning point in the war, served through some of its most challenging years, and remained part of the Continental Army long after the Valley Forge winter had reshaped it.
He was not a general or a statesman. He was one of the thousands of ordinary soldiers whose steady commitment made American independence possible. His legacy endures not only in the modest sums recorded in colonial currency but in the freedom secured by the army he helped sustain.
For his descendants, these records offer a direct connection to the Revolution—a reminder that the nation’s founding was carried forward by men like Conrad Frank, who signed on “for the war” and saw it through to the end.
Citations for images:
1. War Department Collection of
Revolutionary War Records, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served
in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, 1775–1783, Record Group
93, NARA microfilm publication M881, Conrad Franks, Card 3; digital
images, Fold3.com (“U.S., Revolutionary War Service Records, 1775–1783”), https://www.fold3.com/publication/470/revolutionary-war-service-records
: accessed 13 November 2022.
2. War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records; Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783, 2d Pennsylvania Regiment, 1777–1779, folder 5–14, entry for Conrad Franks dated 8 September 1778; citing: NARA microfilm publication M246, RG 93, “U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783 digital image 421 of 762” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Nov 2022).
3. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Comptroller General Office, Depreciation Pay Interest Reports, entry for Conrad Franks, 7 September 1784; in Pennsylvania Government Records, 1775–1790; imaged as Film 008718977, image 354 of 1203; digital images, FamilySearch (Pennsylvania, United States records), https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-J3D6-94K9?view=explore : accessed 9 December 2025.
